Swim Life

The Unseen Nerves Behind Every Swim: A Community of Jitters When I swam, I was an emotional athlete—my highs were high, and my lows were low. Looking back, I thought that nothing could replicate the intensity of the nerves I experienced before a race. The racing heart, the sweaty palms, the tension ...

Don't Violate These 16 Unspoken Swimmer Laws By Allison Peters Once, during a meet, I had a revelation. After almost being jumped on by one of my teammates during warmup, I thought to myself, “Wow, he’s really breaking a norm right now.” Then I realized the way swim meets and swim practices run are ...

6 Everyday Struggles of a Swim Parent There is a lot of pressure on swimmers. The training, the suit, the mentality all has to be perfect. However, behind every great practice, every great race, and every great swimmer is a great swim parent, even when the kids leave for a collegiate pool instead of...

Tips for Tech-ing Up: Advice from 'The Swimsuit Guy' for Championship Season After five months of stress and hard work, we’ve almost made it: championship season is right around the corner. From the club level all the way up to NCAAs, the crux of the short course season lies in February. And as man....

The Method of Cupping: Is the Recovery Technique Beneficial? As the 2016 campaign progressed, there was no shortage of storylines in the sport. Michael Phelps' last dance. Katie Ledecky's dominance. Anthony Ervin with a title surge in the 50 freestyle, 16 years after his initial Olympic gold. But on...

15 Truths About Swimming Swimming is a sport like no other. You learn a lot about yourself throughout your years as a swimmer and the sport inherently instills valuable life lessons in you. Even when your time as a competitive swimmer is done, you still continue to learn more about the sport and hav...

A Super Bowl Food Quiz: A Look At the Nutrition In the Big-Game Snacks The Super Bowl is a fun time to gather, whether you enjoy American football or not. When people come together, it usually means a lot of food! If you like trivia, this is a fun food quiz to test your knowledge. Go ahead and make ...

You Know You're a Swimmer When...12 Quirks That Come With the Sport By Rachel Helm To most people, swimming is seen as just a sport or having a little splash in the pool. However, to a competitive swimmer, it becomes a lifestyle. Here are 12 quirks of competitive swimming that we all can relate to. ...

The 29 Confessions of a Distance Swimmer - From the Archives By Chandler Brandes "I didn't choose the distance life. The distance life chose me." Well, not quite. Distance swimmers are all born the same way: we swam the 500 for the first time around age nine or 10 and didn't do too badly, so our coa...

Surviving Taper: A Guide to Thriving During the Most Exciting Time of the Season It’s that time of year again. Practices gradually become shorter, the yards start to decrease, and the energy is at an all-time high. It’s taper time. For swimmers, tapering marks the beginning of championship season - ...

The recent wildfires in Los Angeles have caused a lot of damage, leaving families and communities struggling. Over 400 swimmers lost their gear, like swimsuits, goggles, and other important equipment needed for training and competitions. [caption id="attachment_604050" align="aligncenter" width="386...

Lessons Learned From the Injured Swimmer And there I was again, sitting on the side of the pool deck with my college’s athletic trainer, watching my teammates practice. All I wanted to do was get back in the water, but my body had other plans. With every day that passed, it felt like I was falling f...

Based on the TikTok Trend: We Listen and We Don't Judge ... Swimmer Edition! What are some common swimmer habits that may or may not be slightly judge worthy? I am sure many of us have seen the recent TikTok trend called, “we listen, and we don’t judge.” This trend usually includes two or more peopl...

3 Key Features of a Successful Coach-Athlete Relationship As swimmers, our coaches are our backbone. They teach us the ways of the water and how to move through it as quickly as we can. They are there to give us high-fives when we have a good race, and they are a shoulder to cry on when we have a ba...

What is the Hardest Event in Swimming (VOTE HERE!) On the deck or on the team van, the question of which is the hardest event in swimming has been debated. Opinions vary on the topic and athletes who contest a specific event have a tendency to pick their own as the No. 1 choice. Does the grinding na...

Peerless Distilling Celebrates Close Connection to Swimming Community with UVA Coach Todd DeSorbo An Olympic coach, a world record holder and a swim team captain walk into a distillery. It’s not the setup to an (admittedly high-brow) joke. It is the premise for the kind of swim community story that ...

Six Ways Swim Parents and Coaches Can Work Together In A Beneficial Manner The coach-parent relationship is critical as athletes work toward improving and achieving their goals. In many cases, this relationship is smooth and proves beneficial. Unfortunately, there are times when parents do not give ...

12 Signs You’re a True Swim Team Kid: Being Part of a Special Sporting Community Swimming is an all-consuming sport, and once you start participating, you are most likely never to stop. If you begin as an age-grouper on a swim team, you will find that your life revolves around the sport, making it m...

How 'Fun, Fitness and Competition' Allowed One Virginia Summer Swim Club to Do More with Less The nation’s tens of thousands of summer leagues continue to be an entry point for many first-time swimmers regardless of whether they advance to more competitive levels or not. In such settings, millions o...

Before the Beep: How the Walsh Sisters - Alex and Gretchen - Prepare for Race Day Sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh have made their mark on the sport of swimming: Olympic medals, NCAA championships and remarkable versatility have made them two of the best in the world. How do they prepare on race day?...