“May your laps be as happy as mine.”
November 23, 2017 12:05 PM   Subscribe

R.I.P. Terry Laughlin, founder of Total Immersion Swimming, a technique emphasizing streamlining, mindfulness and working with the water which has proven incredibly effective in teaching even adult hold-outs to become not just at ease, but confident, graceful swimmers.

Terry died on the 20th October 2017, aged 66, of complications related to metastatic prostate cancer, which he'd been living with for the past 2 years.

Tribute on www.totalimmersion.net

Obituaries: The New York Times, The Economist, Newsday, Swimming World, Outside Online.

A long interview, recorded 2 weeks before his death: Terry Laughlin, The Master Who Changed My Life
posted by protorp (5 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
I’ve done this style of swimming. It feels very meditative and calm. It’s weird; you do less work and you start going faster.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:10 PM on November 23, 2017


Aw man.
I've moved on from some of his theories (I became an overglider) but the core idea he brought to the table really changed how so many of us swim.
posted by notsnot at 6:59 PM on November 23, 2017


This is sad. I did a course with him many years ago, it was possibly his first one in the UK and I was probably the only non-triathlete there. The event was at Cheltenham Ladies College, itself a truly surreal glimpse of how the 1% go to education. He was inspirational and 66 was too young.
posted by epo at 1:17 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


.

At 42 I have just started training with a group for my first 2km ocean swim. The technical coaching we are being taught has obvious debts to Total Immersion. Years of competitive squad training in high school pretty much beat the love of swimming out of me, but I am shocked how much I am enjoying getting back in the pool.

Thank you so much, Terry.
posted by arha at 3:42 AM on November 24, 2017


.

One of the greatest teachers of one of the greatest pastimes.
posted by Mike Smith at 9:38 AM on November 24, 2017


« Older Maybe the worst thanksgiving ever for someone who...   |   "Everyone is a competitor" Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments