The Start of the Season: 5 Ways to Embark on a Successful Campaign
There is something different about the beginning of a swim season.
The first few weeks feel new and exciting. New goals are written down, the chase for championship cuts starts again, and everyone seems a little more motivated. Maybe you moved up a training group or age group. Maybe you are finally one of the older swimmers on the team. Maybe you are coming off the best summer season of your life, or maybe you are entering the fall determined to make this year different.
No matter where you are starting, a new season can feel like a blank page. With that said, it can also feel overwhelming.
There are months of practices ahead, thousands of laps to swim, early mornings to wake up for, meets to prepare for, and plenty of days when motivation will not come as easily as it does right now. For age group swimmers especially, the season is also unfolding alongside school, prioritizing friends and family, and simply navigating getting older.
That is why starting a season successfully is less about being perfect from Day One; and more about building habits you can carry with you when the excitement of a new season wears off.
Set Goals. Then Focus on What You Can Do Today
It is fun to start the year thinking about the big goals. Maybe there is a championship meet you want to qualify for, a time barrier you have been chasing, or a place on a relay you want to earn.
Keep those goals. Write them down. Let yourself get excited about them. Then figure out what you can do today to move a little closer.
You can’t achieve a February goal in September, but you can show up to practice with intention. You can work on the turns your coach keeps reminding you about. You can make an effort to eat something after practice, get enough sleep, or bring a positive attitude when the sets get hard.
Big goals give you direction, but the small things are what eventually lead you there.
Do Not Rush the Process
One of the hardest parts of swimming is that progress does not always happen when we want it to.
You might start the season feeling slower or more sluggish than you expected. Your teammate might look great while you feel like you are struggling through every set. You might go to an early-season meet and swim times that are nowhere close to your best.
That does not mean you are behind.
Training is supposed to build throughout a season. Your body is adapting to increased workloads, dryland training, school schedules, and everything else you are asking of it. You do not need to feel like the championship version of yourself in September.
Give yourself permission to build.
Stop Comparing Your Beginning to Someone Else’s
Comparison can steal a lot of the excitement from a new season.
Someone else might have moved into the senior group before you. A teammate might already have the cut you desperately want. Someone your age might be getting attention on social media or talking to colleges while you feel like you are still trying to figure everything out.
Their success does not take anything away from what you are capable of accomplishing.
Every swimmer develops differently. You will have seasons where everything clicks and seasons where progress requires more patience. Learning to stay focused on your own path is one of the most valuable skills you can develop, both in swimming and outside of it.
Build Habits Before You Need Them
Championship success is rarely built one week away from the meet. The routines that help you perform when it matters are usually built months earlier. That includes how you warm up, recover, fuel, sleep, communicate with your coaches, approach dryland, and respond when practice does not go your way.
You do not have to change everything at once. In fact, trying to become the “perfect athlete” overnight usually makes things harder. Pick a few habits and become consistent with them.
Pack your bag the night before morning practice. Bring a recovery snack. Spend five minutes working on mobility. Write down one thing you did well after practice. Start going to bed a little earlier.
Small habits may not feel exciting, but repeated over an entire season, they become powerful.
Remember Why You Are Here
There will be hard days this season.
There will probably be a practice where you feel mentally and physically drained, a race you wish you could redo, a set where you wonder how there could possibly be another round, or a morning when getting out of bed feels like the biggest accomplishment of the day.
Those moments are part of it.
But so are the laughs with your teammates between sets, finally hitting a time you have chased for years, getting a high five from your coach after a great practice, singing badly on the bus ride home, and realizing that you are capable of something you once thought was impossible. A successful season is not built in one race, one practice, or even one month.
It is built slowly.
So dream big at the beginning of this season. Set the goals that scare you a little. Be excited about where you could be several months from now.
Then show up tomorrow and start building toward it.
One practice, one habit, and one day at a time.
Summer Finke is a regular contributor to Swimming World. A two-time qualifier for the United States Olympic Trials, she competed collegiately for North Carolina State University and was a multi-time NCAA Championships qualifier.
