How Swimmers and Coaches Can Collaboratively Use Information at Their Fingertips
We’ve all seen the sports movie. Darkness surrounds our hero, as he studies the greatest athletes in the sport late at night. How can he improve? Will he rise to their level and win it all? It can be applied to almost any sport, as video analysis of competitions has become common among the most popular athletes for decades.
For years, however, the movement failed to take off in swimming. But with more online personalities creating race analysis, and more coaches adopting the method, it has begun to play a role across the sport. How effective can analyzing the world’s best be in the sport of swimming? And most importantly, what can it do for the swimmers of tomorrow?
Every Swimmer is Different
The internet has changed the sports world, with unprecedented access to every event. With that access has come the ability to watch swimming events across the world. The best athletes are now constantly in our hands. Peter Verhoef, coach at top high school swim program The Bolles School, knows this all too well. In his years coaching the school, he has seen the change impact his swimmers.
“We have access to all of the top athletes’ races, routines, regimens. It’s better than ever before,” said Verhoef. “The question becomes, what do we do with it?”
The coach emphasized that the influx of information could be overwhelming for a swimmer, especially those who might take the actions of a top athlete too literally.
“It’s knowledge, not wisdom,” said Verhoef. “We have to learn the fundamentals first, and then learn how we can apply these routines.”
Gary Hall Sr., a multi-time Olympian and coach/founder of The Race Club, agrees. Hall’s program puts a heavy focus on technique, using technology to emphasize the “fundamentals” of swimming.
“If you don’t have fundamentals, you reach a certain level of ability, but you’re never going to be able to surpass that,” said Hall. “We believe technique is 50% of the game, yet it probably ends up being more like 5% of the time coaches spend on technique.”
Hall pointed out factors like a swimmer’s body type, flexibility, and strength as keys to determining how they should swim. These characteristics vary for every swimmer, making it potentially dangerous for them to adapt to another athlete’s style of stroke.
“It’s important for every coach to understand that you can’t use the same technique for every swimmer,” Hall said.
The Coach’s Role
So how does a swimmer find the technique that’s right for them? According to the coaches, it requires a heavy amount of communication between the coach and the swimmer.
James Mauk, coach at Delaware club team Wilmington Aquatic Club, cited more swimmers than ever before showing interest in stroke changes based on the world’s best. Mauk has dealt with it by looking to find a common ground with the swimmer.
“With so much to consume, it becomes a part of their job to have a conversation with their coach,” Mauk said. “‘I found this, how should I work on it?’ And it falls upon us to have honest conversations on whether it’s something worth trying.”
Verhoef agreed, believing experimenting with different techniques in practice as key. “We have to be the ones learning, and finding what works and what doesn’t,” Verhoef said.
While communication is key, to Hall, a more proven way to diagnose a swimmer exists. With resources at his disposal, the former physician has built an array of tools to determine exactly the style of stroke a swimmer should utilize.
At The Race Club, swimmers undergo a series of tests, from their internal hip rotation for breaststroke, to their shoulder extension for butterfly and backstroke. Hall uses these tests to give swimmers a “score” from one to 10 on their strengths, providing them with the tools to choose their style of swimming. He used freestyle as an example.
“A taller swimmer is more able to use a longer distance, slower stroke rate-type technique,” said Hall. “Or if you’re not a good kicker, a hip-driven freestyle or a ‘hybrid’(gallop) freestyle stroke might not work.”
A Groundbreaking Improvement
Through diagnosing the swimmers’ exact strengths and weaknesses, the perfect stroke for them can be found. Surely, this seems like the most thorough method. The issue? Accessibility.
Hall has access to special tools, like his velocity tracking machine and “smart paddles” that track the depth of one’s hand, its force, and the path of the pull/recovery. The average coach, on the other hand, doesn’t have this kind of access. Hall also mostly coaches swimmers on an individual level, where club coaches like Mauk and Verhoef must create a program for dozens of swimmers at a time.
However, Hall has a solution. A new App created by The Race Club hopes to launch in Spring 2026. Per Hall, it will allow coaches to recreate the “tests” at home. The App will let coaches record their swimmers and use technology to measure aspects such as a swimmer’s propulsion, drag, and hip flexion for all four strokes. The device will also include measures for knee flexion, elbow bend, head tilt, and a swimmer’s velocity/acceleration, compiling all of Hall’s tests into one mobile program. It will then allow them to compare the data to the “ideal” stroke for each event (distance freestyle, mid-distance stroke, etc.), based on The Race Club’s database of research, and provide suggestions and improvements via videos to watch.
“It’ll eliminate a lot of the variability (of a coach’s perspective),” said Hall. “You can see exactly what you’re doing better and worse with each technique.”
It’s a project that could change swimming mechanics forever, if done correctly. The hours of studying and thousands of dollars in equipment required to conduct Hall’s studies, could be similarly replicated in just about 20 minutes per swimmer.
“It’s going to be really comprehensive and user-friendly,” said Hall. “We’re incredibly excited.”
Swim-Fluencer Revolution
The influence of social media on our daily lives is inarguable. Swimming, according to the coaches, is no exception. Mauk described what has been a “sprint revolution” across the sport. He attributed the change to a rise in content surrounding sprint swimming, encouraging shorter workouts and more weightlifting.
“Everyone wants to be the flashy sprinter now, and do sprint workouts,” said Mauk. “Age group kids, ages 9-14, shouldn’t be training like Olympians and specializing, as they plateau when they hit 16.”
The coaches preached the “development of the athlete as a whole,” as Mauk referred to it. Hall referenced Caeleb Dressel, who he said built his foundation from his early distance training.
“Everyone says I want to be a sprinter like Caeleb,” said Hall. “But even every sprinter builds their foundation first, or else they can’t maintain (speed).”
To the coaches, well-rounded swim development is the only path to success. It’s a philosophy that’s hard to find on social media, given the desire to display strong opinions.
“It’s almost a microcosm of today’s society going to extremes,” said Mauk. “You can’t have people only sprinting and doing 3,000-yard workouts, or kids with 70-80,000 yard weeks of training. A balance is needed.”
Even in our current landscape, however, there are some influencers that look to reflect this “balance.” Hall’s “Race Club” videos provide a scientific look into swimming efficiency, and emphasize great technique.
Fares Ksebati is another example of a swim influencer looking to give insight through technical analysis. The CEO of swim training app developer “MySwimPro.” Ksebati looks to provide technique tips for all different types of swimmers. “I really see a lot of value in fundamentals, even for the most elite swimmers,” said Ksebati. “Things can get sloppy because you’ve done it 10,000 times, or maybe you’re a beginner just learning. (The stroke mechanics) apply to everyone.”
Whether under positive or negative influence, though, the responsibility for smart, disciplined training falls on the swimmer and coach.
“You just have to figure the swimmer out,” said Hall. “Becoming a great coach, and a great swimmer, is much more challenging (in 2025).”
