The 29/1
Official Podcast of the West Ottawa High School Athletic Program. 29 Sports, One Team. The show that brings you into the lives of student athletes, coaches and other faces in the Panther Sports Community. Bringing you the stories you might otherwise never hear. Join Rodney Vellinga and Athletic Director Bill Kennedy as they dive in with you to get to know each other a little bit better.
The 29/1
Bringing It Home, with Makenzie Baldwin, Steve Bowyer and Varsity Girls Swim and Dive
Come sit down with us and enjoy our vibrant conversation with 100 Backstroke Record Holder Makenzie Baldwin and Varsity Girls Swimming Head Coach Steve Bowyer, on this week's episode of The 29/1.
As they bring it home in the last 2 weeks of the season, we uncover the dedication and passion that drive their success in the water. Hear about a team that grinds in the pool with a vigorous training schedule and focused commitment. Makenzie opens up about pulling for her teammates to achieve their goals, as well as her own in the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle. Hear about her thrilling anticipation for the OK Red Conference Meet at East Kentwood, and the upcoming State Finals at the Holland Aquatic Center. Coach Boyer offers valuable insights into the advantages of competing close to home and the memories that have shaped their journey within the swim and dive program.
Learn about the importance of strength training and the evolution of techniques emphasizing power and sprinting. As Mackenzie reflects on her high school career, we touch on her aspirations for collegiate swimming and the exciting prospects at Hope College. Makenzie provides heartfelt advice to younger athletes, and Bowyer gives a detailed exploration of the tapering process. LOL. Join us in celebrating the remarkable journey of Makenzie Baldwin as she prepares for her final high school competitions.
This episode was recorded on November 7, 2024.
Podcasts now dropping at 5pm every Sunday evening for that late weekend chill, or listen Monday AM during that morning commute or workout. Please like, follow, subscribe, or leave a review. Even share with someone who might like to listen. Thanks for taking the time to get to know each other a little bit better. The people who make West Ottawa Athletics what it is. Go WO!
Special thanks to Laura Veldhof Photography.
I'd probably just tell myself to believe in myself, because from a young age I struggled with some pre-race nerves, but honestly there's no reason for it and it all will work out and your hard work will pay off.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, this is Rodney Valinga with the West Ottawa High School Athletic Program and you're listening to the 29.1 podcast 29 sports, one team, the show that brings you into the lives of student-athletes, coaches and other faces in the Panther sports community, bringing you the stories you might otherwise never hear. Join myself and Athletic Director Bill Kennedy as we dive in with you to get to know each other a little bit better.
Speaker 3:Not every athlete finds the sport they were meant to do, but when the stars align, this is what it looks like.
Speaker 4:Today we're joined by Coach Steve Boyer and Senior Mackenzie Baldwin. Coach Boyer is one of the most successful coaches here at West Ottawa, leading our girls and boys swim and dive programs, and Mackenzie Baldwin is putting a close on an amazing career with the Panthers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and her final high school swims will be here in town, as the state finals are being held at the Holland Aquatic Center November 22nd and 23rd.
Speaker 4:Coach Steve Boyer and senior Mackenzie Baldwin coming up next on the 29.1 podcast. Let's get it.
Speaker 3:Hey everybody, welcome back to the 29 one podcast. It's another beautiful day here on the Lake shore, possibly the best Thursday of our lives, weather wise. We're well into late fall. The fall sports season is winding down. Beautiful day here on the lakeshore, possibly the best thursday of our lives, weather-wise. We're well into late fall. The fall sport season is winding down. Most teams have already finished. Girls volleyball plays tonight in a district final against zealand east and there's one sport here at west ottawa that continues for at least two more weeks and it's our honor to be a part of their taper. Who is it?
Speaker 5:Coach Steve Boyer.
Speaker 1:Mackenzie Baldwin.
Speaker 4:Awesome Girls Varsity, swim and Dive One of the grindiest sports out there, right? Morning practices, evening practices, go, go, go, grind, grind, grind. So pumped to have you both in the studio with us. So let's get rolling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just to welcome you both. Thanks for coming in. It's really great. Steve Boyer, 18 years at the helm at West Ottawa, 2012 state champion with Varsity Girls Swim and Dive. You're a member of the Michigan Swim Coaches Association. What do you do for that?
Speaker 5:I am on the executive board as the treasurer you do.
Speaker 3:For that. I am on the executive board as the treasure. You're the treasure. No kidding, I wouldn't have picked you as a treasure, and you're also the 2020 Michigan swim coach of the year, named by the Michigan high school coaches association. I just want to say it's really, really thankful that you're here today and I really love it when coaches like pour a career into a school, and you've done that over the past 18 years, so thanks for doing that, and then mckenzie backstroke and freestyle yep, kind of your specialty.
Speaker 4:Three-time all-state and then 2022 holland sentinel girls swimmer of the year.
Speaker 1:So a pretty awesome career with still yet more to accomplish in the coming weeks yep, I've got some pretty big goals for this next few weeks at the end of the season, so hopefully can accomplish them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you really got it coming up. You have conference this weekend. When does that start, Mackenzie?
Speaker 1:That's tomorrow. Prelims tomorrow and then finals Saturday.
Speaker 3:And then later on the state finals are at the Holland Aquatic Center, mackenzie. For you, you have spent a ton of time there over the years with Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics. What's it like for you knowing that your last high school competitive swims will kind of be in your own backyard?
