The right equipment

A while back I explained exactly how our everyday Olympian (and others just like him) make a living. I wrote about it here. It is slightly less glorified than Michael Jordan's multi-million dollar NBA contract paired with a multi-gazillion dollar shoe deal. In fact, it is a combination of working your butt off on the road traveling to clinics, appearances, and speaking engagements and working your butt of in the pool in order to swim fast and place in the top two in the country to secure your USOC/USA Swimming stipend. Some have suit contracts and other endorsements, too. Mark was once sponsored by TYR (2004-2006) and then was sponsored by Speedo (2007-2008). Suit contracts are usually comprised of base salary (sometimes based off of world rankings--so, again, you gotta be speedy) and performance-based bonuses. At the end of the day, you've got to be fast (and consistently fast) to bring home the cash money.

As most of you know or have heard me blab my big mouth about, the tech-suits threw a wrench into the world of suit contracts. In 2008 Speedo had the fastest suit, so besides a few top tier folks (i.e. Michael Phelps and company), Speedo didn't need guys like our everyday Olympian to sell a suit. They had the market cornered. Thus ended (or just not renewed) Mark's Speedo contract. Then in 2009, a handful of super suits hit the market. In a mad dash and frantic game of musical suits, athletes were ignoring (now maybe we're realizing this was a mistake) the pursuit of a suit contract so that they could have the flexibility to wear the hottest, fastest, suit of the moment. Next, in 2010, the super suits were locked away and athletes were back on the, "Hello my name is _________, and I'd like a suit contract" journey.

Last summer Mark swam great (like SUPER great). He proved, again (it has been 12 years since Mark made his first national team) that he was a force to be reckoned with. But, still not a bite on his, "Hello my name is Mark..." pitch. So it is time to get serious. Mark and his secretary (ME!) are going beyond a mere introduction. We are saying "THIS IS WHY I'D BE GOOD FOR YOUR COMPANY..."

Why the renewed sense of urgency with the suit stuff? Mark attended a national team training camp a couple of weeks ago. The USA Swimming sports psychologist spoke to the team about feeling prepared. He said that it wasn't enough to feel prepared in the water, but that you must be totally prepared outside of the water, too. This includes having the right equipment and feeling confident that you have the means to accomplish your goals (in PhD world we call this "means efficacy"). So, Mark decided that we had had enough close calls with the suits. Remember, in 2009 we were rushing around right up until Mark's race to find him the right suit (Thank you to Nathan Jendrick, Megan's husband, for saving the day!). Then last summer, I was involved in a complicated situation in which our friend, Laure, and I were trying to successfully get a suit shipped from Japan, to France, and then to California in less than a week. If you don't remember the story click here. Well, beyond a pay check, having a suit contract means that your suits, the right suits, are shipped to you before your races. You don't have to worry about the right suit, or the shipping, or how stretched out your old suit is in case you have to wear it again. A brand new suit is just there... like magic. This is now our motivation to lock in a suit contract (though a paycheck would be nice, too). Financially we're hanging in there without a contract, but for Mark (and his confidence), a suit contract would ease the anxiety, nerves, and concern leading up to each race.

At the end of the day it is the swimmer in the suit that swims the race... but, a feeling confident in the suit you wear and the company that stands behind you is key.

BBM/UPS/FRA to USA

Sounds like a bunch of jibberish, huh? Well this is what I have been doing this morning. First, I get a BBM (blackberry messenger) from our dear friend who is in France. She is trying to ship a swim suit to Mark (who is in Newport Beach, CA). This suit is the suit that Mark has chosen to race in next week. The manufacturer is actually in Japan... Are you following me? Okay, here it is more simply:

Mark's friend is sponsored by a Japanese company. Mark borrowed this friend's suit a few weeks ago and LOVED racing in it. So, he asked his friend to borrow one. This friend is currently racing at a different meet in Europe right now, so it is up to us wives and girlfriends to get the job done. The suit was shipped from Japan to France and now we (the wife and the girlfriend) are trying to get it from France to California as to not burden the boys with the task while they are focusing on fast swimming. What would they do without us?!

So I get a BBM from our friend (the girlfriend) in France. She asks me to set up a UPS account so that she can ship the suit to Mark. I do so and send the UPS account info to her. She tries to set up the shipment but has trouble. Technical error. Ugh x a million. I hate technology and evidently this hatred is a worldwide phenonmenon because our friend BBMs me to tell me that the computer is 'killing' her. After a phone call to UPS (USA) and a retreival of the phone number for UPS (France) she is able to use our newly created UPS account to set up a shipment for Mark's suit.

We BBM back and forth a while longer to confirm phone numbers, zip codes and account numbers. All for a tiny little suit.

I cannot express how thankful I am for all of our friends around the world that have a hand in Mark's career. I told our friend that Mark should definitely dedicate his swims next week to her and her family.

So, when you watch Mark's races on the computer next week (I know all of you will be glued to results just like me, right?), notice the little suit that he is wearing. It is a special suit that will have experienced quit a journey just to land on his rear end for less than a minute (fingers crossed for a sub-1-minute race) of swimming.

And you thought a suit was just a suit...