BEMIDJI 鈥� Woody Leindecker has coached swimming and diving at Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 since before his son Jaxon was born.
Woody started out about 25 years ago. Now, Jaxon, two-plus years removed from his senior year at BHS (2020-21), is back at the high school pool supporting his father and helping run Bemidji鈥檚 home meets. He鈥檚 also a developing coach of his own, recently working with Bemidji鈥檚 club swimmers in the Bemidji Area Super Swimmers program.
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鈥淩ight when he graduated high school, he went and got certified with United States Swimming as a certified swimming coach, and then he's just been learning ever since,鈥� Woody said. 鈥淥r actually, he's been learning since he was sitting in a car seat here coming into practice and watching.鈥�
These days, Jaxon is doing much more than just observing. He was one of 30 young coaches who received a grant to travel to Dallas in September to attend the American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic, and he鈥檚 brought some tips and tricks back to Bemidji.
Jaxon is at the world swimming coaches clinic this week in Dallas, Texas. He was 1 of 30 swim coaches under the age of 30 that was awarded a grant from ASCA to attend. He is networking and learning a lot from some of the best coaches in the world.
— Woody Leindecker (@LeindeckerWoody)
鈥淚t was towards the end of my high school career (when I knew I wanted to coach),鈥� Jaxon said. 鈥淚 knew that (my swimming career) was coming to an end with an injury and just kind of burnout with the sport. I've always been around swimming my whole life, and I wanted to extend that. And I've always enjoyed teaching people. So I thought I could combine the two, and that led to swim coaching.鈥�
In Dallas, Jaxon mingled with internationally renowned coaches from several different countries. But what he learned mirrored much of what his father emphasized back home.
鈥淗e brought back a lot that he's been (using) with the club team, with some of the younger kids,鈥� Woody said. 鈥淎 lot of it just reaffirms what we have been doing in all of our programs. 鈥� It is cool to have somebody around, because throughout the years, it's always hard to find someone to run your club team while you're in the high school season.鈥�
鈥淚t's always good to know these world-class coaches are doing the same thing you're doing,鈥� Jaxon echoed. 鈥淎nd if it works for their kids, it's working for yours as well. 鈥� I took more notes in my three full days there than in my first year (at Bemidji State). So I've been like a mad scientist this fall trying new things. Some work. Some don't.鈥�
Meanwhile, Woody鈥檚 BHS girls bunch took on Moorhead on Thursday at their home pool. The Spuds garnered 101 team points to the Lumberjacks鈥� 83 in a competitive meet.
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The Jacks posted a number of solid times and top finishes. Elle Wille topped the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:08.42. Abby Daman topped the 50 free in 26.52. Elena Harmsen led the 100 free with a time of 1:00.23, and the team of Ryan Gaskins, Molly Matetich, Harmsen and Wille combined to lead the 400 free relay field with a composite time of 4:05.88.
Kennedy Olson notched the best diving score with a point total of 209.9. Ridley Hadrava placed third with a total of 198.75 points.
鈥淚 thought our team raced very well tonight,鈥� Woody said. 鈥淲e had a lot of season-best times. And it's good to see that, because the last couple of weeks, we鈥檝e kind of bumped into a different phase in our training. We've been doing a lot of race-pace training, and you could really see that in the racing tonight. So I'm optimistic here if we can just stay healthy for the next month and hit Brainerd (for the Section 8AA meet) in November.鈥�
In the coming weeks, the Jacks will pivot to a potpourri of training techniques in preparation for the stretch run. Woody鈥檚 enjoyed what he鈥檚 seen from this year鈥檚 squad so far, and he鈥檚 looking forward to what鈥檚 ahead.
鈥淚t's a good group,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's a lot of them. It鈥檚 one of our bigger teams we've had. We鈥檝e got 35. So there are a lot of athletes to manage. 鈥� (Practice will) be a steady diet of race strategy, race pace and at the same time keeping the aerobic system there too. And then a couple, three weeks out, we'll start dialing back and peaking (for the section meet).鈥�
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