Speaker 1:You know, I was actually really excited when I found out that I was going to be at the Aquatics Center because obviously I spent so much time there, really comfortable with all the walls and knowing where I have to be for backstroke. I know all the coaches very well and everyone that will be running the meet, and so I feel like I have to be for backstroke. I know all the coaches very well and everyone that'll be running the meet, and so I feel like I have like kind of an upper hand going into the meet, so hopefully I'll pull through.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that attitude.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and I think, uh, you know, when we swim on the East side, it's always a great team weekend. You get to do the hotel and a lot of team bonding. But, um, we've found that when the kids get to sleep in their own beds, it does give us a little bit of an advantage. So that's another kind of not only being comfortable with the pool, but you're at home, you know, you're eating a little bit more of the normal food that you normally eat, you're sleeping in your own bed and that definitely, definitely helps.
Speaker 3:Where has the state finals been last couple of years?
Speaker 1:So last year was Eastern University and the year before that was Oakland, and then actually my freshman year was also the Aquatic Center.
Speaker 3:Oh, was your freshman year too, so a little bookends here, huh yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I obviously love like staying in the hotels with my teams, just because it's such a fun experience. But definitely being able to sleep in my own bed will hopefully get me well rested.
Speaker 4:I'm a big fan when the state meet is in Holland. It makes my day a little more manageable. I love going to Oakland and Eastern. We've been at Calvin for a state meet in the past, but it's really nice to be able to just hop right downtown Holland and get there and be there to support the girls, or the guys for that matter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to be great that it's here. Let's do a little get to know. So we sometimes know each other at West Ottawa. We sometimes don't. Faces are always familiar. Steve Boyer, you've been the assistant athletic director here at West Ottawa. How long have you been in that role here?
Speaker 5:So I transitioned into that role just before COVID so we're about four or five years now into that role and that kind of. I taught US history for 15 years and then we had had a part time aquatics director that had retired and so there was kind of a need there, but it wasn't really a position that I was able to to move into. And then there was some need in the athletic department with not having know, not having an assistant AD, and so we kind of morphed those two jobs together and a natural combination and been doing those for four or five years now.
Speaker 3:I personally didn't really know you that much until the last I don't know, probably this summer when I was hanging out at the school here a little bit. We do a lot of scoreboard training in the summer and you're around and just you're walking around with your sweaty boys. They'd be coming into that athletic office. You have a family. You're married to three kids. What are their names? What grades?
Speaker 5:So William is in eighth grade and Nathan is in sixth grade and they're both at Harbor Lights and Claire is a third grader at Waka Zoo.
Speaker 3:All right. What sports do your kids do?
Speaker 5:So Will is right now. If you were to ask him, you know what he's going to do in high school? He would tell you that he will play water polo in the fall, he will swim in the winter and play baseball in the spring. And then Nathan is kind of still kind of figuring some stuff out, played football this last fall and had a lot of fun with that, and he plays baseball as well. And he is in the water right now too, somewhat reluctantly. I try to encourage him or kind of focus on the fact that swimming is going to help make him a better football player, better baseball player and trying to stay as well-rounded as possible, and hopefully we can keep him in the water here too.
Speaker 3:Moving forward, Well, when you told me about doing baseball and swimming at the same time, I'm like what's the crossover? And I figured it out. When you're diving into second base, you have that arm wind and then you just lay it out, you know. So you'll see that that'll be what's he doing. Well, that's from from swimming.
Speaker 4:And then, steve, one of the projects that you've been able to kind of dive in and I've really taken a backseat and deferred to you on is kind of the strategic plan for the new aquatics facility. Here I know what the process looked like when we were going through the stadium. What's that been like for you to kind of go through that and be a part of those meetings?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's, it's been a pretty cool experience and very blessed to be a part of those meetings. Yeah, it's, uh, it's been a pretty cool experience and, uh, very blessed to be a part of it. Um, you know, you talk to a lot of people in a lot of districts and when they start these projects, not not all coaches get to be involved. Um, and you know, they've kind of brought me in on day one. You know, we literally got to build the vision of, you know, what we want the pool to be, what we want the facility to be. The district definitely had some ideas and some other community-type stuff that's going to be involved in there, but we've really got to design a pool from nothing and that's been a pretty cool process Water.
Speaker 5:Well, yeah, cement, tile, those sorts of things, all of your basic building materials.
Speaker 4:So one of the things Steve and I were talking about just yesterday, in fact, is the amount of tile that goes into an aquatics facility, every square inch of the pool deck, the pool locker rooms. There's so much freaking tile.
Speaker 3:A little bit more than that bathroom off the kitchen hallway. Yes, yes, way more.
Speaker 5:Way more. But yeah, so we're we're about 95% done with the design process. They've already begun some site development stuff. Right now we're kind of targeting fall of 2027 as a finished date and so we're still a little ways away. But it's kind of cool to see kind of where we started, where we're at, and I'm very excited about the next couple of years as we kind of watch that all come together.
Speaker 3:And let's get to our very special guest today Mackenzie. Baldwin Mackenzie, you're a senior here at West Ottawa. Can you believe you're already here?
Speaker 1:No, I can't Like time's been going by so fast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it goes away in a hurry, right? You're a member of the National Honor Society and you, when I talked to your mom, I got to talk with her. You are in one of my favorite classes and programs here at West Ottawa. You're in Wobe N with. Wally, what are you guys doing in class right now? What kind of projects are you doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm in Wobe N and advanced broadcasting. So in Wobe N we're really just trying to work on like making shows, because we got a complete remodel of the studio. So, we're still trying to learn the ways of all the new technology and it's been a struggle, but we're finally starting to get a hang of it and get shows on the air every single day.
Speaker 3:Learning curve's tough right.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, especially because we were so used to last year's stuff easy peasy, just click of a button and the show was filmed and made and posted to YouTube. So now we have a ton of new stuff with like a podcast studio, green screen, talk show set and all the like technologies. Completely new cameras like TriCast.
