Swim Stroke Development for All Ages and Abilitiles

Whether you are training for your first triathlon or have a child considering competitive swimming, stroke development can be useful for people of all ages and all levels of swimming ability.

Growing Up in the Water

Growing up I always had a love for the water. I took swim lessons from infancy until I had gone through all the levels of lessons offered by my local pool. So what next? I knew I didn’t want to stop swimming, so the logical decision was to join a swim team. I started in my town pool rec league and quickly outgrew the lack of competition. I eventually moved on to a US swim club which traveled frequently for meets and prepared its swimmers for college level swimming and even Olympic trials.

Stroke Development Clinics

What was it that allowed me to get to this high level of competition? I strongly believe that it was stroke development clinics. Between my transitions from lessons to competition, I was trained in developing my stroke. This was not just “swim practice”, but one-on-one feedback on how to improve your stroke technique and make you a better, faster swimmer. Anyone can practice swimming on their own and create their own drills, but it is very important to have someone who can point out the changes necessary to improve your actual stroke itself.

Stoke Clinics at Harvard

While doing club swimming, I went to a stroke clinic at Harvard University where the head coach individually critiqued each swimmers technique, but you don’t have to go to Harvard to get these kinds of skills. Having a one-on-one lesson from an experienced swimmer can vastly improve your stroke. They will be able to tell you how exactly to improve your stroke, drills that will strengthen your skills, and advice on how to reach your goal whatever that may be.

Stokes Clinics are Good for All

Are you an avid triathlete? Stroke development can help you get an edge on the competition by improving your swim times. Have a child considering competition teams or already in competition? It’s never too late to use stroke development to improve times. Are you or your child still in lessons?

A private swim lesson can combine stroke development and swim lessons for the most efficient way to learn to be a better swimmer. Overall stroke development is a key part to improving one’s swimming skills and can be offered by a teacher with experience and knowledge of the strokes.

About the author: Megan Rotatori

Megan Rotatori is a senior nursing student at the University of Vermont and a summer swim instructor in Boston, MA. She has been a swim instructor for seven years and a lifeguard for four. Megan grew up involved in competitive swimming, and always had a great love for the pool and the ocean. She is passionate about working with kids, and specializes in working with children with disabilities and special needs.