About Coach Vitazka

My philosophy as a Coach

If you are going to do something, do it right.

There are many roads one can take in order to reach one’s goals and aspirations as an athlete, and the road is different for each individual. However, I believe there are some aspects that are important to achieve success, and those are the ones that I focus on as a coach:

  • Every practice should have a purpose, a focus, toward improving the individual’s skills and competences to reach a goal.
  • Training should be stimulating both physically and mentally. Every training session should be done with focus and intent, otherwise you will not achieve the desired effect.
  • Capacity and technique must be measured, a plan for improvement must be put in place and executed, but perhaps even more important the athlete’s training and results need to be continuously evaluated and updated to make strides toward more efficient and faster swimming.

Often it is measurements and evaluations that are missing in an athlete’s training plan. This is my passion as a coach: to help athletes of all levels to develop their swimming through measurable and actionable insights from data, analysis, planning and evaluation.

Coaching career

  • Swim coach since 2002 when my coaching career started in Columbus, OH, USA. Also coached triathletes (swim) at Ohio State University 2005-2006
  • Swim coach at age-group level at Malmö Kappsimningsklubb (2009-2013), and Simklubben Triton (2015-2016)
  • Elite coach at Simklubben Ran 2013-2015
  • Head Coach at Simklubben Ran 2015, followed by Simklubben Sydsim 2016-2018
  • National Team Coach assignments Swedish Swimming Federation 2014-2016 (Junior, Senior)
  • National Team Coach assignments Swedish Triathlon Federation 2016, 2019-2020 (Youth, Junior, Elite)
  • District Team Coach assignments Skånesim 2014-2018 (Youth, Junior, Senior, Elite)
  • Awards: Skånesims Frille Sjös Minne, 2015 (district award)

Education

  • Bachelor of Science – Biology; University of Cincinnati 2002
  • Masters of Science – Neurobiology; Ohio State University 2006
  • Licenced Swim Coach Sweden – Junior/Senior; 2017-
  • Idrottstränarutbildning I & II; Malmö Universitet 2012-2013
  • ASCA Level 1 & Level 4; USA Swimming 2003 & 2018

Swimming Career

  • Swedish National Champion 800m freestyle, 2000
  • Swedish National Champions + Swedish National Record in 4x200m freestyle relay Malmö Kappsimningsklubb (first club team in the world to swim sub-8 minutes), 2004
  • NCAA All-American (top 8 Division 1 College swimming), 2001 & 2002 top placement = 5th in the 500 y freestyle; still holds the unofficial Swedish yards record for 500 y freestyle
  • NCAA Honorable Mention All-American (top 16), 2001 & 2002 in 1650 y freestyle and 200 y freestyle
  • World Cup-finalist in 400m freestyle, New York 2002
  • Inducted into University of Cincinnati Athletic Hall of Fame 2015 (the greatest honor in USA College Sports)