Lindsay Flynn: Making Strides

Aquatic Team of Mecklenberg swimmer Lindsay Flynn has improved dramatically over the past twelve months, her biggest drops including the 50 meter freestyle: 28.0 to 25.65, and the 100 meter freestyle: 58.53 to 56.63. Casual.

The current high school junior attributes much of this recent success to an uptake in training over the past year. Flynn played field hockey up until last year, when she traded the stick for goggles and dedicated herself fully to swimming, “…Field hockey took up a lot of my time in the fall and sometimes lead into the winter, so I wasn’t in the pool until around late November. I think once I had picked swimming… I was able to put in the time of learning each stroke and [get] a better understanding of swimming and all of the small things that matter.” 

Flynn loves how swimming is both an individual and team sport in how everyone trains as a whole to accomplish individual goals, “… as the year went on, I have become more committed to this sport and have learned not to pressure myself to be like others, but to be the best that I can personally be and use others as my motivation.”

The slightest difference in a start or turn can make or break a sprint race, and Flynn has been working to fine tune these details of her swimming, “My dives and turns… were pretty bad, and they’ve gotten a lot better… the details in my sprinting have helped me drop time.” Flynn has also been focusing on improving her stroke technique and breathing in order to garner technical advantages over her opponents.

Flynn’s coach, Jeremy Gregory says that Flynn is “a pretty incredible athlete… It’s very easy to coach her; If I give her instruction, she makes changes very quickly.” This coachability and attention to detail that has helped Flynn to become the 4th fastest LCM 50 freestyler among sixteen year olds in the 2019 season.

Flynn committed to swim for Indiana University in the fall of 2021. She is looking forward to experiencing the team culture and to train with other talented swimmers due to some major sprinters transferring from Indiana, the program currently lacks a depth of sprinters, and athletes like Flynn are in high demand. Flynn hopes to make her mark on the program,”I definitely  think I can bring what I know about sprinting there. [I want to] help others and push them and have others push me and maybe bring in some more sprinters.”  

As for the future? Flynn plans to keep improving her times and focusing on the details in her swimming. Coach Gregory believes that Flynn’s career in the sport will be bright, “I mean, if I’m being honest, I don’t really see a limit. What she’s been able to do in the past 12 months… it’s pretty rare and pretty phenomenal… she’s a great person in general and she’s very easily coachable. I think as far as Lindsay wants to go in the sport, she will go in the sport.”