We sat down with Russell Mark, the USA National Team High Performance Manager AKA Technique Guru. Russell was literally a rocket scientist before he was working in swimming, but the love for swimming actually came first. After swimming in high school, Mark went to the University of Virginia for academics, but tried to walk onto the swim team, then led by the legendary Mark Bernadino. After 1 year of trying, Mark got a walk-on spot in his sophomore year.
After finding out his life as a rock scientist would be the movie Office Space, Mark pursued an internship at USA Swimming, where he was mentored by Jonty Skinner. The rest is history, with Mark currently traveling around the country doing routine checks with the entire National and Jr national team as well as going to every major US and international meet.
Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com