New Orleans photography » A Big Easy photo blog

Coach Lou is my daughter’s swim coach. He holds an MS in Astrophysics (among other impressive achievements) and is strikingly intelligent and personable.

Last summer, he spent all of 10 minutes showing Lexi some stroke tips that were so simple it almost blew our minds, and the following weekend she smashed her previous best time by 3 seconds! This fall, we enrolled her in his Competition Swim Clinic where he works the kids in intensive competition swim training one hour a week. In the five weeks that they focused on backstroke this fall, Lexi improved her overall time by 13 percent, the equivalent of 6 and a half yards in the pool! The stats from Coach Lou’s clinics speak for themselves.

I’m fascinated by people like Coach Lou, people who have a keen understanding of their job, execute the development of an idea flawlessly, operate on a straightforward, efficient philosophy and love their job so much, it’s hard for onlookers to distinguish the fine line that divides their work from fun.