2023 Portland, OR Swim Camp Series for Ages 13 & over!

Parkrose Pool
12003 NE Shaver St, Portland, OR 97220

Countdown
  • 29days
  • 16hours
  • 58minutes
  • 31seconds

Introduction

Fitter & Faster is producing TWO, 2-day swim camps at the Parkrose Pool in Portland, OR in April & July of 2023! This swim camp page is for swimmers ages 13 & over. If you are looking for the camp page for ages 9 to 12, CLICK HERE!

PORTLAND, OR: 2023 SWIM CAMP SERIES (Ages 13 & over)
-> Speed & Power Swim Camp - April 22 & 23 
-> Championship Preparation Swim Camp: Starts, Turns, Underwaters & More! - July 1 & 2

Click the “Curriculum Menu” below for details about each swim camp!
-> Availability in each session is limited to 24 participants to ensure the best learning experience!
-> SAVE when you purchase the “Full Camp Bundle” for your swimmer!

Select a curriculum below

Freestyle Comprehensive Racing Camp
SPEED & POWER SWIM CAMP - April 22 & 23
Starts Camp
CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION SWIM CAMP - July 1 & 2
Curriculum
Session TimesSession Times & Groups
Freestyle Comprehensive Racing Camp

SPEED & POWER SWIM CAMP - April 22 & 23

Swimming fast requires good technique, efficiency, power, and a hard working athlete. Elite swimmers are always working on this. At the Elite Speed and Power Camp, participants will advance their skills that apply to fast swimming in every stroke. Due to the advanced concepts covered in this camp, this camp is exclusively for swimmers ages 13 & older.

  • DAY 1: GENERATING POWER! (April 22): Developing power will help your swimmer be more efficient and stronger in the water! To strengthen swimming specific movements, the elite clinicians will work with participants on improving power in their strokes, using resistance training and dynamic warm-ups to their advantage.
  • Gear to Bring with You: Please bring a t-shirt to swim in, your snorkel, paddles, fins and a pair of gym sneakers to this camp!
  • Dynamic Warm-up: In order to go fast, you need to be warm! The clinicians will take participants through a combination of light cardio exercises and dynamic stretches to get the blood flowing to the muscles and loosen joints in preparation to SWIM FAST! Remember: Bring your Gym Shoes!
  • Establishing Your Catch to Maximize Power in Your Stroke: The only way to generate maximum power in your stroke is by “holding” as much water as possible. That process begins with “your catch” at the top of every stroke. At this camp your clinicians will work with you to ensure you are grabbing onto and holding water throughout your stroke.
  • Resistance Training: Resistance is an excellent method of building power - especially in the water. It also helps to expose areas within your technique that can be strengthened. The clinicians will take your swimmer through resistance training methods! Properly swimming with hand paddles and a T-shirt will add resistance and develop power! Remember: Bring a t-shirt to swim in and your hand paddles!
  • DAY 2: CREATING & MAINTAINING SPEED (April 23): Your swimmer is going to learn how to swim at top speeds while continuing to leverage the powerful stroke that we worked on the day before! On Day 1, participants swam slower than they normally swim because of the resistance we added to establish a “powerful stroke”. Today is about swimming FASTER than you normally swim with assistance from fins and paddles.
  • Gear to Bring with You: Please bring a t-shirt to swim in, your snorkel, paddles, fins and a pair of gym sneakers to this camp!
  • "Overspeed Training": Practice how to swim with good technique at speeds faster than you’ll ever go in a race with the assistance of fins and paddles. We will utilize overspeed drills in and out of turns, in their breakouts and finishes. Remember: Bring your fins and hand paddles!
  • Tempo: One way to increase efficiency is to take fewer strokes. Improving technique to decrease the number of strokes your swimmer takes will enable them to go further faster - that’s when times DROP!
  • Maintaining Technique Through Fatigue: When swimmers get tired, their technique can break down. We are going to work with participants on how to handle fatigue. Competitive swimmers who focus on technique through fatigue in practice and in races reap the rewards of faster times.
  • Speed Set: At the end of this session your swimmer will do a short and fast swim set to practice everything they have learned over the past two days.
Starts Camp

CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION SWIM CAMP - July 1 & 2

This camp will help your swimmer fine tune techniques and strategies to improve their performances at upcoming “last chance qualifier meets” and Championship Meets.

