Hawaii: The Olympic Swim Coach Who Couldn't Swim with Kristina Kuzmic
The Preamble
Sharon McMahon
4.9 • 15.3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 August 2021
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Sharon tells Kristina Kuzmic the story of Soichi Sakamoto, a man from Hawaii who became an Olympic swim coach when he didn’t even know how to swim himself. After teaching his boy scout troop to swim, Soichi set out on a new life’s mission: to coach Olympic swimmers. He started the Three Year Swim Club, promising his students that they would be world-class swimmers within three years. His swim club was made up of impoverished children, many of whom did not have bathing suits or enough food to sustain them through practice. As well, because he didn’t have access to a pool, Soichi resorted to teaching his first students in the water-filled ditches of Hawaiian sugar plantations. Despite the many challenges, Soichi did whatever it took to raise up Olympic athletes - from feeding them his own meals to inventing new ways to train his swimmers. This is the story of Coach Soichi Sakamoto and his journey to the 1948 Olympics.
For more information on this episode including all resources and links discussed go to https://www.sharonmcmahon.com/podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome. So happy you're here. I am sharing a conversation today with my friend |
| 0:06.9 | Christina Kuzmich. If you do not recognize her name, you definitely will |
| 0:11.4 | recognize her face because her videos have been viewed on |
| 0:14.7 | Facebook more than one billion times. Billion with a beat. She makes videos |
| 0:21.2 | about humor and motherhood. |
| 0:23.6 | She has a book called Hold On, but Don't Hold Still. |
| 0:28.0 | I think you are just going to love this story so much. |
| 0:31.5 | Let's dive into The Champion Maker. I'm Sharon McMahon and welcome to the |
| 0:37.4 | Sharon Says So podcast. Christina, I am so happy you're here today. |
| 0:43.6 | Thank you so much for joining me. |
| 0:45.0 | I am just, I'm thrilled. |
| 0:47.4 | Oh, I am so happy to be a part of this. |
| 0:49.5 | I adore you, I love you, my family is sick of hearing me talk about you. If you are not yet |
| 0:55.8 | familiar with Christina Kuzmich you will I can almost promise you will recognize |
| 1:01.2 | her face from her viral Facebook videos. |
| 1:06.0 | I mean, that is how I found you on Instagram. |
| 1:08.2 | I was like, I know this person. |
| 1:10.5 | You have racked up close to a billion video views on Facebook. |
| 1:15.0 | Tell everybody what you do. |
| 1:16.6 | Why are a billion people watching your videos? |
| 1:20.3 | Most people know me from the videos I create about parenting or mental health often while drinking coffee straight out of a coffee pot or pouring wine on ice cream because life is short, but I am also an author of a book called Hold On, but Don't Hold Still, |
| 1:33.8 | and I am on a national tour with My Hope and Humor show. But my goal, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sharon McMahon, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sharon McMahon and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.