Ah, taper season. The time after a long, grueling winter training season when yardage (hopefully) decreases, intensity ramps up, and the focus is all about speed. Speed off the blocks. Speed off the turns. Speed between the walls. Finally. At last. Speed. Taper can seem like a mystifying, magical process to some. It’s not. Merely, it’s a recalibration of sorts. A refocusing. Taper is changing the body to adjust to meet settings: You want your body to feel ready to race in the morning, ready to perform at nighttime finals,...

Hayes Feng, 12, Olympic Cascade Aquatics (PN): Also representing the Pacific Northwest Team at the All-Star meet, Feng won two events and set three best times in the 11-12 boys age group, highlighted by his swim in the 100 breast. Feng clocked 1:03.27, improving on his month-old best time of 1:03.58 to rank 5th this season in the 11-12 age group. He also won the 100 IM in 58.91, good for 11th this season in the age group, and added a third best time in the 200 free (1:58.48) while...

By Makena Markert, Swimming World College Intern. Have you ever felt like you were doing everything you possibly could to get better and weren’t seeing results? Consider trying these FIVE things that require absolutely no talent. If you incorporate them into your life, you just might see the improvements you’ve been looking for! READ MORE...

Heading into the spring can only mean one thing in the world of swimming – long course season is here! For those who spend the majority of the season training short course, the shift to racing (or training) in a pool more than twice as long can be rough at times. Here are six tips for a successful transition from short course to long course this season. READ MORE: https://www.usaswimming.org/news/2022/04/12/six-tips-for-transitioning-to-long-course-swimming

By Isabelle Robuck No one else compares to your favorite swim coach. Think about it now; what makes your coach the best? Most swimmers deeply relate to their coaches through shared work ethic and discipline, training style, and – most importantly – their infinite words of wisdom. READ MORE

Four OCA swimmers qualify and become Scholastic All Americans: Emmitt Ralston Matthew Williamson Evan Liu Jakson Winn The boys are 4 of 1,281 athletes in high school who have maintained a minimum 3.5 GPA and qualified for winter juniors

The swimming season is a long haul. Here is the swimmer’s guide to staying fired up for the duration of the year. Think of this list as your little Swiss army knife of motivation. Bookmark it, and save it for those days where you need a jolt of inspiration to get back to the pool. And here we go:

Congratulations Luke Dunn for breaking the PNS 200 Fly LCM record!!!!!! The old record was set in 2012 by Ivan Graham who swam for IST with 2:19.92. Luke broke the record at the PNS age group champs meet at KCAC posting a time of 2:19.71. Luke is currently the only swimmer to swim for OCA to have broken a LSC record.

As a mental performance coach, this time of the year is always my favorite time of the year. Swimmers and swim teams, from the age group level all the way through the NCAA, are getting prepared for their upcoming championship meets where they’re desperately hoping that months and months of training, hard work, and dedication will pay off and yield results. Helping swimmers get mentally prepared for such an occasion is what I love doing most, and it’s what I want to help you with today. READ MORE.....

A number of years ago, at the beginning of her senior year in college, a swimmer contacted me with the following problem: She hadn't gone a lifetime best time since she was a senior in high school. Do the math, folks — she hadn't gone fast in almost four years! To make matters even more frustrating for her, she was physically stronger than she had ever been in high school and it showed in her college practice times where she'd consistently go faster than when she raced. Here's a guiding...