ABBIE FISH

ABBIE FISH

From Swimming Like to Swim Like A. Fish

With a last name like “Fish”, it seems that Abbie was destined to be involved with the water. At the age of four, Abbie remembers convincing her mom to join the summer swim team with her older brother. Soon after, she started competing for that same summer league team in North Carolina and continued to make her mark in the pool as an age group swimmer with the Raleigh Swim Team (RSA). During High School, she swam for Lakeside Swim Team in Kentucky and eventually garnered a collegiate scholarship at one of the best schools in the country, University of Georgia, and qualified for six events at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Although she indeed did swim like a fish, Abbie’s journey was not typical. Her athletic skills were not just devoted to swimming, but also to volleyball, basketball, and soccer. She recalls how in her sophomore year of high school she was on the volleyball team and made US Nationals in swimming. At that point, she says, her swim coach sat her down and mentioned she may want to focus on swimming because she had a lot of potential. Her best event was the 200 fly. “I enjoyed the grit and grind you had to have to finish the 200,” Abbie commented. After heeding her coach’s suggestion, that grit and grind led Abbie to the Olympic Trials where she was seeded top 8 in her events at age 17. While she thought she was mentally ready to handle the pressure, she admits to falling short of her goals and had what she calls “a disappointing meet”. She went on to swim for the University of Georgia—keeping her Olympic dreams in mind, but like many high caliber athletes— the journey towards an Olympic dream was a bumpy one. After dealing with multiple injuries, she eventually decided to retire after her senior year and step away from the sport completely.

She would later credit these very disappointments as wonderful learning experiences that led her to ultimately become a coach and internationally-renowned stroke technician. “If I hadn’t had those disappointments, I couldn’t help other people

succeed through the same pressures” Abbie explains. “I’m not sure I would have become a coach if I had made the Olympic team.” Today, she is proud to use her experiences to help mentor others to achieve their dreams. When Abbie stepped away from the sport, she decided to grad school to get a masters in Strength and Conditioning and a friend

encouraged her to try coaching. She wasn’t sure at first, but soon after—dove face first into the sport again. After completing her masters, she got offered an internship at USA Swimming in their National Team department, where Abbie completely fell in love with the bio-mechanic skill work. “This was not your traditional coaching role,” Abbie notes, “it was very defined swim-technique instruction and subset coaching. On top of that, I got to work with some of the best athletes in the world—including USA Swimming’s group of Bio-mechanists: Russel Mark, Katie Arnold, and Matt Barbini. We traveled to National and Junior National competitions working with these athletes on their technique and race strategies.”

After the internship was over, Abbie was inspired to work more as a “non-traditional” coach and sought out opportunities to bring her experience to all swimmers-not just national level athletes. She spearheaded a new program at Nashville Aquatic Club as their Technology Coordinator, then moved on to coach at the Race Club in the Florida

Keys. Later, she partnered with Ritter Sports Performance. All of these opportunities allowed Abbie to expand her role beyond the “traditional coach” and helped her create an online platform to become an international stroke technician.

This past year, after traveling overseas to study under different coaches in Australia, and Southeast Asia, Abbie launched her own online, educational platform on swimming stroke technique for both swimmers and coaches called Swim Like A. Fish. Her business is designed to help people learn different swimming technique styles and how to implement them. Based out of Louisville, Kentucky, her main objective is to provide an opportunity through a membership-based site to take any swimmer and coach from learning something new - to - how to teach it to someone else. Basically, it takes each member through all steps of the learning curve.

With membership, anyone can have access to the different technique topics that rotate each month. Her platform is more educational than training based. “The idea is that you can learn a technique, then see how it is done via visuals, and then see it done really well, and then finally analyze yourself in motion,” describes Abbie.

Abbie now sees Swim Like A. Fish as her avenue to continue to fulfill her life goal/ mission of helping as many people as possible achieve goals they didn’t think were possible, and in turn—become a better person along the way.

When she is not coaching technique, you can always find Abbie around your local swimming pool and/or getting some laps in herself.

To learn more on Swim Like A. Fish, visit: www.swimlikeafish.org. You can also follow Abbie on social media via @ theafish1—Instagram, @afish1—Twitter, @ fishswimfaster—Facebook.