Leah Gingrich
Leah Gingrich
QUICK STATS
Birthday: February 12, 1990
Height: 5’2”
Hometown: Enola, PA
School: University of Texas
Coach: Andrew Beggs
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
- Currently Fourth fastest American in the 200 fly this year
- 2x All-American
- 2021 Olympic trials Qualifier – 200 fly, 100 fly, 100 free
- 2008 Olympic Trials, Two-time finalist USA Swimming National Championships
- Member of the 2007 USA World Championship Swim Team
It’s easy to view the icons in our sport as superhuman. Surely, it all comes naturally to those gifted few who reach the top of our sport, their DNA spelling out the next scribble in the record book. And it must be fun to be a winner, right?
Leah Gingrich can attest that this is a manifestation of our imaginations. When asked how swimming has shaped her perspective on life and the sport in general, Leah gave a rather surprising answer:
Enjoy what you do in life. I went through a period where I didn’t enjoy swimming anymore and I had to walk away from the sport. I took 6 years trying to find “success” outside of the pool and do something I thought was expected from me. Those 6 years were the toughest I’ve had mentally. When I finally realized I wanted to swim and coach again, it made me so much happier. It’s important to do what you love. If there is love and passion in what you do, you will find success.
This oh-so-important cocktail of love and passion has become Leah’s center of gravity in the sport, and she hopes to relay the importance of having fun to participants. Despite competing at the top level in the sport, Leah is excited for what she will glean from clinics, and she and participants engage in a mutually beneficial partnership that ultimately serves our sport and your performance.
Before coaching, I was a teacher. I have such a passion for working with kids and trying to find different ways of connecting with them and helping them understand whatever it is we’re working on. Not every kid is going to learn the same and feel the same things in the water. I enjoy giving back to the sport that has given me so much. I also love the fact that coaching/teaching me reminds me daily how fun swimming is. The kids are always reminding me of the joy it brings me to be in the water.
While she’s intent on her participants mastering walls and finding their most efficient form in the water, Leah hopes to emphasize the intangibles that will ultimately reveal themselves in the number on the clock. With the aim of “taking the fear out of practice,” Leah assures young swimmers that failure is a natural part of being an elite athlete, and if you’re not failing in practice, “you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.”
Adopting this mindset herself, Leah claims that her “aha” moment in the sport came when she realized that she needed to approach each day by maximizing her abilities at that time. More often than not, she surprised herself.
Now, it’s her chance to gift that experience to others.
“I want to be able to help you in whatever aspect is needed. Stroke technique, mental skills, body awareness…how can I help you?!”
Sign up for a clinic with Leah today!