  • Day 1: EXPLOSIVE STARTS, UNDERWATERS & BREAKOUTS (July 1): The better a swimmer’s technique is off the starting block, the more speed they will carry into the water. Day 1 of this swim camp will help your swimmer improve their start, underwater dolphin kicking and breakouts! This sequence is not only the fastest part of every race, but it is also the part of the race in which elite swimmers cover the most ground with the most efficiency.
  • Block Starts: To ensure an explosive start, a swimmer needs to set themselves up properly on the block. The elite clinicians will work with participants on the optimal positioning of your swimmer’s entire body to allow for a quick reaction time and optimal speed.
  • Streamline: The streamline - if done properly - will be the fastest a swimmer travels while in the water. Proper streamlines are even faster than underwater dolphin kicking. Even the most elite swimmers in the world are constantly working on improving their streamline. Your swimmer will get tips to improve their streamline and a better appreciation of what they need to do on every single wall in practice and in races.
  • Initiating Underwater Dolphin Kicking: Elite swimmers want to maximize their streamline on every single lap. So, they don’t want to start their underwater dolphin kicking while they’re still achieving maximum speed in their streamline. They also don’t want to start the underwater dolphin kicking after their streamline has begun to slow. Your swimmer is going to learn how to time when to begin their underwater dolphin kicking.
  • Powerful Underwater Dolphin Kicking: There are a few different techniques that swimmers use when underwater dolphin kicking. The common theme of these techniques is that the best swimmers kick up and down with equal power. We will show your swimmer the different techniques that elite swimmers use and teach them how to implement.
  • Number of Underwater Dolphin Kicks: Figuring out the optimal number of kicks off each wall, for each race, is essential to fast swimming. Elite swimmers want to spend only the absolute necessary amount of time underwater to establish speed with each length. They want to avoid losing their breath and taking weak kicks.
  • Breakouts: Many swimmers add movement within their breakout that creates drag and destroys all of the speed created during their underwaters. Participants will work on timing their breakouts to explode into each lap.
  • Day 2: FASTER FLIP TURNS, OPEN TURNS & FINISHES (July 2): Quick, powerful turns and finishes are crucial to fast times and winning close races. The top age group and elite swimmers aren't using walls just for turning around - they are used to generate speed and momentum going into the next lap. Elite swimmers are constantly working their turns and looking for areas to improve them. Today, we're going to work with your swimmer on taking this crucial part of every race (and practice) to the next level!
  • Momentum: At the elite level of swimming, walls aren’t just used for turning around - they are used to generate speed and momentum going into the next lap. Outside of the elite ranks, most swimmers stop or slow down while going into the wall, which kills their momentum! We will work with participants on the intricacies of approaching every wall at top speed and seamlessly initiating their “turn”.
  • Flip Turns: Flip turns are an opportunity for your swimmers to increase momentum in the middle of a race! Flip turns in which the athletes slow down or have “mechanical” movements negatively impact the speed at which a swimmer comes off the wall. We will work with your swimmer to produce fast flip turns so that they can explode off the walls at maximum speed.
  • Open Turns: Elite butterflyers and breaststrokers utilize speed from their last lap to create momentum and even more speed at the beginning of the next lap. Their open turns are actually not “turns”, but more like high-speed pivots. Participants in this session will work on these techniques to have much faster open turns!
  • Streamline, Underwater Dolphin, Breakout Progression: At this session participants will continue to work on the progression covered on Day 1.
  • Finishes: Setting yourself up for a fast finish is very similar to setting yourself up for a strong turn in any race. Races are won and lost by hundredths-of-a-second at every swim meet. Many races come down to the last few strokes. At this camp, your swimmer will learn techniques to set themselves up for a well-timed finish when they are still about 10 yards from the wall.

START TIMES FOR BOTH CAMPS: Check in 12:15 PM, Camp 12:30-3:30 PM Suggested Participants: Our top priority is to provide a world-class learning experience for all participants at all of our camps. This camp has sessions for swimmers ages 13 & over. Participants will range from one-year of competitive swimming experience to AAAA times and faster. If you are the parent of a child under the age of 13, CLICK HERE!

ASK QUESTIONS

Swimmers and parents are invited to ask the clinicians questions during a Q&A session. Gain insight into their training regimen, diet and nutrition, and recovery tactics.

WATCH THE CLINICIANS

Observe clinicians swim at full speed and demonstrate a progression of perfectly executed drills to achieve powerful, efficient and fast swimming.

PUT YOUR SKILLS TO THE TEST

Swimmers will get to practice what they've learned by taking their stroke to your top speed with some of the best swimmers and coaches in the world! They'll work on holding onto their form while challenging themselves.

Take a photo, get autographs, and chat with your clinicians!

Lead Clinicians

Drew Loy is an Ohio State University Alumni, two-time Big Ten Champion, and an Olympic Trials qualifier. He brings energy, joy, and a wealth of knowledge to every camp that he leads. You don't want to miss the chance to work with Drew!

Fitter and Faster clinicians are Olympians and National Team members who have achieved at the highest level of the sport of swimming... and who have the unique skill to teach what they know from a technical perspective to swimmers of all ages and abilities.

Inquisitive, Educated Swimmers are Faster Swimmers! Sign up today!