Tampa, FL Swim Camp Series For Ages 12 & over
New Tampa Family YMCA
16221 Compton Dr,
Tampa,
FL 33647
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Introduction
Fitter & Faster is producing five, 2-day swim camps for competitive swimmers ages 12 & over in Tampa, Florida during 2025! Click here for the swim camp page for ages 9 to 11.
TAMPA, FL SWIM CAMP SERIES (Ages 12 & over)
-> How to Swim Fast 200's & IM's Swim Camp (January 4 & 5, 2025)
-> Championship Preparation: Underwaters & Racing Skills Swim Camp (February 22 & 23, 2025)
-> Championship Preparation: Starts & Turns Swim Camp (June 28 & 29, 2025)
-> Comprehensive Breaststroke Racing Swim Camp (August 30 & 31, 2025)
-> Comprehensive Butterfly Racing Swim Camp (October 4 & 5, 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 an "Entire Camp Bundle” for your swimmer.
Select a curriculum below
HOW TO RACE FAST 200's & IM's SWIM CAMP: January 4 & January 5, 2025
CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION: UNDERWATERS & RACING SKILLS: February 22 & February 23, 2025
CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION: STARTS & TURNS SWIM CAMP: June 28 & June 29, 2025
COMPREHENSIVE BREASTSTROKE RACING SWIM CAMP: August 30 & August 31, 2025
COMPREHENSIVE BUTTERFLY RACING SWIM CAMP: October 4 & October 5, 2025
Curriculum
Session TimesSession Times & Groups
HOW TO RACE FAST 200's & IM's SWIM CAMP: January 4 & January 5, 2025
“How should I swim this race?" How many times has your swimmer asked this question? Finding the right answer can be tricky because pacing during a race is based on "feel", rather than calculated splits. This swim camp is designed to empower your swimmer with the skills and strategies they need to succeed. They will learn how to channel their effort—whether it’s in their pull, kick, or underwaters—throughout the race. The first session focuses on navigating the 200, the second on IM races. By the end of the camp, your child will understand their own racing style and gain the confidence to approach their next competition with a solid plan. This swim camp will be led by Elite Clinician Norbert Szabo!
- DAY 1 (Saturday, January 4): HOW TO RACE A FAST 200: The 200-yard race is a unique challenge that combines speed, endurance, and strategy. In this session, your swimmer will explore the nuances of pacing and technique required to excel in the 200. Through hands-on practice and insights from our elite clinicians, participants will learn how to find their rhythm and develop a race plan that suits their strengths.
- Experience-Driven Learning: Your swimmer will learn best by doing! Each practice session will focus on the feel and strategies necessary for racing. Through hands-on activities, they will practice different segments of the race, helping them understand how to put it all together effectively.
- Pacing and “Feel” Insights from Elite Swimmers: Our elite clinicians will share valuable insights on various strategies for the 200, illustrating the pros and cons with real examples from elite-level races across all strokes. They’ll explore how top swimmers balance "front-end speed" and "back-end speed," teaching your child to break down the race into manageable segments of effort or technical emphasis.
- Stroke-Specific Strategies: Different strokes require different strategies, especially in the 200. We’ll discuss how to manage energy in freestyle and backstroke, versus handling muscular fatigue in butterfly and breaststroke. Your swimmer will learn to navigate these unique challenges and avoid common pitfalls.
- Control & “Easy Speed”: The beginning of every race often feels effortless. Our clinicians will teach your swimmer how to control their effort while maintaining speed, a skill that can make all the difference in race performance.
- Optimizing Underwaters for Efficiency: Underwater kicks are key for efficiency in the 200! Many swimmers use underwater kicks at the start of the race, but not at the end. We’ll help your swimmer develop a balanced strategy for using underwaters effectively, while ensuring they’re getting enough oxygen throughout the race.
- Mental Preparation for Success: Every great race starts with the right mindset. Our clinicians will guide your swimmer in building mental resilience and excitement specific to the 200, preparing them to tackle the race with confidence.
- Personalized Race Plan: At the end of this session, your swimmer will leave with a customized race plan tailored to their unique strengths, helping them swim faster and step up to the block with confidence at their next meet.
- DAY 2 (Sunday, January 5): IM RACE STRATEGY: IM races are among the most exciting to watch because each swimmer brings unique strengths and strategies to the pool. In this session, swimmers will focus on key skills that benefit all IM athletes, such as stroke transitions, while also developing a personalized race strategy tailored to their individual skill set.
- Learning by Doing: Swimmers will learn through hands-on practice, executing segments of the IM race to build a comprehensive race plan. By actively working through each part of the IM, swimmers will gain a deeper understanding of how to put their strategy into action.
- IM Strategy: Every IM swimmer has a race strategy that evolves with years of practice and experience. In this session, our elite clinicians will guide swimmers in identifying their unique strengths and weaknesses, helping them create a customized race plan to improve performance. While it may seem counterintuitive to some, a common strategy for younger swimmers is to focus on efficiency in their strongest strokes, while putting more effort into their weaker strokes to balance the race.