Speaker 3:What have you been doing directly yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we rotate through the class of like every job just to get a hang of like everything. But something that I've been really working on is the tri caster system, or like the switcher, so that's like switching the cameras when it needs to be adding the graphics to the show beforehand, because it's so much fun yeah, we used to like edit it later and add graphics, but now we can do it while we're filming no kidding yeah, it's really sweet and the whole sound system it's all like it's basically like the main job, that like produces the show.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's really fun. Yeah, I mean, this is just fun here. I mean, just looking at the stuff we're doing, it's really fun to do that, so I'm glad you're having a great time in there. You also wrote a lot of stuff for the West Ottawa, so I went through pretty much every story that you wrote just to read it. Nice writing, being an athlete like you are you get interviewed once in a while. Right, what is it like? What was it like for you to go interview other people?
Speaker 1:honestly, I found it kind of hard because people like weren't really willing to like interview and I just needed to make sure that I got like what was needed for the articles and to make sure that I had the right information. But I honestly found it hard because usually, like, if someone wanted to interview me, I'd be like yes, so it was hard to like finally get like no's and like try and search for people to interview and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it doesn't feel good to get those. No, it sure does not. Oh, that's really tough. Yeah, but you know when you, when you do this, you know you, when you're in both sides of it, then it makes you better in the long run, whenever you'll get interviewed, now you're doing great.
Speaker 1:right now You're killing it. I've definitely learned from it because now I know when someone wants to interview me. I have to be on it and bring up all the details.
Speaker 3:Can't see Baldwin, no tapering in there in here, that's for sure.
Speaker 4:I've gotten to know your mom a little bit just because of her involvement with the athletic boosters. Uh, she was a swimmer here at West Ottawa. What's that? How cool is that that you get to kind of follow in her footsteps?
Speaker 1:I guess yeah, and she honestly was a pretty good swimmer. She had some records on the board but obviously there are broken since. But I was able to like go faster than her past time, so that was pretty cool.
Speaker 4:Did you brag at her? Oh absolutely All the time.
Speaker 1:Like whenever she tries to like critique, I'll be like well, I was faster than you, yeah.
Speaker 3:That always goes on.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't know she was a swimmer, but that's great that she was. There's always connections here at West Ottawa too. Like I've never met you before and never talked to you, but your brother, bryce, played basketball when Hudson, my son, was a sophomore. He played up. So they've played on the same team and this is a story you don't know, but I used to play pickup basketball with your dad way back in the day. They used to play on the Sunday nights of the Dutch Dome.
Speaker 3:This was, uh, probably like, yeah, 2013, 2014, I had just come off, uh, ripping my Achilles tendon and I was about seven months back healed and I'm like, hey, I'm just trying to get out there again. So we were playing at the Dutch Dome in about 20 minutes and I'm like, oh boy, I'm slow. Like you know, I couldn't get by a sloth at that point. You know I was so slow and so we're going down and I hadn't scored all night and I finally was on a two on one. It's like I'm the, I'm the good option here, like the defenders closing in, I got a bounce pass, took a dribble about to go in, boom from behind, swipe, ball goes, hits, goes off, my knee goes out of bounds, lose the ball. Who was it? It was your dad. So I also have been a victim of the baldwin speed he got me so good that day.
Speaker 1:It was crazy my dad takes basketball very seriously and he's fast he's still playing every tuesday and thursday at like 5 am I think it's still with like an adult like did he play in high school and stuff I don't, don't really know, I'm not sure, well, he was pretty, he was pretty fast. Still I was pretty impressed, he always films his highlights and then posts it on YouTube privately, just for our family, and he'll replay it over and over again in our living room of him dunking. I don't even know, it's so funny.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a blast.
Speaker 1:He loves it.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's hilarious. You have some swimming records with your mom. Now you have broken some of hers too, right? Was there one like an age group one, or did she have a high school record too at one point?
Speaker 1:She didn't have a high school record. She didn't.
Speaker 3:No, okay, so it was an age group one, what? 13 or 14 years old or something. I think so. Yeah, so she was telling me that story.
Speaker 1:Obviously it doesn't really mean much to you. Because it so, I'm sure it meant a lot to her. One other thing we'll finish up on getting to know you. You have two dogs. You have two golden retrievers. What are their names? So the older one is bentley, he's 12, and then we have um bristol, who's four years old and he's actually an english cream retriever.
Speaker 3:So he's like very white and they're both super fluffy yeah, when I was talking to your mom about it it was like you got the. You got the, the dog you've had for a long time, but you went and got the buddy dog yes that was real nice.
Speaker 4:Well, this is a very golden retriever friendly room.
Speaker 3:I have a golden retriever, eight-year-old hendrix uh, juniper or juni, over here she's six we don't do dogs at our house and then of course we got bentley and bristol.
Speaker 3:So but hey, let's uh move into the team, all right, and then we'll talk about this together. So this year it's team. You have like a one in four record in the okay, red coach. But you said you know you've been close in many of your dual meets this year, right, so a lot of close ones just not quite getting there. Maybe between you and Mackenzie can you guys talk about some of the girls on the team who are having nice seasons and you know how they're contributing. May you want to go first, mackenzie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I swim with most of them over the summer. So I've seen the hard work that everyone's put in and this season, honestly, it's really shown. Like, for example, lily Perez. She's gotten personal bests in dual meets, which that doesn't happen very often, so really proud of her for that. And then we have an exchange student, sophie Bach. We're super excited to when student Sophie Bach. We're super excited to when.
