"Girls to Women" by Anita Nall | ASCA Talk #005

This week's American Swimming Coaches Association talk comes from Olympic gold medalist, Anita Nall. 

Anita joined the swim team at the age of five. By age 12, she set age group records and at 14 years old notched an American record. Swimming for Coach Murray Stephens at the legendary North Baltimore Aquatic Club, she developed a technically-perfect breaststroke using the new-style stroke of the time.

At age 15, only a sophomore in high school, she qualified for the 1992 Olympic team. In the process, she set two World Records on the same day in the 200 meter breaststroke. 

Competing as the “baby” of the 1992 Barcelona Team, Nall won gold, silver and bronze medals swimming the breaststroke events. Her gold medal swim came as a member of the 4x100 meter medley relay, which also set the World Record. Her silver medal came in the 100 meter breaststroke as she was just out-touched by Russia’s Elena Rudouskaya, and the bronze medal in the 200 meter breaststroke where only point two seconds separated gold from bronze.

Nall continued swimming after the Olympic Games, winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke at the 1993 Pan Pacific Championships. Due to chronic health problems that went incorrectly diagnosed for years, her swimming faltered and she was unable to qualify for the 1996 or 2000 Olympic Teams.

Today, Nall is a Holistic Nutrition Specialist focusing on nutrition and wellness where she conducts workshops.

In, "Girls to Women", Anita Nall discusses the three phases of a young girl's swimming career, the "little girls stage," the "adolescent transitional period," and "womanhood."

She talks about how girls get into swimming for different reasons, how adolescent girls can be difficult to coach, and how adult athletes want to learn and understand what they are doing.

Stick around after her talk for details on the coaches clinics we've got coming up. And don't forget to sign up for the World Clinic in Dallas this September being headlined by Bob Bowman and Vern Gambetta.

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