It’s that time of year again in the swimming community: training trip season. Besides the sore muscles and killer tanlines, one thing swimmers can always count on bringing home is an awesome trip video to show family and friends.
Although many college and club training trips come after Christmas, legendary club program Germantown Academy has gotten ahead of the game by having their training trip before the holiday. Their video was posted on December 24th, featuring equal parts work and fun. The video captures the carefree spirit that comes with a trip to paradise in order to practice the sport you love.
The video was filmed and edited by Greg Callahan and Towson commit Tommy Whitman. Other Germantown swimmers who have verbally committed to swim for D1 programs next season include sprinter Ryan Torie (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), fly and distance freestyler Lauren Henasey (Georgetown University), and fly and IM’er McKensie Meyer (Villanova University).
The Germantown Academy Aquatic Club in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania (outside of Philadelphia) has produced several Olympians, including 1988 silver medalist David Wharton. It is currently led by head coach Jeff Thompson.
Make a video, everybody has fun, team bonding(pizza parties, walks in the woods, putting books away in the library, singing songs by the camp fire), everybody gets a trophy, blah blah blah….all the things a losing high school coach and program point to when they can’t produce. WOW look what we did. Creating better student athletes, preparing them for the future, making them better people, building a team… hate to tell you this guys but that’s not anything special-coaches are suppose to do all that, that’s their job PLUS produce good athletes and teams. The administration has totally hurt the school, the students and the alumni by replacing a legend with a totally unqualified coach with a ton of baggage… Read more »
Too bad he only has class and integrity for a select few!! Ashame I left the team. All you had to do was stay!! I knew you were trouble when you walked in!!
No need to call 911 for this program-better call hospice because this swim program is almost dead. Here is the list of really good swimmers who have left the program since Thompson was hired and the amazing feats of thompsons swim accomplishments at GA in less than 1 year.
Sierra Schmidt(Olympic Trials Qualifier)
Ariel Spektor(Olympic Trials Qualifier)
Andrew DeFriece(Olympic Trials Qualifier)
Andrew Abruzzo(Olympic Trials Qualifier)
Ivan Puscovitch(Junior National Qualifier)
Joseph Kimm(Sectional Qualifier)
-Gold Level coaching staff gone-every member in under 15 months. That’s gotta be a record!
-GA high school team loses its first double dual meet in history to Episcopal
-GA girls team doesn’t win inter-ac championship first time Ever!!!
GA just… Read more »
Really people??? This isn’t the proper place to spew your venom about GA and Jeff Thompson! My son and his friends filmed, edited, and posted this video on Swim Swam to show their swimming friends how much fun they had on their trip. They did it on their own. Neither Jeff nor GA had anything to do with this post. If you want to trash them, go find your own forum. Leave the kids out of it and let them enjoy! Sometimes many of you forget that these are kids and that they should have fun and enjoy the swimming experience.
Mr Whitman,
I agree 100% with what you wrote. GA swimming has become pizza parties, meetings, sleeping in and fun on the beach. Just like high level athletics should be.
Too bad he only remembers the kids he wants to!! Ashame I left the team. All you had to do was stay!! I knew you were trouble when you walked in!!
That certainly looks like fun all right. I wish those kids all the best. That’s a really well made video.
Coach Thompson, however, needs to come clean. Class and integrity? Somebody call Indiana.
First of all, how this an appropriate place to question the class and integrity of a coach? In doing that, you’re showing that this is an obvious case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Anyway…
I’ve know Jeff since the very beginning of his coaching career, and there was never a moment when anyone here in Indiana questioned his integrity or thought he did anything without a tremendous amount of class. Jeff was thought very very highly of across the state (and especially where he coached), and he is missed. It’s a shame that so many of you can’t see past your own noses to realize that you have such a great person right there to lead GA.
Indiana, doth protest too much methinks
Looks like a blast. Coach Thompson is a tremendous leader and will undoubtedly continue Germantown’s tradition with class and integrity.