Kara Lynn Joyce is leaving the Colorado Stars and headed back east to a more traditional post-grad environment at SwimMAC Carolina with David Marsh’s Team Elite program, where she will begin training on Monday April 9th.
When she first came to Denver and the Stars to train with Missy Franklin and Todd Schmitz, it was a grand experiment. She was leaving the ultimate post-grad center at what used to be a Center of Excellence in Fullerton, California and jumping into basically a high school program. One of the best high school programs in the country with the best high school swimmer in the country, but none-the-less one that was geared towards the needs of teenage swimmers who were looking towards college scholarships.
One would have to imagine that Joyce had hoped for better, but at the time there wasn’t a great center of female sprinting that was an obvious landing spot for her. Since headed to Colorado, she’s really only had one good meet (good in the context of where she was at in her training), and that was at the Federal Way Sectionals meet a few weeks ago in Washington State.
Now, with Madison Kennedy already going lifetime-bests in the 50 free (Joyce is also a sprinter) in only a few weeks in Charlotte, it has suddenly become as-attractive of an option for women as it has been for men. Joyce, however, says that it was all in motion before her 24.99 in Indy, but that it was great to see that her future teammate was swimming so well.
“Todd couldn’t have been more supportive and helpful with my decision. It was very important for me to tell Missy and the Team before I made the decision public. They have been like family to me,” Joyce said of the decision.
When asked about why, she said that “I needed more technique work, and I don’t think the altitude has been on my side for the last year,” referring to the mile-high air in Denver. “Todd and I had several meeting about the possibility of me leaving. We had one last one over the weekend and both agreed it was for the best.”
Swimmers have become less-and-less apprehensive about making coaching changes, even shortly before major meets like the Olympic Trials. We’re now less than three-months away from the big meet in Omaha, and it would be hard to imagine a swimmer making a successful move any later than this, so let’s expect that most of the country’s elite swimmers are fairly set where they are for the duration. Knock on wood. But Joyce isn’t nervous about that.
“I know Peter Verhoef very well from my Georgia days and I’ve known David for a long time. I have 100% confidence that they know exactly what they’re doing and will get me where I want to be.”
The 26-year old Joyce is a two-time Olympian, and has four silver medals as a member of the 400 free and medley relays in both Athens and Beijing.
Is he back at UT? I thought he was still swimming in Cali. He didnt seem to be getting the same results with Salo as Berens. I have always thought the kid had a boatload of talent and seems pretty laid back and humble (unlike some of the UT guys). I am looking forward to seeing what he can do this summer.
On a sidenote, is Dave Walters back at Texas (and did this happen a long time ago)? I believe he was announced as a Longhorn at Indy.
Not sure why so many people are surprised and/or thinking it was/is a lack of confidence, etc. If you are an elite female sprinter, there are “only” 3-4 programs you should consider and they are MAC, Zona, Cal, and Southern Cal. The names are Marsh, DeMont, McKeever, Salo. This is no disrespect to STARS and Todd, obviously a fantastic program…but is it a good fit for an elite post-grad athlete? Look at the aforementioned names and the amount of 50/100 women they have had swim fast at the national level. I am firm believer that post-grads need other post grads (especially at 26) and at the end of the day would you rather be in Charlotte or Colorado?
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I’m not 100% on swimMAC, Jones and Schnieder haven’t been doing that well, but female sprinting in the US is a bit odd. The only world-class true American freestyle sprinter atm is Adrian, with the rest being Phelps, Coughlin, Vollmer, Hardy, Franklin, etc (all nonfreestylers). Also, on a sidenote AVW is now a post-grad at Auburn.
KLJ is an amazing professional and awesome competitor. I think the results she’s seen at Star prove that it wasn’t working. At some point you have to decide when enough is enough. Just because it works for Missy doesn’t mean it will work for everyone.
While it is clear that there is strength in consistency in one’s program, these choices are highly individualistic and so are the responses by the athletes to new and different conditions. Either way, it will be very hard to prove what ultimately gives KLJ her success or failure this year. I wish her the best.
Michael Phelps is with the same coach since the beginning and we have seen the results.
You’re totally right! If only every swimmer stayed with the same coach their whole career, they’d all win 14 Olympic gold medals.
Now that the secret is out, Rio is going to be crazy for American swimmers!
I agree. A lot of these last minute changes are veterans who either seem to be struggling under the Olympic pressure, just don’t have much confidence, or maybe never learned to enjoy the process to begin with because of the early expectations. It’s heart breaking to see so many struggling, because in the long run, this is just a sport, and competition should be fun.
Best of luck to KLJ and the other veterans who have made their recent moves. You all already have outstanding resumes. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.
If it ain’t working, why stay?
It’s not like they’re college kids transferring schools. These are pros
Maybe what I should have said is, it worries me when a swimmer doesn’t feel confident enough in their program this close to a major meet. Switching programs is a big change, one way or another and it has to be going pretty badly to take that risk this late in the game.