Speaker 3:I found out that we're getting an exchange from Denmark.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, denmark, and she's a great asset to the team. We had a kind of a hole in the fly and she filled that role right away. So super excited for what conference and state will hold for everybody that's fun for them.
Speaker 3:How about you coach any other other names?
Speaker 5:yeah, I think senior Bailey Davis is kind of anchored, our distance crew swimming the 200 and the 500. Izzy Steele is swimming both IM and breaststroke, same events as Lily is. And looking at you know, the nice part about this team is we have a lot of seniors who have a lot of good experience which, as you're heading into the end of the season as a coach, you're always a little bit more comfortable with things, knowing that. You know the kids have been through this before. They kind of know what to expect and we just have a lot of good leadership.
Speaker 5:In terms of the conference meet, you know you talked about, you know, our one in four record. We got the psych sheet yesterday and kind of looking through that psych sheet, rockford has kind of, you know, solidified themselves as the top team in the conference. But what's kind of exciting is there's a pretty you know on if you were to score out the psych sheet and obviously it's not swum on paper and things are going to happen at the meet. But you know we're about 13 points away from second place and so that's kind of you know, as we go into this meet, you know I think our big goal as a team is just to you know, not only try to have as many personal bests and best times and those sorts of things, but see if we can't beat some of those teams that we lost to in the dual meet season. And you know, the more we can, the more we can pick off, the better.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the league is just so competitive in every sport. The conference meet is always a lot of fun for me to get over there to get over for prelims because I get to see everybody swim. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow over at east kentwood. Mckenzie, can you talk to us a little bit? I mentioned it earlier as we were kind of introing. You guys grind and I don't know if, like the normal person, understands the amount of time it takes to be a swimmer of your caliber. Could you just walk us through like what a week might look like for you?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So every Monday and Wednesday we have AM practice at five 45 to seven o'clock, which it's pretty hard to wake up for it, but you know, in the end it's definitely worth it. And then after school we have three to five 30. On Mondays and Wednesdays as well, we have lifts from five to five 30, and then Tuesday, Thursday or Tuesdays we have practice three to five 30. And then Thursdays are usually our duels, with an occasional Tuesday duel as well, and then Friday and Saturday we get up and grind for practice again.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we had a Sarah Mara on, who is a gymnast at the university of Minnesota, and those two sports are really the only ones that I would say compare to each other the amount of hours and time that they put in. Just a lot of credit to you and the other girls on the team for kind of accepting that and going all in.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think the one thing people don't understand either is, for the most of practice, they're staring at the bottom of the pool, which is not an easy thing to do, right that's why tile is important.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, the tile choice matters here.
Speaker 5:So it definitely takes a special person to be a swimmer right. It's an incredible amount of work. Swimmer right it's you know it's incredible amount of work. The cool part about that is, you know, after the kids go through the process and we get to the end and we go through the taper and um, you know they see the success that comes from that. You know, I think everyone looks back and you know they're glad, glad they did it.
Speaker 1:It's so rewarding, Like not just like physically, like knowing like, oh, I got a personal best, but like mentally, knowing that you're able to like get yourself up early in the morning and then get yourself back to the pool after school. It's, it's really rewarding.
Speaker 4:How do you handle as you're going through and you have, you know, am practice a couple of days a week. You've got the afterschool practice. You're also a very accomplished student here at West Ottawa. How do you manage your time?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, obviously school comes first, so I make sure to after practice. If I have any work that needs to be done, I make sure to get all that done. But then I also want to get to bed early because I don't want to be tired and need to make sure that I'm well rested for practice and just the meats and have my body be ready. So there's a ton of different aspects to swimming and that's not just the swimming part. Whether that's eating healthy, like the swimming part, whether that's eating healthy, like balancing your time, making sure you're getting enough rest. It all kind of comes together, though.
Speaker 5:And not to mention the part-time job.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 5:You do a part-time job too.
Speaker 1:A little peach wave Frozen yogurt. Oh, let's go. Well, that's a good spot to be at.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that'll work. There's a when I sat down with Coach and your other coach the other night and they were sharing with me some of the real specifics of what makes up a practice, Can you talk about I call them yardage swims I don't know if that's the term or not. I could be wrong and then resistance bands and buckets. Can you just explain what that is and how you train with those like that?
Speaker 1:How I train with the bands.
Speaker 3:Well, tell them what a yardage swim is, how long it is, all that type of stuff, or is that not a thing?
Speaker 5:so I think yeah, I think what I think kind of what he's referring to is, you know, like on a monday, you know we might do a set of 2100s or, um, you know it might be a set of two 400s and six 200s or you know kind of those threshold type swims. So I think he's looking at you know how. You know what does you know some of those sets look like? You know, maybe you know what's your favorite set or you know what sets do you like most? And then, um, we talked a little bit about some of the, the resistance work that we do and just what exactly that is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we usually like split up each day of like what we're like focusing on, so like mondays are like threshold, so super long, but also like fast keeping a good pace, so that could look like 2100s, like you said, or 2050s. Usually is am practice, but that's another one that's pretty hard.
Speaker 1:And then the resistance bands we attach like a cord or like a belt to us and we swim across the pool and it is basically pulling you back with like weight on your back, so it can get pretty challenging, but then the fun part is that, like once you reach the other side, it pulls you back really fast. You can kind of just float there, that's funny. Yeah, it'll just pull you back really fast.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's really cool.
Speaker 4:It has to feel amazing when you take that belt off and you just swim with nothing holding you back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a good training, probably mentally too, right? Hey, I am pretty fast, get this off me, I'm going.
