The Way of the Water Is Becoming Real

For a long time, this was just a dream.

The kind you carry quietly, almost carefully, because saying it out loud feels reckless. A book. A real one. Not notes, not essays, not half-finished thoughts scribbled between practices—but something tangible. Something finished.

A younger version of me certainly wouldn’t have thought I would be here. The mountain felt too high, the path too unclear. And yet, somehow, here I am, standing just shy of the finish line, holding a thing that once existed only in imagination. A book. A real, physical book. One that can be held, opened, studied.

For a long time, The Way of the Water existed quietly.

It lived on pool decks before sunrise. In long, disciplined sets where rhythm was shaped through effort. In questions that drills alone could never answer.

It lived as notes. As fragments. As a belief that swimming—when practiced honestly—reveals something elemental about mastery itself.

Recently, after sitting with an edited draft of my book, something became unmistakably clear:

This is not just a coaching book. And it is not simply a book about swimming, or philosophy. I have thought of it as my love letter to the sport of competitive swimming. It's my passion, my insight, my life poured out into the water.

It is a literary, technical, and mythic work of coaching—My manifesto of swimming.

And now, it has crossed a threshold.

I’ve officially begun the process of self-publishing The Way of the Water: Mastery, Mindset, and the Craft of Swimming.

There is still time before it is available. But it has moved from possibility to commitment. From vision to work. From dream to reality.

This Is Not a Just a Book. It Is a Way.

The Way of the Water is not about swimming faster. It is about understanding what swimming really is. "Faster" happens as a result of walking The Way, however, the destination is beyond results, awards, pride, and personal glory.

It does not offer shortcuts. It does not chase motivation. It does not reduce mastery to metrics.

Instead, it offers a way of seeing.

A new language for swimmers and coaches who sense that technique alone is insufficient—that beneath strokes and times lies something older, quieter, and more demanding.

As the book states:

The essence of freestyle lies not in frantic movement but in the quiet discipline of the line.

This is a book that treats swimming the way Musashi treated the sword: as a discipline that shapes the body, clarifies the mind, and reveals character.

Why This Book Is Different

Most swim books are technical, motivational, or utilitarian. This one is poetic, cinematic, and exacting. Offering athletes and coaches alike a necessary shift in perspective on the journey of mastery.

It is grounded in real champions—Ian Thorpe, Anthony Ervin, Katie Ledecky—not as case studies, but as figures of mastery. Not mythologized for spectacle but understood for what made them inevitable.

They did not fight the water. They did not overpower it. They understood the line.

This book is written for:

• Serious swimmers who feel the water is more than a sport

• Coaches searching for a deeper language of excellence

• Athletes, thinkers, and teachers drawn to discipline and craft

• Anyone who believes mastery is a way of life, not an outcome

What Comes Next

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing:

• Short excerpts from the book

• Reflections on rhythm, line, breath, and discipline

• Updates as the book moves closer to availability

For those who feel that swimming is more than outcomes

for those who believe craft matters

for those willing to study deeply

I’ll keep you posted as we get closer.

Follow the water. Find the Way.

— Coach Julio