Swim Strong 2013 Accomplishments

When you watch an Olympic swimmer surface post-race to learn he or she has
broken a record, sometimes it is hard to reconcile the sheer joy of the
moment with the knowledge that a mere hundredth of a second – or less! –
separates the new time from the old one.

How hard can it be to knock off a second, you may ask?

The answer is – as any seasoned swimmer will tell you in a blink of an eye
(three- to four-tenths of a second) – is very hard! A novice swimmer moving
up the ranks and learning new technique will improve by leaps and bounds at
first, losing seconds every time there is a time trial or race. But once a
swimmer is competing regularly, getting faster comes down to tiny
refinements in technique. Hard work, daily practice and intense repetition
become the keys to getting faster. A swimmer must be receptive to feedback
and willing to put in the time. It is no longer just about showing up.

Every week at Swim Strong practices, we post sheets with competitive times
for each age group and encourage our competitive swimmers to work towards
those times. We conduct weekly time trials and record the results.

And in 2013, 13 of our swimmers worked extra hard and joined the elusive
“100-Second Club,” paring more than 100 seconds off their competitive times.
One 8-and-under girl and three 9-10 girls made the cut, as did two
8-and-under boys, one 9-10 boy, two 11-12 boys and four boys aged 13+.

An additional seven of our swimmers took off 90 or more seconds.

This is a truly amazing accomplishment for these girls and boys, and a
testament to their willingness to SWIM STRONG!!

– Written by Lela Moore