Speaker 1:So the cords are just like an elastic band. But then we also have buckets, which is like a bucket that you put weight in, and sometimes you can put water in it, but we've been putting weight belts in it Okay. And then you just if you go super heavy, usually you work on underwaters or breakouts, so then you can barely only make it to halfway because of how heavy the weight is when are these buckets when you're swimming? They're just on the side of the pool. It's like a.
Speaker 5:It's attached to a pulley system.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:So they call them power towers or power racks. So it's just a metal rack.
Speaker 3:I feel like I'm at an 80s rock concert there. All right, keep going, sorry.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so just a metal, aluminum rack that has two buckets that are attached to you know, basically attached to the string that's attached to you.
Speaker 1:That's really sweet, it really is.
Speaker 3:Is that common. Most teams will be doing that kind of training.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I's something that, um, you know, swimming, like any sport you know, has evolved over time and you know, old school swimming is just grinding out yards and it used to be, you know, the common, you know thought was the more yards you do, the faster you swim. And swimming is definitely going to more of a sprint focus, Um, and not, and part of that sprint focus is, you know, that power aspect as well. You know, and the stretch cords and the buckets are kind of a key piece of that, that maybe less yards, more intent, more focus, and so it's kind of something that's really kind of come about over the last five to ten years.
Speaker 3:Is that a fun thing for you to do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it, it's definitely different than just grinding out thousands of yards. So it's super fun, but it's also super beneficial.
Speaker 5:Yeah, definitely a nice break from the traditional swim sets.
Speaker 4:And you're also one of the teams here at West Ottawa that has really always embraced the work in the weight room.
Speaker 5:You guys are in there a couple days a week.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we try to lift three days a week and that's something we've done for a really long time. You know, since Frank's come on as our strength coach, I feel like he's really helped us kind of hone in exactly what we're doing, what days, what lifts, you know. So we've always we've always been pretty big on the strength training and I think Frank has helped us kind of dial that in kind of to that next level, um, and especially when it comes to taper time in the weight room you guys doing a lot of like a lot of back, shoulders, legs primarily.
Speaker 5:Yeah, um, kind of. One of the big things with swimming is when you're doing all those yards, you're constantly building up the front of the shoulder, the chest, um, and so a lot of the things we do in the weight room are to kind of balance out what we're doing in the water. And so a lot of the things we do in the weight room are to kind of balance out what we're doing in the water. So your back, shoulders, you know, and then legs are like any sport, you know, legs are key. We do a lot of underwater kick work in practice and I think a lot of the things we do in the weight room help complement that in terms of leg strength.
Speaker 3:I want to talk about one other fun thing about your team Assistant coach, drew Johnson. As long as I've been here at West Auto, he's always been one of my favorite people here, like he just is. What is it like as a swimmer to have him as a coach?
Speaker 1:You know he's super funny. He's always there to make jokes and make practice a little bit. You know, lighthearted and super entertaining just to watch him walk around and kind of yell at us. But all in good heart, good intentions, but it's definitely super fun to have him around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and these guys are like a stepbrothers movie those two right. Well, didn't you guys make a t-shirt or something one year?
Speaker 1:The guys, the guys, the boys, the boys did Okay, they definitely have a bromance, yeah.
Speaker 3:And you guys don't call him coach Johnson, right? What's his? Uh, what's his nickname Dre. Yeah, it's hardcore right there.
Speaker 1:Coach Dre.
Speaker 3:All right. Well, the one other thing we'll do with the team, though it's a very large team too right? So how many swimmers?
Speaker 5:Up 27, I think, think. But we've had teams as many as 50, 55 before. Got you Okay.
Speaker 3:So it's still a big team. Yeah, I noticed at the senior night that Grand Haven team was really big. Yeah, I was just looking at the differences that day. All right, let's go to Mackenzie your swimming career. Let's talk primarily about you for a little while. It'll be fun. This is part of the WOBN spotlight, we'll call it that. When you first started swimming, your mom told me you were fast, right away. Right. What was that like for you when you first started swimming? It's like, oh, what's going on here?
Speaker 1:You know, honestly I didn't really realize because I had no idea what was good or how anything worked for swimming. But I just remember everyone would try to convince me to start swimming for USA, but I just had no want in it.
Speaker 1:I obviously I liked swimming, but it was just age group and I'd practice like two times a week and go to the little dual meets that they have for the eight and unders. But then finally, I think when I was like 10, I joined the USA team and then that's when I really like set off and realized that like this could be something for me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, your mom said earlier that there was some resistance to becoming a swim family.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Right when you started doing that. What type of travel? What's it like? What's the season, off season like, when you're not swimming for school?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so USA, same practice schedule, just like every day. We don't have mornings, though, but then our club meets are a lot bigger. Instead of, like the duels, it's like all the teams in the area. So it calls for a lot more travel and then, especially like, as you like, move on and like get to the higher championship meets, you have to go far away. So, like recently, I've been in Indianapolis, ohio State, like all over the place, which also calls for a lot of hotels.
Speaker 1:So it's honestly a lot of money to like a lot more than school, just trying to like travel and then trying to like swim, well, while you're like not close to home, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4:And then were there, as you were kind of coming up through the program, were there girls that were swimming at West Ottawa that you kind of really looked at and were like I want to be like that person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were a ton of people like obviously like people in my cousin's grade, just because I knew them and I was familiar with them, like, for example, caroline Sisson really good example, and she's insane.
Speaker 4:So when anybody asks you know what's the sport that West Ottawa can kind of hang their hat on. From the day this building well, not this building, but the school district came into existence, Swimming has been a program that has been very good for us over the years. How about when you were kind of just starting out your freshman year, Like who were some of the seniors maybe, that you looked up to or took you under their wing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Freshman year is definitely Maddie Remen Schneider and Kendall Vara. They were the seniors at the time and they were great teammates to have and great role models and I definitely looked up to them a ton, especially because the year prior I trained with Kendall a little bit, so kind of knew her a little bit before the season started.
