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James Gibson, MBE talks ISL Season 2, Energy Standard, and future (Includes interview)

“I was managing 50 to 60 people in the ISL bubble and now, I am happy to be back home and have a few days rest,” he said about his downtime in the United Kingdom.

The Energy Standard swimming team finished in second place in the ISL final in Budapest, Hungary, earning 464.5 points. Although he was wished his team would have done better, he complimented the Cali Condors for their strong performance. “Jason Lezak did a great job recruiting that team, which consisted of the U.S. national team members on many levels. Also, the new jackpot rules worked against us this year,” he said.

James Gibson  MBE of Energy Standard

James Gibson, MBE of Energy Standard
Mine Kasapoglu, Photo Courtesy of ISL

On the takeaways from this ISL season, he shared that it dealt with the new rules, the jackpot rules. ‘There were no real close finishes this year,” he said. “This year, it was a foregone conclusion by half-way through Day 2 that the Cali Condors would have been the winners. It’s a good process, especially choosing the skins from the winners of the medley relays. You can’t take anything away from Caeleb Dressel and his performances, especially in the events when he broke world records and didn’t get any jackpot points.”

“The biggest takeaway was that you really need a strong team in every event now. You can’t just get away with finishing seventh or eighth place or down the list anymore just because of the jackpot,” he said.

On being a head swimming coach in the digital age, he shared that he approaches his coaching style in a traditional way. “With a lot of the new technology devices, you can get lost in the data and analysis. You really need good people around you that can understand all of the software and everything going on, and that’s not my style at the moment. We use simple things as heart rate monitors and lactate testing,” he said.

“There is a lot of new software coming out, a lot of new things. Obviously, we use video analysis and iPhones, and I personally like to know the value of something before we go into investing time and effort in it,” he added.

James Gibson  MBE of Energy Standard

James Gibson, MBE of Energy Standard
Mine Kasapoglu, Photo Courtesy of ISL

For recovery purposes, he revealed that his team uses massage guns, foam rollers, and tennis balls. “You need a practitioner to actually teach you what to do,” he said. “The strength and conditioning coach, Marco Cosso, and the physiotherapist Enzo Iodice are always educating our swimmers on how to use these new ‘training aids’.”

On his plans for 2021, he said, “It is going to be a huge challenge for the international program in terms of travel. Every country has different quarantine rules and PCR testing rules. We need to work individually with the athletes that we’ve got. When we are in Turkey, we offer PCR testing to maintain a safe, secure environment. We need to create safety around the athletes and do what we can to ensure that we keep COVID out.”

He complimented swimmers Kliment Kolesnikov, Ilya Shymanovich, and Anastasiya Shkurdai for getting “better and better.” “This year was a special year for Ilya, and all of our Eastern European-based swimmers did a standout job this year, he said.

James Gibson  MBE  of the Energy Standard

James Gibson, MBE, of the Energy Standard
Mine Kasapoglu, Photo Courtesy of ISL

Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, Gibson remarked, “Building towards ISL Season 3.” “Trying to keep the program together functioning for the guys that can get to Turkey and supporting the athletes that can’t travel in these time periods. The athletes that swam well were the ones that never stopped training and had access to facilities, so that was a big takeaway.”

He praised the photographic work of spots photographer Mine Kasapoglu. “Mine is always fantastic and always great. She brought her A-game this ISL season for the entire league,” he said.

Gibson defined the word success as hopefully reclaiming the ISL title in Season 3, as well as having a fully functioning team next year. “That will be the only objective for the group and we have super-high expectations,” he said.

To learn more about James Gibson, MBE, follow him on Instagram.

James Gibson  MBE  of the Energy Standard

James Gibson, MBE, of the Energy Standard
Mine Kasapoglu, Photo Courtesy of ISL

Markos Papadatos
Written By

Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 20,000 original articles over the past 18 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a 16-time "Best of Long Island" winner, where for three consecutive years (2020, 2021, and 2022), he was honored as the "Best Long Island Personality" in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.

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