Murph Halasz

PT, DPT – Physical Therapist

Murph was a collegiate swimmer and graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Biochemistry and a minor in Health and Applied Science/Family studies. He then went on to the Medical College of Virginia for his Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Murph has over 10 years of coaching experience and has been practicing Physical Therapy since 2009. He specializes in adolescents and returning athletes to competition.

Sports Bio and Random Facts

Swimming (22 years, over 10,000 hours in the water, over a 1,000 hours on deck, 4 state Records, 5 Collegiate school records, 2 time Olympic trials participant, NCAA All-American) Soccer (8 years) Ultimate Frisbee (7years) Baseball (5 years) I’ve been Sporting since I was: Surfing 8 Windsurfing 9 Wakeboarding 10 Snowboarding 12 Triathlete 12 Kitesurfing 21 Paddle boarding 22

Fun Questions Asked and Answered!!

1- College Education, High School, Certifications –
Godwin High School, Richmond VA.
Indiana University, Bloomington IN, B.S. Biochemistry, Minor in Health and applied science/Family studies.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA, Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

2- Sports involved in when younger –
Soccer K through 5.  Graduate school.
Wrestling 6th grade
Swimming, 6th grade – Sr. Year College – present
Ultimate Frisbee 11th – 12th grade, Graduate school – present
Triathlon, High school, Graduate school – present

3- Awards you won in any sport or activity you were involved in at any point of life –
Swimming:
NCAA- All American, 2004
Virginia State record holder, 2000
Scholastic All American, 1998-2001

4- Hobbies –
Swimming, Running, Biking, Triathlons, Ultimate Frisbee, Reading, Various water sports with wind and waves, outdoor activity.

5- Music that’s on your Ipod, ITouch, IWhatever, etc. –
Bob Schneider, Urge, Matisyahu, Green Day, Toots and the Maytals, Manu Chao, Beatles.

6- Favorite Place to eat in Austin –
Thundercloud

7- Favorite exercise at CATZ –
Stick Agility

8- Favorite Sports Team –
IU Hoosiers/VCU RAMS!

9- Phrase you overuse during a session –
“Alright, hop up.” “No pain, no problems?” “Ready?”

10- Goal for 2010 –
Get back into running shape, finish the long horn ½ ironman in under 5 hours 15 min.

11- Favorite Post-Workout Meal –
Immediate: Chocolate milk, 20 min later: 2 eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, Toast, OJ, and cheddar cheese.

12- Favorite Sports Moment of your life –
In 2000 U.S. Jr. nationals for swimming were being held in Gainesville Florida in the UF natatorium. This was the summer before my Sr. year in high school and Olympic trials were going to take place the week after Junior Nationals.  My life time best time in the 200 meter fly at that point was 2:07:46 from about 6 weeks before that day.  The Olympic trial cut had been changed from 2:03:19 to 2:04:49 that summer so I only had to drop 3 seconds to qualify.  In the preliminaries I was 26th, not even in the pyramid seated heats. I was 4 heats from the back in a middle lane, so almost everyone in my heat had similar times.  (in the pyramid the final heat has the swimmers arranged as so:
Ln 1,#19  Ln 2,#13, Ln 3#7, Ln 4#1  Ln 5,#4  Ln 6,#10,  Ln 7,#16, Ln 8,#21

So I’m in lane 5, in the last regular seeded heat, in Gainesville.  I step up between a swimmer from Nashville Tn, and one from Charlotte, NC.  The race starts, and I go out aggressively, At the 50 I’m a shade ahead of the field.  At the 100 I’m about 3 feet ahead of the TN guy.  The 200 fly is a long race.  The first 100 doesn’t really matter as long as you are within a body length or so.  During the 3rd 50, the field started to drop back and I hear the announcer say something as the crowd, mostly mom’s and dad’s of the other kids start to cheer.  After the last wall, I’ve opened up a major lead and when I come up to breath I can hear the announcer say “on pace…” I drop my head, my hips come up and have one of those out of body experiences where everything is on autopilot, as adrenaline courses through you.  When I hit the wall I didn’t want to look.  Under 2:04, under two oh four, I turn and look, 2:03:08!  I was going to the Olympic trials! I set a Jr. south east record and was coming back first for the final session!

–
S. Murphy Halasz

Be active, be honest, be happy!