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Practice + Pancakes: USC Beach Practice

SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.

SwimSwam took a visit to USC earlier this month, documenting the team’s cardinal and gold intrasquad. Well we couldn’t resist getting some pancakes with the trojans while we were in town, and we picked a good practice to attend. At the beginning of the season, on Saturday’s the team drives down to Manhattan Beach to have a workout on the waves. They start with dryland, where the men and women split into 2 groups and the captains lead the circuits. Personally, my favorite part was the women playing a game of “capture the cap”, a knock out elimination game that tests reaction time and speed.

When in the water, the women swam out and did ocean relays, while the men would swim out and around the bay, then swim back in and run back up the beach. During the ocean swim, we did see a fin out in the open water to our surprise, but luckily it was a dolphin swimming a ways away from us. The morning ended with the SoCal spell out, a USC tradition, followed by breakfast burritos and beach volleyball. All in all, not a bad day to be a trojan.

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Superfan
6 years ago

Video is a puff recruiting piece IMO ….swimming fast at NCAAs would be a better recruiting tool.

sven
Reply to  Superfan
6 years ago

I mean, they do that too, so best of both worlds.

Joel Lin
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

Indeed.

Superfan
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

They do? When was last time they were top 3 men or women at NCAAs?

A_trojan
Reply to  Superfan
6 years ago

They have had many swimmers over the years swim fast at NCAAs. They typically don’t finish top 3 due to depth issues.

You can swim fast and not finish too 3….

Superfan
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
6 years ago

Yes I have big goals and so do most teams in California. And many swim teams and different sports get top 3 all the time. Personally, I think USC has underperformed at the big dance. I think others would say the same. Sorry just expressing an opinion.

Blue Chip Recruit
6 years ago

Wow! This looks great! I want to go to USC!

Joel Lin
6 years ago

This is the recruiting video USC should send to every Midwest or Notheast states recruit in February.

Oldswimfan
6 years ago

Are pro swimmers allowed to train with college athletes?

John
Reply to  Oldswimfan
6 years ago

Yes

Wrong
Reply to  John
6 years ago

No

Jimbo
Reply to  Oldswimfan
6 years ago

He is now!

a_trojan
6 years ago

great video!

Midwestman
6 years ago

Johnny swim man is looking Uber fresh

Mark Rauterkus
6 years ago

What do you call that thing under the fin?

Hmmmm
Reply to  Mark Rauterkus
6 years ago

A foot

Rauterkus
Reply to  Hmmmm
6 years ago

Looked larger than a foot in length to me.comment image?ssl=1

AfterShock
Reply to  Mark Rauterkus
6 years ago

A dolph.

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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