Champions Mojo for Masters Swimmers

Trial Attorney Finds Solutions While Swimming: William Robinson, EP 295

• Kelly Palace, Masters Swim Journalist • Season 1 • Episode 295

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A pool deck can feel like a second home, and today’s conversation proves why. In this brand New episode we chat with attorney and masters swimmer William Robinson at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center to trace a life shaped by laps: early lessons in New Haven, Connecticut with Olympic great Don Schollander, a joyful return sparked by his daughters, and a training rhythm that blends endurance heart with sprint ambitions. William shares the open water feat that tested his grit—a nine-mile lighthouse swim—and explains why the 50 free still calls his name as he chases speed, craft, and longevity.

What stands out most is how the water sharpens his mind for the courtroom. William describes using swims as moving meditation, a place where arguments settle, focus deepens, and solutions surface. He walks us through his go-to set of 10x100 on a sustainable sendoff, the value of three to four weekly sessions at Victory Pool, and the quiet confidence that comes from realistic, consistent training. We also swap notes on heroes: Michael Phelps for his relentless range and Katie Ledecky for decade-long excellence and process-driven mastery.

The heart of the episode is purpose. William celebrates his family, including a daughter who became the first Black woman to earn a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT, and he channels that pride into advocacy for a more diverse aquatics community. From Florida to Texas, he sees momentum and calls on all of us to extend more invitations, build pipelines, and make the deck welcoming for every swimmer. If you care about performance, balance, and impact, this story offers a model: use sport to think better, live calmer, and open doors for others.

If this conversation moved you, tap follow, share it with a teammate, and leave a quick review to help more swimmers and fans find the show. Your support keeps these stories flowing.

Email us at HELLO@ChampionsMojo.com. Opinions discussed are not medical advice, please seek a medical professional for your own health concerns.

Check out Kelly's Books at www.KellyPalace.com

SPEAKER_02:

I need to do my part to make sure there's a diverse community of swimmers because it's the greatest sport ever.

SPEAKER_01:

It's time for an on-deck interview to help you live well and swim well. Welcome to Champions Mojo. And now your host, Kelly Palace.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, here we go. We're on deck for a 10 for 10 on-deck interview at the beautiful Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center in Florida at the Masters Fall Classic Short Course Meters Meet, and I am with attorney William Robinson. I have been trying to get him on the show for years, and I'm so excited to talk to him. William, I know uh the first question is your name, your age, and your team. So let's let's start there.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, William Robinson. I'm 69 and I'm with uh Team Gold.

SPEAKER_00:

Team Gold out of Florida. All right. What is your swim history and uh how did you get here on a pool deck all the time?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm from New Haven, Connecticut. My father worked at Yale University there in admissions, and he took me to get swim lessons with an Olympic swimmer, Don Scholander, when I was uh nine, ten, eleven years old. So I swam with him, but it really didn't kick in until I was a father, and I had three daughters, and I started taking them to swim when I was 40, and seeing them enjoy it so much, it got me back involved.

SPEAKER_00:

Very nice, very nice. All right. What is your personal favorite swimming accomplishment?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I like this open water swimming, and uh they have a swim to the lighthouse in Isle of Mara. And I competed in that competition and swam in the four and a half miles out and the four and a half miles back uh once. So that's a great great swim in the open water. And my daughter says there's no fences in the water, Dad. So you have to be careful.

SPEAKER_00:

That is a that's a difficult swim. Well, congratulations on that. All right. What is your best or favorite event? They may not be the same thing.

SPEAKER_02:

My favorite event, I really like distance, but uh I I I'm not very fast and I want to be a sprinter. So I like the 50-free. I like a 50-free because I'm swimming against Cab Kavanaugh, who is a uh uh a hero and a legend, and I want to be fast and have a longevity like him. So I I try to beat Cab Kavanaugh one day.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. It's it's funny. You do swim at a lot of distance, but your favorite event's the 50. I uh uh I think I feel you there. I I understand that. All right, and uh what is the training regimen that you're doing right now?

SPEAKER_02:

I go uh about three three to four times a week. I swim in Victory Pool in North Miami Beach, and I try to get in 2,000 to 3,000 yards, you know. Uh Cav always talks about 10, 100. So I try to do that, and uh I like to do very workouts, but I really enjoy swimming. It's a great meditation for me.

SPEAKER_00:

So you've had a very successful law practice all these years. Are you still practicing law? And how do you how have you fit swimming in all these years with that?

SPEAKER_02:

I love practicing law. I love working with people and helping people. I just had a wonderful oral argument before the third district court of appeals. Uh, swimming helps me to focus and to think and to meditate and to relax. And I come up to s with great solutions for people's problems in the pool. So it's a great benefit for anyone to swim and think and meditate on life. It's a great experience.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Did you listen to Judge Bob Beach's interview that we did on Champions Mojo? I did. Yeah, it reminds me of you. Yeah, you that's amazing. All right. Favorite set in the pool? I think he's a good one.

SPEAKER_02:

10 100s, 10 100s on one 145, not 130, but 145. That would be my favorite, but I enjoy that a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a good set. All right. What Olympian, Olympic swimmer, dead or alive, uh, would you want to have lunch with?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh, Michael Phelps. I read Michael Phelps' book. I read Katie Ledecki's book. Uh, Katie would probably be the most uh interesting person to sit down with because she's been such a champion over such a long span of time. So probably Katie Ledecki, the greatest swimmer ever.

SPEAKER_00:

I I love that. What is a fun fact about you that maybe people don't know?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I am uh a father of uh four children, and uh I have three daughters, and my daughters were swimmers, and um one of my daughters is the first black female PhD graduate in nuclear engineering from MIT. So uh she's a very smart woman, and I want to think she got all of her brains from me.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Wow, that is that is a very fun fact. Um, is there anything else that you would like to share with the master's community?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I I am very happy to be a part of the master's community. The people are very warm and friendly and uh helpful in learning to swim. Uh more African Americans, the minorities need to get involved, and I need to step up to the plate and get more kids involved so they can get scholarships and swimming programs. We see an increased number of African-American swimmers swimming in Florida and around Texas. Uh, Simone Manual has been doing very well, and uh, I need to do my part to make sure there's a diverse community of swimmers because it's the greatest sport ever.

SPEAKER_00:

Beautiful. Thank you so much. All right, thank you. Good to see you again. You too.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to the Champions Mojo podcast. Would you consider leaving us a five star review on Apple? That's like getting a best time for us. Kelly and our team would be so grateful. See you next week for another Boost of Mojo.

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Kelly Palace, Host

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