- IM Transitions: Efficient IM transitions are critical to success in IM races. Swimmers will learn to execute smooth transition turns and develop the ability to seamlessly shift between muscle groups, while also maintaining ideal technique, timing, and effort as they move into the next stroke.
- Stroke Pacing: There are many ways swimmers can adjust their strokes to optimize efficiency and speed. Lengthening stroke distance at critical moments in the IM can conserve energy, while prioritizing tempo can help accelerate or finish strong. By focusing on specific elements of their stroke, such as the kick, pull, or core, swimmers can better balance speed in the current stroke with the needs of the next. Elite athletes understand how to adjust these elements seamlessly, and our clinicians will help participants learn how to fine-tune their strokes for maximum effectiveness.
- Strategy Reinforcement & Training: Swimmers will work closely with our clinicians to refine the techniques learned throughout the session. They will also complete a training set designed by the Fitter and Faster coaching team to help them maintain their strategy and technique, even as fatigue sets in.
CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION: UNDERWATERS & RACING SKILLS: February 22 & February 23, 2025
As championship season approaches, now is the perfect time to focus on the key skills that can make a big difference in racing performance—skills that can sometimes get overlooked during intense training. This camp is specifically designed to help swimmers refine these crucial racing techniques as they head into the final stretch of the season. The first session will center on maximizing speed and efficiency in underwater dolphin kicking, a critical skill for fast starts and turns. The second session will focus on the key racing techniques that are essential for success at championship meets.
- DAY 1 (Saturday, February 22): THE FIFTH STROKE - UNDERWATERS: In the first session, our elite clinicians will work with participants to enhance the fastest sequence for each race lap: streamlines, underwater dolphin kicks, and breakouts. Finessing these techniques not only reduces drag and enhances efficiency, but also contributes significantly to overall speed and performance in the water!
- 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 gain 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 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 (Sunday, February 23): RACING SKILLS: In this session, your swimmer will focus on racing-specific skills that go beyond typical practice routines. These techniques will help them transition from training to race day with confidence and precision.
- Racing Mindset and Effort: Rigorous training builds endurance, but translating that mindset into race-day performance can be challenging. Our expert clinicians will teach your swimmer how to shift from enduring long workouts to expending maximum effort in a matter of minutes, helping them stay mentally and physically focused for optimal race execution.
- Transitions: Efficient transitions such as wall push-offs, streamlines, breakouts, and finishes are crucial to race success. Building on session 1, your swimmer will practice these skills at race speed, learning to seamlessly move through each phase of the race. They'll also focus on swimming fast into the wall to set up great turns and finishes.
- Body Position: A swimmer’s body position is key to reducing drag and maximizing speed. Through targeted exercises, your swimmer will learn how to adjust their body position to improve buoyancy and streamline their movement, using the increased strength in the kick and pull that comes during racing to enhance efficiency and height in the water.
- Balancing Stroke Length & Stroke Rate: Finding the right balance between stroke length and tempo is critical for racing performance. Many swimmers overemphasize tempo, sacrificing their stroke efficiency. Our clinicians will help your swimmer optimize their catch and pull, ensuring they generate speed without losing power or control, and teach them how to lengthen their stroke for better propulsion.
- Finishes: Dropping time and even winning or moving up a few spots in the results can all come down to the last stroke! A well-timed finish at full speed, with full-arm extension and head down can make a difference of up to a full second in a race! Your swimmer is going to learn how to take advantage of the finish to drop time!
CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION: STARTS & TURNS SWIM CAMP: June 28 & June 29, 2025
As championship season approaches, now is the perfect time to zero in on key racing skills like starts, turns, and underwaters—techniques that can sometimes be overlooked in regular training. This camp is specifically designed to help swimmers refine these crucial elements, enhancing their power, efficiency, and hydrodynamics to boost speed, and maximize distance off each wall before the first stroke.
- DAY 1 (Saturday, June 28): 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 swimmer's 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 gain 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 session, participants will focus on perfecting their breakout timing to maintain momentum and power into each lap.
- DAY 2 (Sunday, June 29): 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 not actually “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 session, your swimmer will learn techniques to set themselves up for a well-timed finish when they are still about 10 yards from the wall.
COMPREHENSIVE BREASTSTROKE RACING SWIM CAMP: August 30 & August 31, 2025
At the highest level of swimming, breaststroke has the most varied 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 2-day camp will strengthen their technique, as well as their racing and training skills, which will lead to faster and more efficient breaststroke races…and faster IMs!
- DAY 1 (Saturday, August 30): BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE: We want your swimmer to establish a well-timed breaststroke. Today, we will practice various drills and skills that will enable your swimmer to have flowing hips, a powerful kick, and a long, flowing stroke.
- 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.
- DAY 2 (Sunday, August 31): BREASTSTROKE RACING TRAINING AND SKILLS: On the first day of this camp, swimmers worked on techniques to implement an efficient breaststroke. On Day 2, we will work on applying speed to their breaststroke! Our objective is to get your swimmer to maintain their technique with distance per stroke, tempo, and flowing speed.
