Congratulations to Matthea Gaines, KING/PLU athlete, who recently represented the USA at the Deaflympics in Tokyo, Japan November 20-25, 2025. She swam 6 individual events and several relays. She won the bronze medal in the woman’s 800 meter freestyle Read more >> https://www.pns.org/page/news/562102/pns-swimmer-represents-usa-at-deaflympics-2025

From the USA Swimming website... By TrueSport Expert, Deborah Gilboa, MD Change is inevitable, but it’s also scary. Whether you get promoted to team leader or cut from the starting lineup, your brain is programmed to produce stress. However, it's possible to become more skilled at dealing with change by building your resilience muscles. Read more >>

From the Swimming World website... By Nicole E. Johnson, Swimming World College Intern Behind all of the hard work and dedication that swimming takes, there are swim parents who have stood by you and pushed you to be your very best. Most athletes would agree that they would not have come as far in their sport if it weren’t for their parents’ support. Although there are endless reasons to appreciate your parents, here are some of the top reasons to be thankful for your swim parents. Read more >>

From the Swimming World website... By Elise Devlin Swim meets are pretty much the ideal place to people watch. Every swimmer prepares to race fast completely differently. This can all depend on your personality, your meet lineup, or even what kind of day you’re having. Yet every swimmer has their own set of pre-race rituals, or just a way they tend to carry themselves on meet day. When evaluating all of this, you’ll notice that each swimmer falls under a category. Read more >>

From the USA Deaf Swimming page... Don't be fooled. USA's Matthea Gaines from Pacific Lutheran Univerity is ferocious in the water. Team USA is ready for competition to start tomorrow. Go USA!! Matthea Gaines is coached at PLU by Andrew Lum and is also a KING swimmer. Here is an article about Matthea found in the NCAA website. Read more >>

From the Swimming World website... By Summer Finke As Thanksgiving rolls around, swimmers, families and coaches across the country naturally find themselves thinking about what they are thankful for. Between the early mornings, the long meets, and the endless hours spent around the water, the sport has a way of shaping our lives in big and small ways. Through all of it, swimming continues to give us countless reasons to be grateful. This season feels like the perfect time to pause and recognize them. Read more >>

From the Swimming World website... By Jamie Ross As an athlete, you are always on display. Every time you go out to compete, you are under a microscope. Rivals assessing your results. Friends and coaches hoping for the best. Neutrals looking for an exciting race. It is a pressure cooker of an environment. Everyone, from people you have never met to your closest confidants, are expectant. Read More >>

From the USA Swimming website... By TrueSport Expert, Deborah Gilboa, MD Change is inevitable, but for a young athlete, even a positive change can bring up feelings of stress and anxiety. For caregivers, it can be tempting to try to step in and solve every perceived problem or issue your athlete has, but if an athlete is going to grow and develop in their sport and life, you need to allow them the space to process change and figure out how to move through challenges. However, there are ways that...

From the Swimming World website... By JORI RZEPECKI The coach-parent relationship is critical as athletes work toward improving and achieving their goals. In many cases, this relationship is smooth and proves beneficial. Unfortunately, there are times when parents do not give room to coaches to allow them to perform their roles. Conversely, parents sometimes see elements of a coaching style that they do not appreciate. Here are six ways coaches and parents can successfully work together. Read more >>

From the Swimming World website... By Katie Wingert, Swimming World College Intern Swimming alone can be a struggle between staring at the black line and wanting to smash your incessantly beeping tempo trainer with your fins. Ideally, we swimmers would always have a team to practice with. Sometimes, though, life gets complicated. School commitments conflict with practice times. Vacations pull us away from our teams. Pools need to be drained and renovated. Read more >>