Taking your leisure or workout swim to the next level involves a variety of choices. Recreational and masters leagues are readily available in most locations. Knowing the training of the staff involved as well as the time commitment can help focus your choice and ensure you get the right training to become competitive in the sport.
League
If you're looking at competitive swim for your kids, find out if the local recreational league includes meets. Some leagues provide swim instruction only, while others have competitive meets for two, three or four teams at a time. In addition, find out if the league is a USA Swimming league. Some recreation leagues are not, and if your child has swum previously in a USA-level league, she may not be allowed to swim for the recreation league team in meets. If you're planning to start swimming competitively yourself, find a local masters team to join. The fees vary, but are typically relatively inexpensive. Some masters team fees cover entrance fees to meets, others require an additional payment for meet fees.
Coaching
Coaching style is critical to success in the water. Finding a coach to explain the finer points of a particular technique is just one part of the coaching mix. The Positive Coaching Alliance, founded at Stanford University in the late 1990s, trains youth coaches to focus on more than winning. Especially for younger swimmers who hope to become competitive with proper training, the process of competition needs to impart life lessons and help build character. Look for the PCA logo for any team you are considering joining.
Technique Training
Swimming is a sport that focuses on constantly refining your technique. Even Olympic-level athletes focus on the fine points of a dive, turn or arm stroke. If you're planning to swim competitively, find out if the workouts include stroke technique. Some workouts do not, and focus only on endurance. In this case, you may need to request a clinic with the coach, which often incurs a separate cost and time commitment.
Time Frame
When you're swimming competitively, you're part of a team. Team workouts are once a day, for younger swimmers, most typically. Older swimmers -- the age range depends on the league, but typically 10-year-olds and up for recreational, summer leagues -- often have two workouts a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. Summer leagues also typically have two meets a week, Wednesday night and Saturday morning, as well as invitational meets for top swimmers on Sundays. Masters swimmers have meets year round that you specify as a goal when working with your masters' coach.
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