Speaker 3:Has that had an effect on you as you turned into a junior and a senior? How has that affected you as you have younger swimmers on the team?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely showed me what I want to be to them and how I want them to look up to us and just setting good examples. And I miss the seniors from my freshman year very much and I kind of want to be that person Like, oh, there's a hole in our team now. So that's just kind of how I felt. Like not having those same, like the same teammates is definitely hard. Go moving on with different people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're in a different role. You're the one, you're the one being looked up to, right and and trying to include everybody. So you had a great season as a freshman and a sophomore. You know, you came sophomore. You were Swimmer of the Year right in the area Holland Sentinel. What was those two years like for you getting started? Were you a little surprised at what you could do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a really exciting time because, you know, going into high school I had no idea what the competition would be like. You know, high school is very, very different from what I had like experienced before was very, very different from what I'd experienced before. So I kind of just went into it just hoping to get personal bests and just keep improving, but to realize that I was actually able to keep up with the other girls, the seniors at the time, it was a really exciting time.
Speaker 3:And coach. Then in her junior year she sets that record From a swimmer that you had coached years before. Can you tell us about, maybe the two of them, how they compare, from a swimmer that you had coached years before.
Speaker 5:Can you tell us about, maybe, the two of them, how they compare?
Speaker 5:And yeah, you know, one of the one of the interesting things about you know, especially high school girls swimming is a lot of times you will see athletes have success early, you know, sometimes as eighth graders, freshmen, sophomores, um, and it can.
Speaker 5:It can be extremely challenging sometimes then to get best times as you move forward in your high school swimming career, and so that varsity record for Mackenzie was definitely kind of the goal for junior year because she had been close the previous year and Colleen Vanderpool had had that record prior.
Speaker 5:She was on our 2012 state championship team. So that was, you know, the two are probably a little bit different swimmers, but one of the things that Kenzie's been working on to try to get that record is her underwaters, and so Kenzie is probably one of the fastest backstrokers I've seen between the flags. But the underwater kick was something that had to kind of be developed over her high school career and I think she made some good strides in that last year, which I think helped her to kind of, you know, take that next step and break that record, and I think she's made some even more strides in that, you know, heading into this season. So we're kind of looking, you know, looking forward to the end here this year to see kind of how that will you know, will impact her swims at the at the conference and state meet this year.
Speaker 3:I know, whenever I watch the Olympic swimmers as a person who is not a swimmer doing that I always am amazed at the turnover of those feet. It's just this. It's just popping the whole time. That's gotta be hard to do.
Speaker 1:Is that it's just popping the whole time. That's got to be hard to do is that it's? It's really hard because not only are you underwater and having to hold your breath, but it's the fastest time in your whole race is like pushing off that wall, so you really have to make the best of it, but it's definitely a challenge yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3:Was that getting that record? Is that one of your favorite memories so far in your career? Do you have any other things that stand out for you?
Speaker 1:I'd say that was probably the best memory for me because, you know, going in freshman year I saw that record how I mean I had quite a bit of time to drop, but I knew that I looked up to Colleen because she was a part of that state championship team and I knew that was something that I was looking forward to achieve.
Speaker 3:You do. That was a great memory. And then every once in a while, you get something that comes up that you didn't expect. Let's talk about senior night, which was just last week. Right, you had a kind of an unexpected thing come up, where you had an unexpected challenge sitting in front of you. Coach, do you want to maybe set the stage a little?
Speaker 5:bit yeah. So I had gotten a call from the Grand Haven coach earlier in the week that he was going to have an athlete that was going to be suiting up to try to get her state cut, which I was 100% in agreement with. It's kind of one of those unwritten rules that you don't wear a tech suit in a dual meet and if you're going to, you have the courtesy to let the other team know, because they can have an impact on the swim in some regards, on the outcome of the meet. And so it's Kenzie's senior night, lots of family.
Speaker 3:It's senior night. This is your night. This is your teen's night. Someone's got on a tech suit.
Speaker 5:Lots and lots of family and friends in attendance and you know so Hunter Backstroke comes up and you know this young lady has the suit on which you know Kenzie's a pretty confident swimmer and you know a faster swimmer, you know, than the lady that or the young lady that she was going against. But it still adds a little bit of pressure because you know you're tired, you're a couple of weeks out from taper. It just provides a little bit more pressure to to perform and you know it was. She goes a season best time of first time she had been 57 this season. You know wins the event and so it was kind of cool to see that. You know that young lady trying to get her cut which is fine.
Speaker 5:You know kind of, you know, gave her the you know the pressure to, you know, to go a season best time, you know, at senior night. And then, interestingly enough, we get to the 400 free relay and both Kenzie and this other young lady are the anchors on the relay and Grand Haven was probably about a half a pool length ahead of us. This young lady, still in her tech suit, and Kenzie, dives in and, you know, very methodically, throughout the race, kind of continues to gain on her, gain on her, gain on her, and then ends up touching her out by one one hundredth of a second and so just kind of a cool way to end, you know, your dual meet career at home, you know, in front of the home crowd and you know everyone's on their feet and cheering and just kind of a cool way to end things.
Speaker 3:What was going through your mind as an athlete with all that he just talked about?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So obviously, like there was talk that she was going to be in a suit and obviously that kind of scares you because you're like this, like doesn't happen. But honestly I just used it as more motivation for me personally because obviously I wanted to get the win and I wanted to go fast time but also the motivation that, oh, I was helping her out, oh, I like I can help her, I can help her achieve her goal. And that's kind of like the way I looked at it, Like, oh, she wants to swim next to me, Like hopefully I can help her get her cut, but also do well personally.
