Reid Carlson can talk swimming.
A self-identified “swim nerd,” Carlson, 33, has spent his life dedicated to the water. His experience began when he was 6 years old and accompanied a babysitter to her job with the Clay Center Tiger Sharks. He developed an affinity for the sport that has lasted to this day.
“It wasn’t like I was a total prodigy,” Carlson said. “It wasn’t until I was 10 that I really started to win races. But by the time I was 13, I would win every race.”
Although his mother urged him to join the Manhattan Marlins, Carlson, like many other preteen boys in the early 2000s, had a high-demand paper route that ate up his schedule. After some convincing, however, he graduated from summer league to a year-round spot on the Marlins.
“Best decision I ever made,” Carlson said. “If my mom hadn’t really pushed me to, I probably wouldn’t have. And I couldn’t imagine my life without having done that because it literally changed everything thereafter.”
Carlson went on to swim at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he was a four-year varsity letter winner. He spent his first years after college working office jobs, but he soon shifted back to his roots in swimming as an e-commerce specialist for Elsmore Swim Shop, a major swimwear retailer in Minnesota. In 2018, he began work as an assistant swim coach for Evolution Aquatics before returning to Manhattan and taking on the head coaching role for the Marlins in 2021.
Aside from his work as a coach, Carlson is an adviser for the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication at K-State and is pursuing a master’s degree. He also is the faculty adviser for the university’s swim and dive club.
Second only to his coaching is Carlson’s time as a reporter for SwimSwam, an online news organization for professional swimmers. A longtime fan of the site, Carlson began writing for it in 2016 and hasn’t stopped since.
“I’ve interviewed many, many swimmers and coaches,” Carlson said. “I was just a reader. I would sit there and refresh (the website) again and again waiting for a new article to read or a new video to watch, so I tried my hand at submitting some stories, and they liked them.”
Balancing all of this doesn’t come without some sacrifices. Carlson’s rigorous schedule includes waking up at 3:45 a.m. to commute to swim practice from Clay Center.
“The schedule isn’t for everybody,” Carlson said. “It’s a combination of late nights, early mornings and a lot of forfeited weekends to go to meets.”
Carlson has coached a wide range of age groups, from the Minnows (children ages 5-8) to the Masters swimmers (adults 19 and older). He said each group has different goals.
“With the young kids, it’s really about instilling a love for the sport,” Carlson said. “I really view myself as a steward of competitive swimming. It’s not going to be for everybody, but I think it’s my responsibility to make them lifers to the best of my ability.”
Carlson’s hands-on coaching style is evident to anyone who audits a practice. Whether he’s on the concrete demonstrating a movement for swimmers to follow or calling out words of encouragement and guidance, his enthusiasm for leadership sets the tone for the whole team.
“I try to lead by example,” Carlson said. “When we have a kid who is skipping a lot of practices, and they tell me they have big goals, I’m not going to get mad at them. I’ll ask them (if) it’s still their goal to go a certain time in a certain race or to qualify for a certain meet, and if they say yes, I’ll ask them if they think they’re working hard enough to meet that goal.”
It’s important to Carlson to approach difficult situations with his team members delicately.
“When kids have bad races, they’re harder on themselves than anyone else,” Carlson said. “The coaches and parents do not need to add to that. We need to address what went wrong, but we do it in a constructive way.”
His own experience as a swimmer allows Carlson to empathize with the nerves and self-doubt that occasionally can accompany the competitive nature of an individual sport.
“I’ll have kids who are really anxious when they go to races for the first time,” Carlson said. “There’s anxiety about performance, there’s anxiety about just not knowing what they’re doing or embarrassing themselves. ... That, without being taken care of properly, can lead to the kids not wanting to try again. We want them to believe in themselves.”
Although most of his time in the water goes to coaching, Carlson still consistently hones his own skills as a swimmer. He maintains the records for the Manhattan Marlins boys’ age 15-18 1650-yard freestyle and open 200-yard butterfly as well as the Minnesota Masters Swimming state record in 100- and 200-meter short course butterfly. He will compete in the Sunflower State Games in Topeka next month.
Carlson said he often sets challenges for himself to stay in swimming shape.
“At the beginning of the year, I did an experiment that I called time trial Tuesday,” Carlson said. “I would do a 100 flutter kick for time and then a 50 of each (individual medley) stroke, all from a push, as fast as possible just to see what I could do. I was doing weightlifting as well, and I did that for 10 weeks.”
Why swimming? For Carlson, who has spent a significant portion of his daily life in the water, the answer is simple.
“It just feels good,” Carlson said. “My favorite stroke is butterfly, and you do get a kind of floating feeling every time you’re going forward.”
Carlson remembers logging results after every meet in a three-ring binder, even as a child.
“I never needed much help setting goals at all,” Carlson said. “Each event had its own page and the date and the meet and whether it was better or faster or slower than before and what time standard I got.”
Fastidious attention to his own success and that of the swimmers he coaches is part of what has kept Carlson a beloved member of the local swimming community for so long. His first priority is the safety and success of his team.
“This team has come a long way,” Carlson said. “I can’t imagine leaving them now or in the near future. Marlins practice is the best part of my day, and I hope to help make it the best part of theirs, too.”
