“I grew up in a small town in Maine. In a small white rural town, everybody knows each other. You come to learn that there are people who genuinely care for you but there are also people who enjoy gossiping about any dirt they can find on you. It can make you feel like you can’t be vulnerable, but I believe being vulnerable is a superpower. Shame and blame is so unproductive. Vulnerability allows for better connection with other humans no matter what their lens on life is.
After I graduated from college, I went back to Maine to figure out what was next. I was an aspiring journalist full of wanderlust, and I still am. I feel that desire allows me to be my authentic self no matter where I am. I love embracing the culture of wherever I am and learning from the people around me. As a side job, I decided to help my former club coach run swim practices in the afternoons. That’s when I remembered what it felt like to love swimming. Watching these ten-year-old’s run onto the pool deck from the locker rooms with so much enthusiasm reminded me about the passion and connection that I felt at their age. Ten-year-old Lianne was badass. She was confident and engaged in the present moment. There is beauty in being innocent – before you realize you could be good at something you are free to go for it with no expectations and be right where you are.
The fact that I came back to the sport of swimming was not what I expected. I thought I hated swimming when I completed undergrad. Looking back, I know throughout my college swimming career I was putting too much pressure on myself. I honestly avoid looking back on my own swimming experience in college because it meant so much to me and it didn’t go the way I dreamed. It causes me a lot of shame to think about how I was. Deep down, I didn’t hate swimming. I remember listening to teammates of mine in the locker room say they couldn’t wait to be done with swimming, and I just thought to myself, ‘I can’t imagine being done with swimming.’ I knew that swimming would always be a part of my life.
I decided to go to graduate school at Smith College for a degree in Exercise & Sports Studies. It was essentially a masters in coaching. My first class was called Fundamentals of Coaching, and everything resonated with me: what it means to be a coach, to help people be the best version of themself and focus on encouraging them to be that. In this class, I realized that I was where I was meant to be.
I try to frame everything around openness and humility, not being judgmental. I don’t need to prove anything; I just want to connect with people and experience life. I want to learn a person’s story so I can help them seek their full potential. If there are things that a swimmer needs to fix technically, I want to approach that in a way, so they aren’t defeated by their weaknesses, but inspired to grow and be better. I want them to see it as an opportunity to be resilient and become stronger.”
– Lianne McCluskey, Lebanon, NH
