Swim Life

Whether you learned about it in school, or you’re like me and had a giant Greek myth phase when you were little (just ask my mom, she’ll tell you all about it), many know about the Twelve Labors of Hercules. For those not brushed up on their ancient mythology, the goddess Hera decided to make life t...

Three Tips for Aspiring Swimmers of All Ages One of the most positive aspects about competitive swimming is that anyone can do it. No matter what level you're at or what age you are, swimming can provide an excellent form of exercise. It can also function as a stress reliever from other daily activi...

The Dynamics of a Swim Family Behind every great athlete is a great support system. This rings true across all sports. The dynamics of a swim support system are unique in many ways, especially when your family is a swim family. There are multiple layers that, when peeled back, expose a complicated s...

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...

How Swimming Can Help You Overcome A Bad Breakup By Andrew Jovanovic, Swimming World Intern Heartbreaks and breakups are a common part of growing up. Learning how to move on from tough times is what defines us. A breakup can be as simple as an “I’ll see you around” or as McCoy put it in Star Trek, “...

16 Thoughts Swimmers Have While Doing Core Work (From the Swimming World Archive) By Molly Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern  Let's be real, even though we all love the results of core sessions - I mean, who doesn't like having abs of steel? - they can be pretty rough. We can only do so many plan...

Title IX's New Watershed Moment for Women in Sports By Gigi Picard Swimming World College Intern On June 23rd, 1972, a law famously known as Title IX went into effect, prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational institution receiving federal funding. From an athletics point of view, the intent...

A Few Helpful Tips For Entering the World of Lifeguards If you are thinking about lifeguarding as a summer job, there are a couple of things you might want to take into account prior to applying for the job. Here are a few points that will hopefully guide you along. Take Certification Classes and Tr...

An Important Choice: Breaking Down The College Swimming Decision The college recruitment process normally requires a lot of phone calls, emails, campus visits and more. Finding the right college "fit" is a long, hard road traveled by any and all aspiring student-athletes. Making a decision can somet...

3 Ways Swimming Has Made Me a Better Student By Sarah Lloyd As I sat in the library writing this article, I couldn't help but think about the amount of schoolwork that was piling up around me for the week. I had an annotated bibliography and the opening four pages of an history research paper due fo...

The Swimming Dictionary: A List of Words and Phrases Lost on the Non-Swimmer Like any sport, swimming has its own set of words. Here we have compiled a list of some of the most commonly used and commonly confusing terms and phrases swimmers use that non-swimmers may not understand. Words Heat Sheet ...

Being a Transgender Athlete in the Swimming World By Tara Draper - Swimming World College Intern Recently, I had a friend - who is not an athlete - come out as transgender. She has had many battles regarding her identity and has slowly started transitioning. Her transition led me to t...

The 10 Guaranteed Ways to Spot a Swim Parent Bringing back this article by Bailey Duran, Swimming World Intern. Giving all the swim parents out there a little love!  Many people have no problem spotting swimmers from a mile away with these telltale features: a bulky bag, messy bun filled with dead h...

5 Quotes From Swim Greats to Keep You Motivated and Positive Sometimes, it only takes a few words to find motivation or turn a down moment around. Here are some quotes stated by some of the best swimmers in the world during past interviews or given through social media. Some might be simple and clic...

10 Things That Should Not Be Said to a Swimmer By Brooke Irving, Swimming World College Intern Swimmers lead a lifestyle that doesn’t make sense to non-swimmers. But can we really blame them for not understanding? Like no other, we voluntarily jump into a cold pool in the dead of winter (most often ...

There was literally a new moon on the horizon at 4:45AM as I stood by the edge of the pool.  Dark skies, light rain, and 46F degrees of temperature surrounded me as I dipped my goggles into the water.  I stood there contemplating my belly button for a minute embracing the elements. “Brent, you reall...

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 ...

What is the Hardest Event in Swimming? By Elise Devlin, Swimming World Intern There’s nothing worse than getting a wide eyed, worrisome expression from your friend after you answered their question, “So, what event do you have next?” We’ve all been there. Lurking somewhere in your meet lineup is onl...

15 Weird Swimmer Facts By Dr. G. John Mullen, Swimming World Contributor Swimmers are fascinating. Not to be biased or anything, but they are. Swimmers have superhuman-like capabilities. They can make their bodies do weird things. And they have some rather strange rituals. These 15 weird facts about...

What Makes the Perfect Swimmer's Body? Although swimmers with a wide variety of body types have found success in the sport, most at the international level tend to look similar, sporting tall and muscular bodies - typically with long torsos, long arms and short legs. This begs the question: If you c...