Hi Coach Nick, It’s Chloe! I just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful camp. There’s always so much more I learn at each one. I look forward to telling you about making states this Varsity season!
In 1996, Olympic Coach Nick Baker started PEAK on the idea that swimmers must train their minds, bodies, and skill sets together. 30 years in, we’re gathering voices of swimmers, parents, coaches who lived it:
Hi Coach Nick, It’s Chloe! I just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful camp. There’s always so much more I learn at each one. I look forward to telling you about making states this Varsity season!
Chloe has made such improvements in her swimming thanks to Coach Nick’s coaching. Her self-confidence has skyrocketed and it shows with time improvements at every meet since working with Coach Nick. She has really taken to his approach and absolutely enjoys camps with Nick!Chloe would love to have as many lessons with Coach Nick this summer as possible.
Coach Baker, we attended your March 28-29 Westchester, NY swim camp. Dylan had a series of personal best times in his last meet and he put them all in his “confidence bank!”
Thank you for Emma’s wonderful video review. We appreciate the information and feedback. Thank you so much!
Dear Coach Baker,
Thank you for being so generous with your time and expertise and coaching the Blackhawk Country Club Swim Team kids last week. The kids and families we’ve heard from had a blast. A special thank you from the HOX Executive Board for coming to our parent party and auction the next evening. Your visit was a special treat for all!
It was our pleasure to host you. We hope you’ll stop by again soon!
Competitive swimming has been a significant part of my life for as long as I can remember. In many ways, it has shaped me into the person I am today. It has taught me so much, scared me sometimes, but overall has reinforced discipline, time management, respect, and it has allowed me to develop a very broad and beautiful sense of community. It is a privilege and a gift that has enabled me to belong easily in many different spaces.
It has also taught me bravery, and for that I credit my long-term coach, Nick Baker, who I trained with over many summers, in cities all across the US, from the age of 6 to the age of 14. Plagued with indecision to attend boarding school — so I could pursue swimming at a higher level alongside my academic pursuits — I called and spoke with Nick. I will never forget the painting he showed me of two boys jumping off a cliff and splashing into the sea. I could take a chance and jump, or stay still and never know that possible adventure. I chose to jump.
That painting, Nick’s gentle nudge, and my courage to take a difficult decision has become a symbolic mantra for me. I will never know what new doors and experiences await me if I am unable to test the waters beyond my comfort zone and take a leap of faith. Just as my United World College experience has taught me, you just can’t know what lies behind the door if you’re too hesitant to open it.
I have been blessed with new experiences and rites of passage toward maturity, self-care, cross-cultural understanding, and open-mindedness. I often think of Nick and those boys taking a plunge into the ocean anytime I am in a bind or need bravery in decision-making.
Last weekend we had the pleasure of bringing our nine year old son, Noah, to swim camp in Boston. Being the youngest and smallest there, and with none of his buds, I’m sure our son was a bit uncomfortable – I know I would have been at that age.
Keith was GREAT! Not just from an instructional standpoint, which was unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced in Northern Maine, but the way he clearly cares for the kids in general, and how he communicates with them.
You folks have a real asset there, which I’m sure you’ve heard before. I don’t often take the time to write an email like this, heck this one took nearly a week, but Keith had that much on an impact, we are still talking and thinking about it today, and will be as we move forward in Noah’s swimming.
Hi Kathy! Greetings from Mexico.
Today, we answered the survey. We want to thank you specifically for all your support because this was the first time that Sofi, our daughter, attended a PEAK Performance Swim Camp. We would want to know if it is possible to give us the name of the coach that was in Chicago with coach Baker, both were great with Sofi and we would like to share with them this good news:
Victoria Sofía Martínez Montañez finished second in the eight-year-old category at the 31° Torneo Nuevos Valores, a swimming event with 804 athletes representing ten mexican states, endorsed by World Aquatics, the Stabilization Commission, and CONADE. This result reaffirms her status as one of the best swimmers of her age in the country and will allow her to join the team that will represent Mexico in Mission Viejo, California, this year from May 2-4.
Sofi is part of the ANV team directed by the professor Nelson Vargas, a legend in Mexico, but we considering that is important than she has other experiences that complement her daily training, making her a more complete swimmer, more competitive and mentally stronger. Considering her age, she is a very good swimmer, but she has a lot of things to improve. This camp helped her to do it better!
Thanks to her PEAK coaches, she improved her butterfly and her breaststroke, allowing her to get the second general place among more that 60 swimmers of 8 years old. Please, help us to share this with the coaches!
Our daughter had an awesome experience at the Peak Performance Swim Camp in Barbados. Thank you again for your help in making this possible.
The skills she learned-physical and mental- will help her begin to improve her swimming performance immediately and the positive experience and social interactions in such a spectacular location will stay with her (and me) forever.
I was especially impressed with the professionalism, attention to detail and leadership shown by the coaches, especially Coach Tim, who worked with Helena’s lane during the week. We look forward to participating with PEAK again.