Training Philosophy:

As coaches, we take a long term athlete development (LTAD) view of swimming, seeing the swimmer's career as an endurance event, not a sprint. Edina Swim Club recognizes that each of our swimmers must learn good stroke technique at every stage of their development. We believe that swimming correctly needs to be taught before athletes move on to training. We also find that swimmers who learn better stroke technique early, will inherently swim faster and smarter races. 

At the younger levels, basic technique, kicking and learning about the sport are the most important. Our coaches are trained to give feedback at these levels and be patient about a swimmer's progress. All strokes are stressed at the developmental, age group, junior and senior levels. We consider our team to be IM (individual medley) oriented, which will give the swimmers the best possible chance for success as they move through their swimming career. Coaches stress the ownership of the athlete in the process of their improvement and achievement. Concepts of intrinsic feedback are introduced, along with goal setting, accountability and a vision for the future of their swimming.

Naturally, year round swimming will improve swimming ability, but it will also carry over to other aspects of an athlete’s life. Swimmers tend to take the listening, discipline, organization, work-ethic, time management, and goal setting skills they learn in our program,with them to the classroom, and thereafter to the rest of their world. In addition, swimmers learn to handle successes and failures, which create resilience, sportsmanship and self-confidence.

Practice groups:

Our practice groups are organized to best match kids with others of similar ability, age, physical and emotional maturity, level of commitment, practice habits, and experience. Coaches are committed to providing the correct balance of skill work and training in line with the age and ability of the swimmers. We do not move swimmers up in groups based only on ability or based only on age. Opportunities for training, improvement and socialization are maximized using a broad based system for group placement.

Move ups are generally done at the beginning of a season, but we recognize that some swimmers need extra time in groups to master skills, and we want kids to "outgrow" their current group before moving on. Coaches do regular test sets to make sure swimmers are getting what they need out of the training environment, and determine whether it is time to have a swimmer advance. All advances are made with the current coach and future coach agreeing that the move is best for the individual swimmer and the group.

Edina Swim Club training groups are divided into several different levels based on a combination of age and performance criteria:

Developmental (learn more)

Age group (learn more)

Senior (learn more)

National (learn more)