- Tempo: Tempo in breaststroke is the rate at which a swimmer can get back into the proper bodyline to establish a high-speed glide. When swimming breaststroke races, many athletes tend to take too many strokes without ever getting into the proper bodyline. At this session, we will explore different tempos that are sustainable for any distance, and allow for the proper glide between strokes.
- Distance Per Stroke: One way to increase efficiency is to take fewer strokes. Counting the number of strokes a swimmer takes per lap, while improving technique to decrease that number, will enable them to be more efficient and even conserve energy. At this session, participants will discover how changing speeds might change their stroke count, but should not change the effectiveness of each stroke.
- Pacing: A breaststroker’s pace is going to change during a race and from distance to distance. When swimming breaststroke, your swimmer can learn to measure their pace using tempo and distance per stroke. At this session, we will practice race strategy pacing for all breaststroke events.
- Breaststroke Pullouts: The breaststroke pullout is an important and unique part of every breaststroke race. We will work with participants on minimizing resistance in their pull-outs and establishing maximum speed. The pullout can be used strategically, depending on the distance of the race, to cover more ground before breaking out.
- Training Breaststroke: 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.
COMPREHENSIVE BUTTERFLY RACING SWIM CAMP: October 4 & October 5, 2025
At the highest level of swimming, butterfly is the second-fastest stroke and beautiful to watch because of its rhythmic and powerful strokes. There are some complexities to establishing a smooth, rhythmic fly, but with practice and attention to detail, your swimmer can master the stroke and begin swimming it for longer distances and at very fast speeds! No matter your swimmer’s level, this 2-day camp will strengthen their butterfly technique, as well as their racing and training skills, which will lead to faster and more efficient butterfly races!
- DAY 1 (Saturday, October 4): BUTTERFLY TECHNIQUE: We want your swimmer to establish a rhythmic butterfly. Today, we will practice various drills and skills that will enable your swimmer to have flowing hips and a long, more powerful butterfly stroke.
- Bodyline: A butterfly 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. As swimmers mature in the sport and grow physically, their body position shifts and bad habits can emerge. Participants will learn and practice proper posture and core engagement to have a strong foundation for better technique, creating a full-body connection for more hydrodynamic and efficient butterfly strokes.
- Kick: Each butterfly stroke has two kicks to propel the swimmer towards the other end of the pool! If the kicks are properly timed and equally strong, they can positively impact your swimmer’s efficiency and stroke timing! Your swimmer will work on how and when to kick in butterfly for maximum speed.
- Pull: Long and smooth strokes allow swimmers to have a more efficient and fluid butterfly. The pull in butterfly keeps a swimmer accelerating forward. Your clinicians will work with participants to establish an early vertical forearm, “the catch”, enabling the swimmers to put immediate pressure back on the water. Properly completing the stroke keeps the swimmer moving forward efficiently and fast.
- Breath: The timing of the breath in butterfly has a direct relationship on a swimmer’s body position, pull, kick, and TIMES! At this camp, we will work with participants on breathing with their chin low to the water...and WHEN to breathe in their stroke cycle, so that they develop the most efficient stroke possible!
- DAY 2 (Sunday, October 5): BUTTERFLY RACING AND TRAINING SKILLS: On the first day of this camp, swimmers worked on skills to implement a solid, efficient butterfly stroke. On Day 2, we will work on racing skills and apply speed to their butterfly. Your swimmer's elite clinicians will work with participants on maintaining their technique by developing proper distance per stroke, appropriate race tempo, and training for a faster and stronger butterfly.
- Stroke Length: Lengthening your swimmer’s butterfly stroke will enable them to “catch” and hold onto more water to propel them as they swim. In butterfly, it is particularly important to establish a “rhythmic flow”. We will teach participants how to stay long and avoid a short butterfly stroke that is inefficient and not sustainable for very long. The clinicians will work with participants on this important skill for swimming fast butterfly.
- Tempo: Tempo in butterfly is the rate at which a swimmer is moving their arms and hips. When swimming butterfly races, many athletes tend to take too many short strokes (“spin their wheels”) and not “hold onto the water”. At this session, we will explore different tempos that are sustainable for any distance your swimmer is racing.
- 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.
- 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.
SESSION START TIMES:
- Check in 1 PM, Camp 1:15-4:15 PM
- January: Spurlino YMCA: 9650 Old Big Bend Rd, Riverview, FL 33578
- February-October: New Tampa Family YMCA - 16221 Compton Dr, Tampa, FL 33647
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!
Josh Watson
Josh Watson competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games for Australia and the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 1999 World Short Course Championships! Josh brings a wealth of knowledge and experiences to clinics as a Fitter and Faster clinician and gives his all to the swimmers he coaches! Don't miss the opportunity to work with Olympian & Elite Clinician Josh Watson!
Inquisitive, Educated Swimmers are Faster Swimmers! Sign up today!
