Doylestown, Pennsylvania Swim Camp Series (Ages 12 & over)
Doylestown YMCA
2500 Lower State Rd,
Doylestown,
PA 18901
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Introduction
Fitter & Faster is producing a series of swim camps for competitive swimmers ages 12 & Over at Doylestown YMCA in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, during 2025. Please click here for the swim camp page for ages 9 to 11!
DOYLESTOWN, PA SWIM CAMP SERIES (Ages 12 & Over)
-> Elite Speed & Power Swim Camp (June 7 & 8, 2025)
-> Starts, Turns, Underwaters & More Swim Camp (September 6 & 7, 2025)
-> Backstroke & Breaststroke Technique Swim Camp (December 27 & 28, 2025)
Click the “Curriculum Menu” below for details about each swim camp!
-> Availability in each session is limited to 24 participants to ensure the highest level learning experience.
-> SAVE when you purchase the "Entire Camp Bundle” for your swimmer.
Select a curriculum below
ELITE SPEED & POWER SWIM CAMP: June 7 & June 8, 2025
STARTS, TURNS, UNDERWATERS & MORE SWIM CAMP: September 6 & September 7, 2025
BACKSTROKE & BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE SWIM CAMP: December 27 & December 28, 2025
Curriculum
Session TimesSession Times & Groups
ELITE SPEED & POWER SWIM CAMP: June 7 & June 8, 2025
This camp is designed for swimmers ages 12 and older due to the advanced concepts covered. Swimming fast requires a combination of proper technique, efficiency, power, and a dedicated work ethic—qualities that elite swimmers continually strive to refine. At the Elite Speed and Power Camp, participants will elevate their skills to enhance speed and power across all strokes, taking their performance to the next level.
- DAY 1 (Saturday, June 7): GENERATING POWER: 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 (Sunday, June 8): CREATING & MAINTAINING SPEED: 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 and by leveraging speed from dives and push offs.
- 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 and by exploiting and sustaining speed from dives and push offs. We will utilize overspeed drills in and out of turns, in their breakouts and finishes. Remember: Bring your fins and hand paddles!
- Tempo & Distance Per Stroke: To swim faster swimmers either need to increase their tempo while maintaining their distance per stroke or increase their distance per stroke while maintaining the their tempo. We will work on both! Power and technique improve distance per stroke and overspeed training helps improve tempo.
- 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, TURNS, UNDERWATERS & MORE SWIM CAMP: September 6 & September 7, 2025
The momentum generated from explosive starts and turns are the FASTEST that top age group swimmers and elite swimmers are moving in a race! The more efficient, powerful and hydrodynamic your swimmer is, directly impacts their speed and distance they travel in the water before taking their first stroke!
- DAY 1 (Saturday, September 6): STARTS, UNDERWATERS & BREAKOUTS: 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.
- Water Entry: Starting the race with a smooth entry into the water will boost your swimmer's speed and carry the momentum generated off the block or wall. Becoming skilled at the water entry is crucial for any start and significantly contributes to your swimmers' overall race!
- Streamline: The streamline - when done properly - is 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: Top age group and elite swimmers maximize their streamline on every single lap. They don’t 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 unintentionally add movements in their breakouts that reduce speed by creating drag. In this camp, participants will focus on perfecting their breakout timing to maintain momentum and power into each lap.
- DAY 2 (Sunday, September 7): FLIP TURNS, OPEN TURNS & FINISHES: 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: The fastest swimmers use walls to generate speed and momentum going into the next lap. Outside of the elite ranks, many 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”.
- 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 Kicking, 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.
BACKSTROKE & BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE SWIM CAMP: December 27 & December 28, 2025
Over the course of two days, your swimmer will work with our world-class clinicians, gaining invaluable skills to enhance their performance. They’ll refine essential techniques, including powerful kicks, efficient pulls, and optimal body positioning, all designed to maximize speed and minimize effort in both breaststroke and backstroke. This immersive, hands-on experience will refine their technique and build their confidence in the water.
- DAY 1 (Saturday, December 27): BACKSTROKE TECHNIQUE: To excel in the backstroke, refining essential techniques like body line, catch, kick, and pull is essential. Swimmers will work with our Elite Clinicians during this session to finesse their skills, ensuring faster and more efficient performances in backstroke races!
- Bodyline: A competitive swimmer’s bodyline is the key to fast swimming. The name of the game is to eliminate all extra movement of the body including even the slightest bobbing, wiggling. Participants will learn and practice proper posture and engagement of their core to have a strong foundation for better technique - creating a full-body connection for more hydrodynamic and efficient backstroke.
- Rotation: Backstroke is fastest and most efficient when a swimmer’s body is “rotating” around their spine with each stroke. This part of swimming Backstroke has a big effect on maintaining a proper bodyline. Participants will practice activating their core muscles to form a powerful connection from head to toe with every stroke - resulting in faster backstroke!
- Kick: A swimmer’s kick is the motor behind their Backstroke! There are obviously proper and improper ways to kick which we will review at the camp. Just as important, however, is practicing the complexities of how and when swimmers need to “shift gears” in their legs to become stronger and faster racers.
- Pull: Just like in freestyle, the pull in backstroke keeps a swimmer balanced and accelerating forward. Essentially the best swimmers are creating a paddle with every stroke. The clinicians will work with participants to establish an early vertical forearm “the catch”, enabling the swimmer to put immediate pressure back on the water. Properly completing the stroke keeps the swimmer moving forward efficiently and fast.
- DAY 2 (Sunday, December 28): BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE: Out of the eight finalists at the Olympic Games, you might see eight different styles of breaststroke! A swimmer's timing and ability to eliminate resistance are hallmarks of an efficient and powerful breaststroker. No matter your swimmer’s level, this session will strengthen their technique and lead to faster and more efficient breaststroke races… and faster IM’s!
- Bodyline: A breaststroke race is going to be fastest with a proper bodyline. Even the slightest adjustment of the chin, neck, and/or back can make a huge difference. Elite breaststrokers focus on minimizing drag by “catching water” on their hands and feet as quickly as possible, so they can shoot back into a “straight bodyline” where they can glide at top speed.
- Kick: The kick creates a lot of the power in breaststroke. Swimmers need to keep their knees high in the water and snap their feet quickly around and back to create a powerful kick. Our clinicians will work with participants to strengthen their kick for the ultimate propulsion forward!
- Pull: The name of the game in breaststroke is to create as much propulsion as possible in the pull while minimizing resistance… and then quickly getting back into a straight bodyline to establish a high speed glide. Participants at this session will focus on setting up a proper "catch" and keeping their hands and elbows high on the water throughout the entire pull. The techniques your swimmer will practice will minimize resistance and enable them to maintain forward momentum for the fastest breaststroke.
- Timing: Fast, flowing breaststroke is the result of proper timing between a swimmer’s hands and feet. Establishing proper timing in your swimmer’s breaststroke will allow for more fluidity, power and speed. Participants in this session will learn how elite swimmers time their breaststroke for ultimate efficiency and the fastest races.
SESSION START TIMES FOR ALL DAYS:
- Check-in 3:45 PM, Camp 4-7 PM
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
Throughout the camp, swimmers will practice what they've learned with some of the world's most elite Swimmer Clinicians and coaches!
Take a photo, get autographs, and chat with your clinicians!
Elite Clinician
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!
