USA Swim Squads Offer New Layers for TYR Pro Swim Series

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Editorial content for the 2018 TYR Pro Swim Series Austin is sponsored by SwimOutlet.com. Visit SwimOutlet.com for more information on our sponsor. For full Swimming World coverage, check out our event coverage page.

By David Rieder.

In late November, four of USA Swimming’s stars from the early 2000s got together in Los Angeles to draft teams for the newly-rechristened TYR Pro Swim Series in 2018. The objective: Put together the collection of talent possible.

So basically, USA Swimming is bringing fantasy football to in-season swimming? Something like that.

“I think it’s a really interesting way to get people involved with swimmers who they may not pay attention to—you might not cheer for them as much because you don’t know as much about them or they’re not on your team,” Natalie Coughlin said. “I just look at how much more involved I am in football, and that’s because of fantasy football.”

The so-called USA Swim Squads are debuting this year—this weekend, in fact, with the first stop of the Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas. USA Swimming recruited Coughlin, Lenny Krayzelburg, Jason Lezak and Kaitlin Sandeno—all Olympic gold medalists—to help make the familiar set of in-season meets more exciting.

Natalie Coughlin — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

After she drafted her team, Coughlin insisted that she has been promoting an idea like the Swim Squads for years. “Since I think 2004,” she said, “and I think people within USA Swimming thought I was kidding.”

The concept makes almost too much sense. For years, a system has existed which provided prize money to top performers on the Pro Swim Series, but athletes and coaches were hesitant to take their attention away from end-of-season goals. It’s hard to swim all that fast without a full taper and shave, and few swimmers showed up at Pro Series meets in prime condition.

Swimmers should not have to stake prize money—and potentially their livelihoods—on in-season racing, so how best to make these meets competitive and exciting for fans without putting an overt focus on results?

Enter the Swim Squads.

Before each meet, the captains will set their lineups with one swimmer assigned to each of six categories—free, back, breast, fly, IM and flex (any two races). Points will be awarded to any A-finalist (10 for first place down to one for eighth place), and the team with the most points at the end of the circuit will win $10,000 for the charity of their choosing.

“I think the excitement level is going to be different because now these meets, more than experience and getting in there to race, you’re racing for a cause,” Sandeno said. “I hope everybody’s excited for the charity that they’re racing for.”

Coughlin’s team is competing to raise money for the DAM-Cancer foundation, while Lezak plans to support the USA Swimming Foundation. Both the Krayzelburg and Sandeno teams are competing to support the Jessie Rees Foundation, which seeks to support children stricken with cancer.

Competitive enough that the swimmers should care, but not to the point where an athlete would put their long-term goals on hold for a Pro Series meet. Just about right.

As for the composition of these teams, any member of the 2017 USA Swimming National Team was eligible to be selected, as well as any 2016 Olympian—two of whom, Dana Vollmer and Ryan Lochte, opted in.

Each team has a complement of star athletes, but plenty of familiar names were not at the top of draft boards. Katie Ledecky was not selected until the ninth overall pick, and further behind her were Lilly King (11), Caeleb Dressel (12) and Simone Manuel (14). What’s the logic there?

Very sound logic, actually. Not every single swimmer actually shows up to each Pro Series stop, and without knowing each individual athlete’s schedule, college swimmers are highly unlikely to show up to either of the first two stops—Austin or Atlanta in early March—due to their NCAA commitments.

Swim Squads No. 1 pick Chase Kalisz — Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

So Krayzelburg, with the No. 1 overall pick, selected Chase Kalisz. Kalisz, he figured, had turned professional and was likely to compete at many of the stops on the circuit. Three rounds in, he snatched up Ledecky, knowing that even if she only swims at three or four of the six stops, she brings big-point potential at every meet she attends.

Pros-first? Sound draft strategy. Pick three male breaststrokers in your first five picks? Slightly more questionable strategy—but that’s exactly what Lezak did. After selecting Nathan Adrian first, he scooped up Josh Prenot, Kevin Cordes and Cody Miller in succession. Afterwards, Lezak had a defense for his bold move.

“I picked a bunch of great breaststrokers, but here’s the deal: I took away from the other people because I thought they were the best ones on the board, and we can trade in this league. When people are going to be desperate for a breaststroker, I’m going to have a few,” he said. “Some people are looking at my first five, like, ‘What are you doing?’ but I think I did a good job.”

Bold move, sir. Over the next few months, we’ll see exactly how that works out.

But in the meantime, there remains work to do for all four captains—setting their lineups for every meet—yes, just like fantasy football. And since all but Coughlin have been out of the sport for years, having an outlet to reconnect and follow swimming more closely was appealing.

“That’s one of the main reasons why I chose to be a part of it because I can be more involved,” Krayzelburg said. “Quite honestly, the past ten years I haven’t been as involved, but now I’ve got to get into the nitty gritty, try to analyze who’s going to be going to the competitions and what lineup I have to choose and also re-evaluate the previous competition and how my team did.”

Sandeno explained that USA Swimming will aim to get at least one of the four captains to each stop on the circuit, and each captain will try to attend two meets. When they do, each one is expecting a step up from the typical in-season meet.

“It’s exciting. It’s next level,” Sandeno said. “I think it’s what USA Swimming needs right now.”

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john m razi

6 years ago

Fun ! A lot of potential ! Engaging !!!