By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam
Courtesy of Kevin Pierce. Follow Kevin on SubStack here.
Every summer, I hear the same question from high school swimmers:
“Coach, I don’t swim year-round. What can I do this summer to get ready for next season?”
It’s a fair question. In a sport where so much attention is given to club swimming and year-round training, many high school-only swimmers wonder if they are already behind before the season even starts. They see social media posts of swimmers logging thousands of yards every day, traveling to meets across the country, and competing throughout the summer. It can be easy to feel like you are at a disadvantage.
The truth is that while year-round swimming certainly offers benefits, it is far from the only path to improvement. Every year, I coach athletes who do not swim for a club team but still make tremendous progress from one season to the next. Some drop multiple seconds in their events. Some qualify for championship meets for the first time. Others emerge as leaders who help transform the culture of our team.
Their success rarely comes from a magical training program. More often, it comes from using the summer months intentionally.
The offseason is not simply a break from swimming. It is an opportunity to prepare yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally for the challenges ahead. The swimmers who make the biggest improvements are often the ones who understand that success is built long before the first official practice begins.
One of the most important things high school-only swimmers can do during the summer is remain active. After a long season, everyone deserves some time to relax and recover. Rest is important. In fact, it is necessary. But there is a significant difference between recovering and becoming inactive.
Many athletes spend the first few weeks after the season ends enjoying some well-deserved downtime. Before they know it, however, weeks turn into months. Activity levels drop. Fitness declines. When the season starts again, they find themselves struggling through workouts that would have felt manageable just months earlier.
You do not need to be in a swimming pool every day to maintain your fitness. Running, biking, hiking, playing basketball, soccer, tennis, pickleball, or participating in other recreational activities can help maintain cardiovascular endurance and overall athleticism. Summer is a chance to enjoy movement in different ways while continuing to build a strong foundation for the future.
The athletes who return to the pool in the fall with a solid fitness base often adapt much more quickly than those who spent the entire summer on the couch.
Summer is also an excellent time to focus on strength development. Strength plays an increasingly important role in swimming as athletes get older. While technique remains the foundation of success, strength helps swimmers hold their form under fatigue, generate more power off starts and turns, and finish races stronger.
One of the advantages of the offseason is that swimmers can devote more attention to strength training without balancing the demands of daily practices and competitions. Even basic bodyweight exercises can produce meaningful results. Pushups, pullups, planks, squats, lunges, and core exercises require little equipment and can be performed almost anywhere.
For athletes with access to a weight room, summer can be a valuable time to learn proper lifting techniques and develop a well-rounded strength program. The goal is not to become a bodybuilder. The goal is to become a stronger, more resilient athlete who can better handle the demands of training and competition.
Another area that often gets overlooked is mobility and flexibility. Swimming requires athletes to move through large ranges of motion, particularly in the shoulders, hips, ankles, and spine. Tight muscles and limited mobility can affect stroke efficiency and increase injury risk.
The offseason provides an opportunity to address these limitations. A simple daily routine that includes stretching, mobility exercises, yoga, or foam rolling can produce significant improvements over the course of a summer. Ten or fifteen minutes a day may not seem like much, but those small investments can add up over time.
Many swimmers are surprised by how much better they feel in the water after improving their mobility. Better movement often leads to better technique, which ultimately leads to faster swimming.
The mental side of swimming deserves attention as well. In fact, summer may be the perfect time to work on it.
Swimming is a sport filled with challenges. Athletes experience setbacks, disappointing races, difficult practices, injuries, and moments of self-doubt. Learning how to handle those challenges is an essential part of becoming a successful swimmer.
The offseason provides time for reflection. What went well last season? What could have gone better? What goals do you have for the future? What habits need to change?
Great swimmers spend time thinking about these questions. They set meaningful goals. They develop routines that build confidence. They practice visualization and learn how to respond positively when things do not go according to plan.
Mental toughness is not developed overnight. It is built through consistent effort, reflection, and preparation. Summer provides the space to begin that process.
Another valuable use of the offseason is becoming a student of the sport. Some of the best athletes I have coached are also some of the most curious. They enjoy learning about swimming. They watch races. They study technique. They ask questions. They seek out information that can help them improve.
There are more resources available today than ever before. Athletes can watch Olympic races online, listen to podcasts featuring elite coaches, read articles about training and performance, and learn from swimmers who have reached the highest levels of the sport.
The more you understand swimming, the more intentional your own training becomes. Knowledge may not replace hard work, but it can certainly help guide it.
Summer is also a time to establish healthy habits that will carry into the season. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, and recovery often do not receive the attention they deserve, yet they have a tremendous impact on performance.
Many athletes underestimate the power of consistently getting enough sleep. Others struggle with hydration or fail to fuel their bodies properly. These habits may seem small, but they can significantly influence energy levels, recovery, and long-term development.
Athletes who learn how to take care of their bodies during the offseason often arrive at the start of the season feeling healthier, stronger, and more prepared to handle the workload ahead.
Of course, if opportunities arise to spend time in the water, swimmers should take advantage of them. Summer leagues, open swims, local pools, lifeguarding jobs, and teaching swim lessons can all help maintain feel for the water.
One of the biggest challenges high school-only swimmers face is simply losing that connection to the water. Swimming is a highly technical sport. Even occasional opportunities to swim can help maintain stroke awareness and make the transition back into organized training much smoother.
The goal is not necessarily to train like a club swimmer. The goal is to avoid completely disconnecting from the sport for several months.
Perhaps the most important thing swimmers can do during the summer is remember that improvement does not happen by accident. Every choice matters. Every workout, every healthy meal, every night of quality sleep, every mobility session, and every effort to learn contributes to future success.
Too many athletes view the offseason as time away from improvement. The best athletes view it as an opportunity.
They understand that championships are not won during championship season. They are built during the months that come before it. They recognize that leadership, discipline, confidence, and resilience are developed long before they step onto the starting block.
When the high school season begins, some swimmers will spend the first few weeks trying to regain what they lost over the summer. Others will arrive prepared, confident, and ready to take the next step.
The difference often has very little to do with talent and everything to do with how they chose to spend the offseason.
So if you are a high school-only swimmer wondering what you can do this summer, remember this: you do not need a club team to improve. You need purpose. You need consistency. You need a willingness to invest in yourself when nobody is watching.
Because summer is not the end of your development.
In many ways, it is where next season truly begins.
ABOUT KEVIN PIERCE
Kevin Pierce is a dedicated high school swim coach, leadership consultant, and advocate for athlete development. As the head coach of the Ridley High School boys’ swim team (Folsom, Pa), he has a passion for helping young swimmers reach their full potential, both in and out of the water. With years of experience in coaching, mentoring, and program development, Kevin specializes in leadership training, team culture, and athlete motivation.
Beyond the pool deck, Kevin is the founder of Green Mystique Leadership Consulting, where he works with youth and high school athletes to develop leadership skills that extend beyond sports. He is also the author of Leo The Lion’s Great Adventure, a children’s book that teaches leadership lessons through storytelling.
Kevin contributes to SwimSwam with insightful articles on high school swimming, leadership in sports, and strategies for fostering a winning team culture. His expertise in balancing athletic performance with leadership development makes him a valuable voice in the swimming community.
Instagram – CoachKevinPierce Website – CoachKevinPierce.com X – kevpierce14 Substack – kevinpierce.substack.com/Read the full story on SwimSwam: No Club Team? No Problem: How High School Swimmers Can Use The Summer To Prepare for Next Season
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