Welcome Masters swimmers, triathletes, and anyone striving to live well and swim well! Hear powerful interviews with world-class champions, leading experts, and everyday heroes—sharing tips, tools, and stories to boost your motivation, training, and life performance. Hosted by Kelly Palace , Masters Swimming Champion, coach, author, and former NCAA Division I head coach. A podcast that champions you!
Saves to your Listen queue, to pick up on another day or another device.
Shattering the Age Barrier: How a 5'3" (160cm) "Underdog" is Obliterating World Records at 65 with Jeanette Brits, EP 322
Are you worried that your best performances are behind you? Do you ever step up to the blocks—or walk into a room—and feel entirely underestimated because of your age or size? Or worry that your time out of the water will prevent you from success? This week on Champion's Mojo, we are sitting down with a true generational talent who is completely rewriting the rules of super agers and performance…
Are Your Swim Workouts Making You Slower? with Masters Hall of Famer David Guthrie, EP 321
With over 50 World Records and a Masters Hall of Fame induction, you might think the average swimmer doesn't have much in common with the legendary David Guthrie—but you’d be surprised. At age 66, he considers himself as fragile as a "teacup." He’s battled debilitating injuries, navigated career curveballs, and learned from his fair share of training mistakes. So how do you continue breaking world…
How to Fix Your Freestyle Catch and Stop Shoulder Pain with Elite Coach Kim Brackin, EP 320
It's all about the catch! If you get this right you'll feel powerful and protect your shoulders. You'll hear it in detail from NCAA Championship and Olympic-level swim coach Kim Brackin, Founder of Brackin Elite Swim Training (BEST) who breaks down how everyday Masters swimmers can build a powerful, "connected" stroke that protects their joints and drives maximum propulsion. Kim also shares the…
Sprint Faster With This Trick From All-American Masters Swimmer Ryan Kloppe, EP 319
Host Kelly Palace and Guest Co-Host Mark Palace sit down with world-ranked, All-American Masters swimmer (and CPA!) 46-Year Old Ryan Kloppe for an action-packed dive into performance hacks, smart gear, and real-life swimming wisdom. Whether you’re looking to scientifically optimize your pre-race warm-up, level up your gear bag, or just hear one of the most unique underwater marriage proposals…
Olympic Gold to Masters Joy: Ryan Held's Love of Swimming Shines, EP 318
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Held sits down with host Kelly Palace in an on-deck interview at the Pegasus Masters meet in Dallas, Texas. Since retiring from professional swimming, Ryan has relocated to Prosper, Texas, stepped into the joys of fatherhood, and transitioned his relationship with the pool through Masters Swimming. What happens when you strip away the pressure of professional…
Legends Masters Architect and 200 Flyer Extraordinaire: Andy Kroupa, EP 317
What does it take to build a thriving Masters swim club from scratch, manage a demanding corporate career, and still have the grit to chase top-10 national rankings in the grueling 200-meter butterfly? In this special on-deck interview from the Bumpy Jones Classic in Sarasota, Florida, Kelly sits down with Andy Kroupa —a true champion of the everyday swimming community. Andy isn't just an elite…
Trading the High Profile for the Pool: Bethany Burchill’s Leap of Passion, EP 316
We meet Bethany Burchill, Manager Club and Member Services, US Masters Swimming and trace how she goes from swimmer to athletic director to an important position on the National Office Staff of US Masters Swimming. Bethany's passion for swimming changed the trajectory of her well-established high-profile career as an athletic director. Her own love of the sport and her family's deep roots in…
From Pro Triathlete to Deck Referee: Why Officiating Swimming Is So Rewarding: Chet Goudy, EP 315
You can love swimming and still feel intimidated by the rulebook, the whistles, and the idea of disqualifying someone. That hesitation is exactly why we wanted an on-deck conversation with Chet Goudy, a USA Swimming deck referee, Masters swimmer, former college breaststroker, and former pro triathlete. He walks us through what a deck ref actually does, what it feels like to run a session from the…
The Secret Clock of Aging: Telomeres, Longevity, and Peak Performance, EP 314
Molecular biologist, gerontologist and Ultra Marathoner, Dr. Bill Andrews, a pioneer in telomere and telomerase research, sits down with Kelly and makes the case that telomere shortening is the most important clock driving human aging for healthy people and that real “rejuvenation” has to show up in function, not just numbers on a lab report. His blunt standard is the “Betty White test”: can you…
Five Rules For Swimming Your Personal Best, EP 313
Coach Kelly Palace shares five rules for swimmers to achieve their personal best. We break down five repeatable rules Kelly has seen across hundreds of champions, from Olympic swimmers to NCAA standouts to masters legends. We talk about picking a goal that creates real emotional pull, then reverse engineering it into pace targets, meet choices, and bite sized milestones you can execute. We also…
How to Create A Championship Culture: Greg Clink, EP 312
Ever wonder what separates an average swim lane or team from a championship-level squad? Culture isn’t a poster on the wall—it’s the way your team operates on an ordinary Wednesday morning when you're staring at the black line and nobody is trying to be inspirational. In this episode, we sit down with Greg Clink, 3-time Coach of the Year in basketball, who's a leadership expert, to put a real…