Speaker 3:Oh, I never would have thought of that. That's part of your approach.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, aren't you a good person?
Speaker 5:It was a it was a super cool experience.
Speaker 4:So I've been around enough to know wait a minute, why is that girl got a tech suit? I actually went up to Steve and said, steve, why is this girl suiting up? And it was all because of the taper and conference meet and state meet and all of those types of things. But then as you touched her out in that relay, the final race in that pool, just all of the girls around and the excitement on the team, it was really really quite awesome just to be down there on the deck and be a part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one one hundreds is literally like a fingernail, like ahead of her, so it was crazy.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah, We've had one of those close touch offs before my my first year here at West Ottawa when I was at the Holland Aquatic Center. Right State championship.
Speaker 3:Do you ever have that often where you get a little extra fire?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean definitely competitors have something to do with that. Like, if I see, oh, that girl's in a suit, like it's going to motivate me a little bit more. But it also just depends on, like, what my goals are personally. Like, if I have a goal going into the season and I know that this is my last chance, or something like that, then I'll definitely get more pumped and working hard to achieve it.
Speaker 3:What are your own personal goals, going into conference and then going presumably into state?
Speaker 1:Yeah, into conference. I definitely want to get that conference title in the hunter back and honestly just improve my time for the season and then into state, hopefully get top three, and I want to get down to a 55 again in the hunter back and re-break my own record. You feel like you can do it? I think so. You got that home cooking, yes.
Speaker 3:You should be pretty good with that. What coach shared with me the other night too is this was something I didn't know, didn't know about, but when people go to state they can only do two events correct. So you kind of that who is in what event? Variable right, like who's doing what. Can you guys just briefly maybe explain that to the listening crowd?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you can only obviously pick two events, and a lot of, like the top swimmers qualify in more than one event. So it's honestly just going to be a gamble to see who's in what event and who's in front of you, who's behind you, or oh, the person that should win is actually in a different event, so then you get a better chance. So it's honestly kind of nice, because I know like there's other sports that like everyone just competes together, but it's definitely different knowing that my top competitor in the hunter back might not actually swim the backstroke.
Speaker 3:That's quite something yeah.
Speaker 5:And I, and I think you know part of that in. You know, as you know, she talked about being top three and going her best time. I think you got to focus on the things that you can control, right. And so, going into that meet, she's going to prepare to swim the 100 backstroke and she's going to set that goal of going to 55. And you know, and she's talking about, top three is, you know, is a state championship possible? It is, and you know part of that will possibly depend on who swims it. All of those things kind of come into play every year. So for her to have that mindset of setting those goals that you know are in her control, and then the rest will kind of play itself out.
Speaker 3:Once you get through that, you'll probably go back to doing some more training, but next year, of course. You made your decision last spring, I believe right, and you're going to Hope College. So congratulations. First of all, thank you. I mean, not everybody gets to do college athletics. Kudos 3%, is it 3%? Wow, so good for you. I mean, you've been getting looked at since you were younger. When I talked to your mom about it, you were kind of like most kids from this area and it's like I'm not going to school this close to home, right, yeah, but when you walked around campus, things started to change. Can you just maybe share that with us?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the first time I had even thought about college I immediately said I would never go to Hope Way too close. I mean, I had never been on the campus. I was like too small, too close to home, it's absolutely just not a chance. But campus, I was like too small, too, too close to home, like it's absolutely just not a chance.
Speaker 3:But then, after like touring a couple of different schools.
Speaker 1:I realized that you went out to Oakland, right, and I, after touring a couple of schools and just like reaching out to like their coaches, I knew that like hope was like where I wanted to be and touring the campus it's super nice and I didn't know that the small, like homey feel is just the best fit for me.
Speaker 3:It's a gorgeous campus.
Speaker 1:It really is.
Speaker 3:And what kind of things did you do on that tour day? Did you do any special things that stood out?
Speaker 1:On the tour day I just toured like the campus but previously I had like been to a couple like volleyball and like basketball games with the team and honestly, just the team culture really like solidified my decision because they were like family and I could totally see myself like hanging out with all of them.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's really great, so you could see yourself fitting in. Yes, and it's a great academic school, just a wonderful place to be the campus. The downtown head coach, jake Tabor you really liked his style as well, right.
Speaker 1:Yes, I really, really liked Tabor ever since he reached out to me for the first time, I think.
Speaker 1:I mean his kids were on the same club team as us, so like we could kind of talk as like not recruiting right so that definitely helped a lot because I was able to build like a good relationship with him before the recruiting process, which, if you know, like coaches can't reach out to until you're a certain age, but like this wasn't really anything about college at all, which was really nice, and I learned like he's a good person, he cares about me and then, once the recruiting process started, he is a really really good recruiter and he would try any chance he got to convince me to come to Hope.
Speaker 3:It's nice to be wanted.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and it felt good. And also he set up all the different things with the teams for me and it, just like you said, it felt good to be wanted.
Speaker 3:They have a pretty good uh team there too, right? I mean they're 13th ranked in division three right now. I think it's four straight miaa championships, a lot of top 20 finishes nationally. When you get there, do you believe you'll have the chance to be an impactful swimmer early?
Speaker 1:I think so. I hope to. I hope to be. Yes, I definitely got to work hard to solidify my relay spots and one of my goals for college swimming is to make it to NCAAs, so hopefully I can earn my spot there and impact the team in that way.
