Swim Camps

Walnut Creek Master's camp is usually the first weekend of March. It is Kerry's mini version of the beloved Christmas practices of our youth (aka hell week). The feedback is high quality. The coach to swimmer ratio during practices seemed to be around 1 to 10. There are two practices a day Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the morning practice being general work and the evening practice broken out into groups (sprint, IM/middle distance, distance IIRC). Then there are stroke clinics, video taping, video analysis, pancake eating contests and Ihopemyarmsdon'tfalloffsoIcandrivebacktothehotelanddieinpeace between the real work. Go to this camp is you are a swimming masochist who loves a combination of nearly impossible intervals one workout followed by the lactic burn of 8x100s increasing speed on lots of rest. This camp is on the expensive end with travel, hotel, food and the cost of the camp unless you already are local. Aquatic Edge with KPN is a good clinic where you just want to focus on your stroke. Also the freestyle class (the most frequently given clinic) is a great class if your shoulders limit your volume. I definitely changed my stroke to a wider entry because of this class and it took pressure off my shoulders. One day, something like 4 hours with a class room, pool, class room, pool, class room format. The focus of this class is the above portion of the stroke, and the video is taken above the water. The intensity level is very low. KPN does clinics as she jetsets around the world, so it being local (or potentially local) is a cost benefit. You do have to pay attention to her schedule because it is probably once a year that she will be giving a class near you (if at all). SwimFest is hosted by USMS directly. This event really is a coach training tool, it is hosted once a year in a location that moves and it is cheap (if it is local to you). It is certainly worth the cost, but the feedback can be weak. At swimfest my feedback might have been "that looks better" which in reference to my breaststroke really should have been "that was an abomination." That said, SwimFest is worth the cost just for the video session where you learn just as much from reviewing your stroke as seeing others reviewed. Those are the 3 I have done personally.

Walnut Creek Master's camp is usually the first weekend of March. It is Kerry's mini version of the beloved Christmas practices of our youth (aka hell week). The feedback is high quality. The coach to swimmer ratio during practices seemed to be around 1 to 10. There are two practices a day Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the morning practice being general work and the evening practice broken out into groups (sprint, IM/middle distance, distance IIRC). Then there are stroke clinics, video taping, video analysis, pancake eating contests and Ihopemyarmsdon'tfalloffsoIcandrivebacktothehotelanddieinpeace between the real work. Go to this camp is you are a swimming masochist who loves a combination of nearly impossible intervals one workout followed by the lactic burn of 8x100s increasing speed on lots of rest. This camp is on the expensive end with travel, hotel, food and the cost of the camp unless you already are local. Aquatic Edge with KPN is a good clinic where you just want to focus on your stroke. Also the freestyle class (the most frequently given clinic) is a great class if your shoulders limit your volume. I definitely changed my stroke to a wider entry because of this class and it took pressure off my shoulders. One day, something like 4 hours with a class room, pool, class room, pool, class room format. The focus of this class is the above portion of the stroke, and the video is taken above the water. The intensity level is very low. KPN does clinics as she jetsets around the world, so it being local (or potentially local) is a cost benefit. You do have to pay attention to her schedule because it is probably once a year that she will be giving a class near you (if at all). SwimFest is hosted by USMS directly. This event really is a coach training tool, it is hosted once a year in a location that moves and it is cheap (if it is local to you). It is certainly worth the cost, but the feedback can be weak. At swimfest my feedback might have been "that looks better" which in reference to my breaststroke really should have been "that was an abomination." That said, SwimFest is worth the cost just for the video session where you learn just as much from reviewing your stroke as seeing others reviewed. Those are the 3 I have done personally.