Commentary

Life Skills That Benefit Swimmers Throughout Their Lives As a swimmer, one of the questions I hear most is: “Why do you swim?” To any other athlete or non-swimmer, it’s definitely food for thought. Unlike other sports, swimming is largely individual and is judged by the times a swimmer achieves. Whi...

Do The Right Thing: The Unspoken Rules of Lane Etiquette Any swimmer knows the unspoken rules of sharing a lane with other swimmers, whether it is at a meet or at practice with the familiarity of your own team. It is crucial to have lane etiquette. The lanes are small and swimmers need to be able to...

5 Reasons Why Swimmers Make the Best Employees We all know the qualities that employers seek out in new hires. They desire candidates who have a strong work ethic, those who are team players, those who are self-motivated—the list goes on and on. You might ask, how can a job candidate possibly live u...

After Olympic Glory, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass Pursuing Another Championship for Virginia For Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, the signature moments of their swimming careers happened together, on the morning of July 28 in Tokyo. The two University of Virginia swimmers were each competing in their f...

How to Best Train During College Breaks By Annika Hobson, Swimming World College Intern With the holiday season quickly approaching, college swimmers have some breaks from training with their teams. Being away from the routine of college and set practices can make it difficult to ensure you are trai...

4 Groups of People Swimmers Are Thankful For By Courtney Bartholomew, Swimming World College Intern (From the Archive) It’s that time of year again. When swimmers start to become excited about a day dedicated to eating, taking a nap, and then eating again. I, for one, am really excited about Thanksg...

The Top-10 Pet Peeves That Swimmers Carry Into the Pool Being a seasoned swimmer has its ups and downs: we know our way around any and every pool, we constantly smell of chlorine, our faces have permanent goggle marks and we can all count in fives exceptionally well. Forty-give plus 45 equals 1:30, ...

The Benefits of Younger Swimmers Racing Every Event By Robert Griswold In swimming, the topic of specialization of young athletes is often contentious and controversial. At the beginning of my career, I was extremely fortunate to grow up and participate in a program that put an emphasis on doing all...

Extreme Swimming Challenges Around the World By Vanessa Steigauf, Swimming World College Intern Whoever said swimming was not an extreme sport hasn’t heard of the many unique challenges that exist around the world. Every year, they pull swimmers out of their sheltered swimming pools into the waters ...

A Few Ways The Sport of Swimming Can Change Your Life What do you think about when you hear the words "competitive swimming?" Michael Phelps at the Olympics? A long pool? Early morning practices? Do you ever think about how beneficial it can be - for both your mental and your physical health? How it...

4 Reasons To Be Thankful For Your Swim Parents By Nicole E. Johnson, Swimming World College Intern Behind all of the hard work and dedication that swimming takes, there are swim parents who have stood by you and pushed you to be your very best. Most athletes would agree that they would not have come...

No Concerns for Caeleb Dressel, Even After Off Performance in ISL Playoffs Whenever Caeleb Dressel swims even a little bit poorly at a meet, the whispers begin. “What’s wrong with Dressel?” the fans and pundits wonder. Because for essentially the past five years, Dressel has been unstoppable, from t...

What's Your Preference? Swim Practice with Teammates vs. Alone By Josie Wise, Swimming World Intern Swimming is overwhelmingly a team sport at the scholastic and collegiate levels, but that doesn't mean you don't find yourself in the pool alone on some occasions. It may be that you're on a vacation,...

What Would You Do? Swimming Brings Tough Decisions There is no better way to learn about someone than asking them difficult questions. While playing the age-old game of "Would you Rather?", you might be surprised by what you can learn about yourself and others. Since there is no right or wrong answe...

Name That Teammate: Swimmer's Edition By Gigi Picard Swimming World College Intern What makes a swim team click, really? Well, it helps to begin with a roster of super-fast athletes to fill out all the events, coaches who know how to teach and motivate, and trainers who bring their magic to keep eve...

The Swimmer Knows: 15 Unique Traits and Habits Of the Water World By Allison Peters, Swimming World College Intern Everybody has unique traits that make them tick, but swimmers' quirks are much different from those of your everyday person. Here are 15 swimmer habits that these water-loving, dedicate...

By Chandler Brandes, Swimming World College Intern. Swimmers spend the majority of our time with our faces in the water staring at a black line lap after lap. Although we don’t get the opportunity to speak too often during practice, when we do get the chance to talk, we have a lot to say. In the rar...

25 Signs of A Swimmer - Without Saying So! Swimming World told followers on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok platforms to reveal statements that allude to the fact that they were swimmers without actually saying it. Here are some of the best responses of the "tell-tale" signs of a swimmer: https://www...

5 Signs a Swimmer Has Taken Ownership of Their Sport By Brad Jones One common trait that you will consistently see in successful senior level swimmers is that they have complete ownership of their swimming. Over my years of working with high school kids on the Bellingham Bay Swim Team, I’ve realized...

Athlete Mentality: Injuries and The Competitive Spirit Athletes are an example of a warrior mindset in our current society. They embody competition, and the desire to be better than everyone around them. To be among the best of the best, elite athletes must be driven by that mentality, often to extr...