A few hours ago, the Arena Water Instinct page on Facebook posted photos from their global print campaign featuring a “Dream Team” of 11 top swimming stars. This is the first time an international line-up has appeared in the same Arena ad campaign, and it is quite the diverse group!

From the press release, the “dream team” includes:

“Brazilian Cesar Cielo, … German Paul Biedermann, … Frenchman Alain Bernard, … Americans Aaron Peirsol, … Rebecca Soni, … and Eric Shanteau, … the Dane Lotte Friis, … Swede Therese Alshammar, … British sprinter Francesca Halsall, … Tunisian Oussama Mellouli, … and the Serb Milorad Cavic” (source).

Since Speedo doesn’t offer a line of Ryan Lochte-esque grills (grillz?), a Ryan Lochte Footwear Collection is the next best thing for this highly marketable swimming star to put his name on.

A lot of buzz has been generated by Ryan’s immense fan base, and with the release of this teaser video, it seems everyone is anxiously waiting for the official debut during the 2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships in Irvine, California this August 3-7.

The meet will be televised nationally on NBC, but that might not include the official shoe unveiling (assuming there will be some kind of a publicity event).

Infographics are all the rage! Check out the blog Information Is Beautiful for some examples of other types of infographics. I felt inspired so I decided to create my own on the topic of NCAA Aquatic Sport Participation (download source statistics).

Not to play the blame game, but when you visualize the stats as a graphic, you can really see how few NCAA athletes are playing aquatic sports. I wish I could make a similar graphic with budget distribution but I don’t have the data. Remember, because it’s an infographic, everything is perfectly to scale – enjoy!

The third stop for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is Kragerø, Norway. The series continues this weekend after more than a month off since the last stop in Mexico.

“Renowned for its incredible natural beauty, the Kragerø archipelago, one of Scandinavia’s most popular summer destinations, is a region that takes its high diving very seriously” (source). Read more about the Norway stop here.

I saw this dive well in a photo from DayLife.com about the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. It’s not the easiest thing to track down on the web, but I did notice a 3D rendering of the aquatic complex on WaterpoloShots.com.

The platforms look amazing, it’s a really creative, clutter-free, elegant design – unfortunately it’s not very convenient for the divers who have to walk behind a wall before climbing up to the boards. It will probably be a dramatic pool for the competition, as divers emerge from openings in the blank face of the wall. But as a practice facility, what a nightmare when you want to just hop onto the board quickly.

AvidaMetrics, the revolutionary swimming telemetry system developed by Avidasports, was featured in a story in The New York Times. Back in February, I blogged about the announcement that the University of Michigan teams would be the first to use the system. Now, five months later, Michigan is still the only one in the pool.

The New York Times article sheds some light on to why coaches might be hesitant to dive in. In favor of the system, Bob Bowman said that having measurable parameters in a system like this, and being able to give feedback to the athlete is “really powerful.” Although, it was noted that Bowman has not used the system for himself. Mike Bottom, the Michigan men’s swimming coach, said that seeing the data in real time would give coaches a lot more information than just watching their stroke.

On the other hand, Matt Kredich, the women’s coach at the University of Tennessee, “express concerns about the system becoming a distraction” (source).

Overall, it sounds like the coaches consider the system accurate enough, and weren’t scared of the $14,950 pricetag – but “Bowman and Kredich said they want to test it before making the investment” (source).

Understanding that coaches want to check it out for themselves, Avidasports is doing their best to get the system into the hands of coaches. Avidasports VP of Operations, Scott Hedges, was even featured as a speaker at the 77th Annual NISCA Conference and Clinic in Columbus, Ohio, and later attended the College Swimming Coaches Association Conference in Baltimore, MD.

Personally, I don’t see why this doesn’t take off immediately. In the past 2 years, it seems swimming has been clamoring for the latest and greatest technology – then, when coaches finally come face to face with it, they are hesitant. Maybe it’s too much of a good thing. Maybe coaches only want their technological advancement to come in incremental doses: the occasional monofin and maybe an underwater camera.

I think it probably comes down to the investment in the system. Not the financial investment, but the change of routine and behavior. A team must commit to the system in order to get the most out of it. Now you’re changing the pre-practice routine for an entire team: put on your cap, goggles, and sensors. Coaches must take the time to get set up, turn that laptop on and remember to check the computer screen. Changing the practice routine for an entire team seems daunting, but history teaches us that NOT changing with the times is often worse than shaking things up for a little while.

Learn more about the AvidaMetrics system from www.avidasports.com

Have you ever thought about putting a mini tramp on the diving towers? Check out this cool video of Danish gymnasts Carsten Houlborg and Jimmi Andersen. They don’t have the best form, but they certainly have the huevos rancheros to attempt some pretty incredible stunts.

Found via Speedo International’s page on Facebook, check out the photos from the LZR Racer Pavilion! It looks like I’ll have to add “make modern art” as an 8th entry to my 7 Things To Do With Your Old Speedsuit post.

David Robinson, President of Speedo International, said that the LZR Racers were donated to various projects in the spirit of sustainability. He described the project: “Chelsea College of Art and Design have captured the essence of innovation, technology and originality of the Speedo LZR Racer suit in the architecture and design of the S_Pavilion and I’m tremendously excited about the series of artistic collaborations that are set to follow” (source).

According to my calculations, 228 LZR Racer suits were sacrificed to make the pavilion. Although the suits are presently banned in competition, at one point these LZR’s carried a total retail value of $125,400 (that’s $550 each for the LZR Racer Hi-Neck Bodyskin in 2008).

Seeing the suits cut up in this fashion still seems a little taboo – like chopping up a Ferrari for spare parts – something about it just doesn’t’ seem right. It’s just too soon, the suits still seem so valuable. David Robinson is right when he says “The era of the Speedo LZR Racer suit will forever be etched into the history of Speedo, and the sport of swimming in general” (source).

Thank you to Anne P. who helped me recreate this post!

Ok, so I’m just gonna do this like a quick news brief of posts worth saving: Try to read it all in one breath!

Cincinnati Wakeboarding Team Sets Guinness World Record – The Wake Nation Cincinnati Team recently set a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance traveled on a wakeboard in 24 hours by a team. The 10 member team covered 506.8 miles by doing 1,448 labs around Wake Nation’s 10-acre lake (source).

Cincinnati Aquatic Training Center Update: Artistic Sketches Of Interior – In December, I posted information on the development of a world class Aquatic Training Center right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the past few months, progress has continued on the fundraising and promotion of the dream. New interior sketches are posted in the facility section.

Superhero Swimmers, A Geeked-Out Photoshop Tribute – The recent sci-fi Aqualab poster, featuring Michael Phelps in an underwater laboratory being powered by advanced technology, stimulated the nerd center of my brain. It’s like Speedo was speaking directly to me through a photoshopped work of art! I searched through my blogger archives and pulled out a photoshopped tribute.

Aaron Peirsol And Garrett Weber-Gale In Austin Fit Magazine Body Issue – Remember the ESPN Magazine “Body Issue” that came out in October 2009? Well Austin Fit Magazine is releasing a similar issue, showing a little skin to display athletic bodies that combine form with function.

Remember the days before autosaved drafts, and you’re writing a particularly long email, then when you finally hit send your browser times out or you suddenly lose your wireless connection? You try to re-write the email but you end up cutting it down to a few frustrated words:

“I was going to tell you a really funny story, but my email got deleted, so nevermind – Sincerely, Eric”

That’s how I feel about the all the posts and changes I’ve made to the blog since June 28th. I’m going to try to re-post a few of them, but just like re-writing a lost email, it’s never quite as good the second time around.