r/competitiveswimming

I'm 17 and have been swimming for as long as I can remember. However I swim a 38s scm 50 free which I find abysmal. I find myself barely ever kicking and when I do try to kick I find barely any difference and also getting tired real fast. I find myself using 95% arms and 5% unconscious kicking. How can I train myself to get fast powerful kicks. I understand that my overall swim needs practice but I want to focus on my kicking rn as I can tell its the biggest factor of why I can't sprint fast. (FYI I wouldn't say its as much as strength problem as I have some powerful breaststroke kicks)

My 10-year old has been swimming in a 10-week summer community league for 5 years. Our team has had a rotating cast of coaches and he his times have not improved for about two years. We did group lessons in the “off season” once a week with a year-round club and it did not seem to help. I think he could use stroke refinement and tips on diving and turns. What is the best way for him to learn? Private coaching? If yes, how do I find someone that specializes in racing? And how do we reinforce those lessons so they stick?

Day 3 Event List:

Morning Session Event List: Link

Evening Session Event List: TBD

Competition Links:

Complete Event Start Lists: Link

Competition Timing and Results: Link

Hello, I am 23y/o man who swam competitively my whole life all the way through college. My times were decent, but not great and I managed to get a spot on my college team due only to relaxed post-COVID roster limits and a willingness to only swim in exhibition heats at meets. Due to where I lived growing up, I was only able to swim 3 days a week in high school. In college, with a full 6-day-a-week workout schedule + lifts, I was really able to improve significantly by my senior year. I felt that I could have continued to improve even more since I was still getting faster up through the very last meet, but after graduating in 2025 I found myself away from the pool ever since. I did start running and stayed in shape that way at least up until April of this year.

Through various circumstances, I have found myself back in a college this year with a club swim team. I plan to join and compete in club meets, but I have some doubts/questions. I know that I could have improved more from my college times if I had continued swimming regularly, but after a year and a half off (plus with being 23 now) I'm worried that it's impossible to improve anymore. Is there any chance of me improving? The reason I truly enjoy sports such as swimming and running is the chance to improve and keep getting better, and I'm worried I won't enjoy my favorite lifelong sport as much if I'm incapable of improving. I'll still enjoy the camaraderie of being back on a team, but I'm afraid I just won't enjoy it like I used to. I understand that catching back up to my college times will be difficult, but if I truly put in the effort in my 3 swims a week and run/lift the other days, is there a chance of getting back to my peak speed?

Secondly, whether or not it is even possible to get back to that, how do I get over that feeling of annoyance over not being as good as I once was? What tricks and tips do you have for overcoming the lack of motivation associated with this? Thank you all for your advice.

I am a rising sophomore. I started swimming at 14 where I recorded a 35.63 50 free I am now down to a 27 second freestyle . I have no coach I use workouts chat gpt created and I swim everyday. Is there still hope for me?

Hey everyone,

I'm going into my senior year of high school as a swimmer. I've been swimming for about 3 years, both club and high school.

I've had a pretty poor experience with my high school team over the past few years. Last year, our coach was fired right as we were approaching districts, leaving us with two assistant coaches who had no prior coaching experience coaching our team. We're also severely underfunded with the pool having a broken chiller and heater. On top of that, a lot of the newer team members lacked motivation and would skip entire practices in the locker room with no opposition from the coaches despite them knowing it was happening daily.

I attempted to help out last year as a captain. I ended up doing all of our district entries for our team as I knew what everyone's strongest strokes and events. However, the coaches changed the entries I helped put together, which left us with several events that had one or even zero swimmers just three days before districts. Combined with everything else, it made the whole season extremely stressful.

I swim year-round with my club team, so the issues with the practices don't really affect my training, but after putting in so much effort to help the team and seeing how unstable things were, I've been hesitant to come back.

We have a new coach this year, and several parents have encouraged me to return because we lost a significant number of swimmers after last season. I’m also taking all of my classes on a college campus this year, separate from my high school. I looked into whether that would allow me to swim for a different high school team, but unfortunately my state doesn’t allow it in my situation.

My question is if I should attempt to stick it out for my last year or just skip the HS season altogether to avoid the unnecessary stress in my final year. The only thing making me consider swimming HS season is the fact that HS season is often what's more important for college applications/recruiting from what I've seen and what my club coaches have told me.

Thanks!

Day 1 Event List:

Morning Session Event List: Link

Evening Session Event List: TBD

Competition Links:

Complete Event Start Lists: Link

Competition Timing and Results: Link

Hi! I learned how to swim when I was 2 years old and practiced until I was 9, but had to stop due to COVID and the situation in my country. It wasn't until last year that I was able to start swimming again. I found a pool, but I'm still struggling financially, so I haven't been able to go every day.

I just turned 18 and I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to compete or reach the level I want. I've tried contacting different clubs, but they are all very expensive, there are no public pools, and everything is very corrupt.