Speaker 3:What are your plans on a career? Where are you going to take it? Hope, or are you just an idea?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. I'm thinking of like exercise, science, physical therapy kind of route. Honestly, I haven't really done much like thinking about it, but definitely something and you don't have to know this early definitely something along the lines of.
Speaker 4:That's really sweet, steve. What's it like for you to have a student athlete who's going to go on and compete at the college level but is going to be kind of right here and you'll be able to continue to kind of follow Kenzie and her journey?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's, it's pretty exciting, I think. I think that Kenzie made a great choice. We had a lot of conversations about college swimming and you know what was going to be the right fit for her and I think at the end of the day she she knew early on that hope was was the right fit and I think you skill set is now her work ethic, all of those things. She's going to have a tremendous impact on their program and there's a reason that Coach Tabor contacted her as much as he did and recruited her as hard as he did, because she is going to go in there and have a chance to be on those NCAA relays. She's going to have an excellent chance of making the NCAA meet individually as well and it is kind of cool to every now and then I'd be able to pop over and see a meet and maybe even one of these days, hope may come over our way for a meet in our new aquatic facilities.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was going to say normally at the end of a podcast I'll say, hey, it was nice to sit down with you, we'll watch you from afar. But it's not going to be from afar. You're going to be swimming at the Dow and then, very likely at some point you will circle back, driving probably close to that same parking lot that you've been hitting for years, and there'll be this brand new aquatic facility there and you'll likely compete. How do you feel about that? That that might just be here and you get to come back and swim there likely.
Speaker 1:I'm super excited when I found out there was going to be a new pool. I mean, not very many schools have 50-meter pools, so for West Ottawa to be one of those, it's insane.
Speaker 3:And are you part of the tile committee?
Speaker 5:She just bought stock in tile. She should be, you should be.
Speaker 3:You should have a special role, special title. How about you?
Speaker 5:Steve, are you looking at well, we kind of answered that already, but I mean you're looking forward to that new facility. Oh, absolutely, we're very, very blessed, you know, to be getting a 50-meter facility. And just to kind of think about, you know the different events that we're going to be able to host. You know I love coaching. I'm also a big fan of swimming. Coaching, I'm also a big fan of swimming. And so to think about you know, possibly you know, hosting an MIAA championship and being able to be there for that, and you know help host that meet and watch those meets.
Speaker 5:It's going to be a lot of fun and it's really going to be spectator friendly, right the way it's being developed, yeah, so we're going to be the only you know, the only current facility in Michigan that will have kind of stadium-like seating and basically seating on both sides of the pool.
Speaker 1:East Grand Rapids a little bit has that setup.
Speaker 5:but this will be a much different feel and it's going to be an environment unlike any other when we host big meets.
Speaker 3:Kenzie, as we finish, I have to say it's been really fun to sit down with you. You talked about you looking up to older swimmers when you got started. You've been that person for a little while now. A lot of young swimmers look up to you. I try to come up with a unique question that I thought would be good to finish up. So are there any words of advice that a senior, mackenzie Baldwin, would give to a seventh or eighth grade or freshman, mackenzie Baldwin? What might you say to that young girl now that you've come this far and done what you've done? What might you say to her?
Speaker 1:That's a really hard question, you know I don't know.
Speaker 3:I'm challenging you.
Speaker 1:I'd probably just tell myself to believe in myself, because from a young age I struggled with some pre-race nerves, but honestly there's no reason for it and it all will work out and your hard work will pay off.
Speaker 4:That's a great answer.
Speaker 3:That pause was worth it. There was a thing on Steve Jobs the other day and they asked him a question. He paused for like a minute and that's you know when you're getting good answers when someone takes that long pause. Coach, you got to coach for the last four years a swimmer of this caliber. What's it been like for you?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's been definitely a rewarding journey for me as a coach. Not every day do you get a young lady that just comes in from day one and just wants to work hard is an incredible teammate and the things that she's brought to our program. You can't always teach that and it's been a lot of fun and I'm really, really excited about the next couple of weeks to watch her kind of close out her West Ottawa career.
Speaker 3:We want to really thank you both for coming on. You have a busy two days ahead of you, starting tomorrow, and then what a taper train balancing act for the next couple weeks.
Speaker 5:I love that he's trying.
Speaker 4:He's trying really hard to get the swim lingo.
Speaker 3:So, if you're listening, I was able to sit down with these two coaches here tonight and they just talk about taper all the time, so I'm like I've got to find a place for taper.
Speaker 4:And maybe, Steve, will you just give us maybe a snapshot of what a taper is for the folks that are not ingrained in swim.
Speaker 5:So, kind of simply put, a taper is basically resting up to perform your best, and the primary reason you don't taper multiple times throughout the season is because we do bring them down to a point where if we try to swim again in two weeks it's not going to be as good as it was this weekend, and so it's, you know, it's a little bit more than just a simple rest for a big dual meet or that sort of thing.
Speaker 5:So really we've kind of, you know, we've been doing the morning practices, the three to five, 30, the weight room, and when we get to taper we cut out the morning practices. And you know, the first week of taper is still. We're still pretty putting in some pretty good yardage, but we're coming down a little bit. In the weight room we're not going to get on those. You know power racks and you know really break them down from a resistance standpoint. And then you know, probably the two to three days before their, you know their meet, we, you know it's just a lot of warmup and warm down and you know, just getting the body ready to to swim fast.
Speaker 3:All right, I think the explanation of the taper was actually longer than the taper itself. Yeah, all right. Well, hey, thanks for both coming on. It's an absolute pleasure. We'll be watching you over the next couple of days and at state at the aquatic center.
Speaker 5:Thank you guys, thanks so much, thanks for having us.
