#209 Building Authentic Sports Brands | Maike Wellmann on Swimming, Entrepreneurship & Athlete Identity

Welcome to episode 209 of Sports Management Podcast. Today’s guest is Maike Wellmann - a brand specialist, entrepreneur, and founder of Swim & Move Academy. Maike went from regional swimmer to building a thriving swim school and helping athletes and federations shape authentic brands. ' We spoke about: Why authenticity beats copy-paste branding How Swim & Move grew from 5 → 50+ classes in 2 years Branding workshops for federations & athletes Why hard skills can be taught, but passion can’t Lessons in consistency, self-care & scaling a business And much more!  Time stamps: 00:01 Intro 07:27 Swim school growth from 5 to 50 classes 09:09 Authenticity in branding 13:49 AI & branding workshops for federations 31:50 Recruitment: hard skills can be taught, soft skills can’t 34:29 Consistency + self-care in entrepreneurship 37:17 Taking a step back: aligning brain and heart Follow Sports Management Podcast on social media Instagram Twitter LinkedIn YouTube www.sportsmanagementpodcast.com