UVA Coach Todd DeSorbo Tracks Swim Data Netting Dramatic Results

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges, Garrett McCaffrey, and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

University of Virginia head coach, Todd DeSorbo, didn’t roll back on his heels after winning the 2022 Women’s NCAA DI Championships team title. DeSorbo, who is on the TritonWear Advisory Board, dove into swimming data.

“TritonWear is powerful tech,” he said. “Increasingly we’ve been using it, and we used it a lot starting in the early spring with an eye on the long course season.”

DeSorbo was a 2022 Team USA FINA World Champs head coach, but his goals spanned the summer. “Budapest, World Champs, was over in June,” Todd said, “but we always intended to show up at Summer Nationals (in Irvine).”

DeSorbo singled out Matt King as one example where tracking swimming data made a big difference. “He was a 49.9 PB in the 100m free. This summer he dropped to 48.33, and his stroke count was essentially the same.”

Matt King dropped the 48.33 in the prelim. He touched in 48.44 in the final to tie for the U.S. National Title. King, only 5’11, swam big. DeSorbo noted stroke efficiency as the big gain, a TritonWear metric he tracked closely since early April.

“Matt (King) was like a 22.6 PB in the 50m free,” DeSorbo said, “ and he won U.S. Nationals with a 21.8, a big drop.”

DeSorbo was an CPA at one of the biggest accounting firms in the world before he decided that career path wasn’t making his happy. “I could do it,” he said, “but it wasn’t the same as coaching swimming. That’s my passion. But, with my CPA experience, I know to respect the numbers–trust numbers.”

What is DeSorbo’s go-to TritonWear Metric? “Push-off Power,” he said. “You’re never faster in a race than exploding off the wall. That starts your speed…speed you fight to maintain throughout the lap.”

In recent news, FINA Technical Congress passed a change to rule SW 10.8, allowing the use of wearable tech in swimming races. As of Jan. 01, 2023:

“The use of technology and automated data collection devices is permissible for the sole purpose of collecting data. Automated devices shall not be utilized to transmit data, sounds, or signals to the swimmer and may not be used to aid their speed.”

This means wearable technology to collect data for research, education, and entertainment is legal. However, that data cannot be used in real-time – in swimming races – to aid a swimmer’s speed.

See that report here. 

TritonWear is a SwimSwam partner.