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Dive into Excellence: Chris McKinney and Makos Swimming Rhett Butler The Makos are a year-round youth swimming team sanctioned by USA Swimming. They offer training groups for swimmers of every level. As the Makos Swim Assistant Director Head Coach at Miami, Chris McKinney has led the charge taking the program from 36 swimmers just six years ago, to an impressive 102 swimmers this year with 130 new team records across ages 6-18. Chris began swimming at age eight for the Springfield YMCA. When he turned 18, he worked in emergency lifeboat deployment for the Navy aboard Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. America. Chris explained that, “Water has always been my place.” After the Navy, Chris was asked to help an old friend out who needed help coaching at the Springfield YMCA, where Chris began his swim career. After his time with the Springfield YMCA, he coached for a few years at Urbana University before joining Miami. When asked what he would say to someone who was interested in swimming for Makos, he said “It helps deal with failure…if you’re not failing, you’re not trying.” He also went on to explain that he believes swimming helps teach discipline and time management skills. During the Makos swim season, high school swimmers train and compete from August to April, or even longer for some. During his free time, Chris enjoys home remodeling, landscaping, or “Watching anything race that has a motor attached to it.” Chris has been an excellent ambassador for Miami University's Makos programs, and his dedication is felt throughout the Miami Recreation community and beyond. Looking forward, he said that he would like to see the program go from just over 100 swimmers to around 140. He also mentioned that the program had 14 swimmers qualify for junior championships, and 11 qualified for the sectional time standards. To put it in perspective, there are 370,000 USA swimmers, with only about 25,000 who make the sectional cut. This year, Chris is hopeful that they will have even more swimmers qualify for sectionals with a couple who may qualify for the junior national cut with only 6,000 other swimmers across the country.