Coaches Education

Announcing the launch of Swimming World's brand new Job Board! Here you'll find positions for head coaches, summer camp instructors and counselors, lifeguarding, administration, and more! Do you have an open position in aquatics? If your organization has an open position related to swimming, diving,...

What Makes a GREAT Coach? An Athlete and Coach Perspective The best coaches are people who are influential, motivational, supportive, caring, positive and willing to help their athletes. Many mentors might display some of these qualities, but it takes someone special to represent them all. Great coa...

Swimmers' Path to Personal Wellness with 21 Body Care Strategies Swimming is a sport that demands dedication from its athletes. It's not uncommon for swimmers to wake up before dawn and jump into a cold pool as part of their daily routine. Weekends are often spent at competitions, where athletes pus...

Junior Swimmer: Advice for Swim Parents From Those Who've Been There For generations, athletes in the sport of swimming have had the opportunity to learn from one another. Maybe they picked up technical tips from a teammate, or followed in the path of an individual who was a team leader. Meanwhile, ...

New Audio Version of Eddie Reese Book Available For Purchase (Links in Article) Last week, legendary coach Eddie Reese guided the University of Texas at the NCAA Men's Championships for the final time, leading the Longhorns to a seventh-place finish in the team standings. Additionally, Luke Hobson c...

Special Sets: The Training That Made Katie Hoff a World Champion and World-Record Holder Today’s question: Besides being swimmers, what do Allison Schmitt, Katie Ledecky and Ariana Kukors have in common? Answer: They all possess current American records once held by U.S. 400 IM (LC) record holder Ka...

How Training Has Changed Since the Onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic Four years removed from the worldwide shutdown due to COVID-19, aquatics has re-established a rhythm of training and championships. Paris beckons the world for a second Olympics since, and coaches have resumed mentoring their charges ...

Coaches Corner: Why Are Swimmers Now Able to Produce More Consistently Fast Performances Throughout the Year? In the past, swimmers tended to produce fast times only once or twice per year. Now, we are seeing consistently swift performances across the calendar. Why? In this Coaches Corner, several c...

Fun and Effective Kickboard Exercises to Enhance your Swimming Kickboard exercises are a fun way to improve your swimming skills, as well as your strength and endurance in the water as a whole. At first glance, swimmers may get the impression that the only way to use kickboards is for traditional ki...

Special Sets: The Training That Guided Virginia's Jasmine Nocentini to NCAA Stardom The women’s NCAA championships are over. The University of Virginia won its fourth straight title in dominant fashion, renewing the ongoing discussion of a dynasty. Carol Capitani’s Longhorns finished second again an...

Tech Tuesday: Why a Smart Phone Can Be a Highly Beneficial Coaching Tool Depending on the item, some technology is more readily available to coaches than others. However, all coaches have access to a Smart Phone, and in this week's edition of Tech Tuesday, coach Andrew Sheaff discusses some of the a...

Amanda Weir Still Owns 11-12 NAG in 50-Yard Freestyle; The Training That Produced This Success I first saw a picture of Amanda Weir in 1998. It was in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, which was celebrating her for setting an NAG record in the 50-yard freestyle – a record that still stands to...

Tech Tuesday: The Benefits of Video Analysis for Swimmers In many sports like football, basketball, and even water polo, watching film or doing video review is not uncommon. Sports like these record games and plays, which provide valuable insights into both an athlete's own performance and that of t...

The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) has announced a blockbuster lineup of US and international speakers for the highly anticipated 2024 ASCA World Clinic presented by Fitter and Faster Swim Camps, scheduled for September 4-7 at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Known as the pi...

Tech Tuesday: A Look at the Free Flow Adult-Swim Program by Kerry O’Brien (Part 4) – Prone Position (VIDEO) One of the biggest issues in aquatics is getting adults to learn how to swim. It is much tougher to learn later in life, which deters a lot of people from attempting to learn. Fortunately, the...

Technique: The Effect Of Hand Paddles On Swimming Performance BY ROD HAVRILUK, Ph.D. Swimming with hand paddles is often promoted for benefiting strength, technique and swimming velocity, while also being criticized for causing shoulder pain. However, research shows that neither the commonly stated ...

Coaches Corner: How to Improve a Swimmer's Stroke Length (Video) Swimming World is glad to welcome back Andrew Sheaff for the latest installment of Coaches Corner. In this edition, Sheaff focuses on the importance of making improvements in stroke length. Enhancing stroke length within athletes is re...

Q&A: A Chat With St. Xavier (Ky.) High School Coach Todd Larkin A former swimmer at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Ky., Todd Larkin has continued to mold boys to men all the while advancing the nation’s longest streak of consecutive state championships. Todd Larkin Head Coach, Swimming & Divi...

How Analytics Can Help Coaches Develop the Most Optimal Lineups By Michael Kidd & Kate Burk In this study submitted by Michael Kidd and Kate Burk, the authors analyze putting together an optimal lineup for a championship competition. Introduction: Coaches have long understood that the team advantage...

By J.P. Mortenson, Swimming World College Intern. As swimmers, we all have days when we show up to practice and are completely fatigued before even getting in the water. Days when making even the warmup interval is a struggle. Your body just can’t do what you want it to, and you feel like you aren’t...