SWIMMING PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME
Fitness for Life.
Picture this: You’re 85 years old, hiking up a windswept hill with a mischievous grin, whilst your grandkids struggle to keep up. Sounds impossible? Not if you embrace sport, fitness, and health as a lifelong adventure, something we love doing here at LWC.
Exercise isn’t just about chiselled abs or running marathons. It’s about resilience, mental sharpness, and longevity. Just look at the Blue Zones - those rare places on Earth where people routinely live past 100, and live well. Their secret? Daily movement, strong communities and an unshakeable zest for life. They don’t grind out deadlifts in fluorescent-lit gyms. Tthey walk, swim, stretch, and lift things because life demands it.
At LWC, we champion this philosophy. Sport isn’t a phase. It’s a lifelong pursuit of challenge, camaraderie, and self-discovery. Whether you’re smashing a rugby tackle, perfecting a tennis serve, or finding peace in a morning run, you’re investing in a future where your body serves you well, not the other way around.
So, take the stairs, chase a ball, climb a mountain, bowl away swingers, try Yoga. Because when sport and fitness become your adventure, life doesn’t just last longer. It gets richer, wilder, and infinitely more fun. So tighten those laces, take a breath and step up and out into a world of infinite possibilities, a world that begins within our idyllic 1200 acre campus and culture.
ADAM WILLIAMS HEADMASTER
to the Team.
LWC Performance Swimming Programme
Congratulations on your selection as part of The LWC Performance Swimming Programme.
This exciting programme acknowledges your achievements and potential in swimming and is designed to help you reach the highest levels in the sport. As part of the growing LWC swimming community, you will have access to top-tier coaching, training facilities, internationally recognised qualifications and competitive opportunities.
The two-year programme focuses on:
• Developing your technical, physical, and mental swimming skills.
• Fostering a lifelong passion for the sport and improving performance in competitions.
• Preparing you for regional, national, and international swimming events.
• Exploring career pathways and working towards professional qualifications related to swimming.
The programme requires you to:
• Commit to all sports scholarship expectations at LWC.
• Attend all scholarship talks, workshops, and training sessions.
• Represent LWC in swimming competitions and contribute to other sports where applicable.
• Mentor and support younger swimmers.
• Engage fully with your swimming mentor and coaching team.
• Participate in swimming camps, competitions, and events.
• Help raise the profile of swimming at LWC and beyond.
Programme Overview
This two-year programme is designed to balance the rigorous training and competition schedule with academic and extracurricular commitments. It focuses on enhancing swimming technique, endurance, strength, and mental toughness to ensure competitive success.
Key Areas of Focus
1. Technical Skills
Refine stroke techniques for speed and efficiency
Hone starts, turns and finishes
Optimise pacing strategies for various race distances.
2. Physical Fitness
Build endurance, strength, and power through swimming specific tailored programmes.
Incorporate cross-training to prevent injury and enhance performance. Develop flexibility and focus on recovery to maintain peak fitness
3. Mental Skills
Develop resilience and focus for peak performance in training and competitions.
Use performance psychology techniques like visualisation, resilience and mindfulness.
Use goal setting strategies to rack progress and sustain motivation.
4. Tactical Awareness
Practise pacing under competition scenarios
Analyse race environments and adapt strategies accordingly.
5. Competition Preparation
Build a structured competition calendar to peak at the right times. Focus on pre-race preparation and mental readiness.
6. Academic Balance
Develop strategies for balancing swimming training with academic priorities. Ensure time for rest and recovery during busy academic periods.
7. Leadership
Mentor younger swimmers and assist with coaching and/or lifeguarding. Represent LWC swimming at ambassadorial events and raise the profile of the sport.
8. Career Opportunities
Explore potential career pathways in coaching, sports science, or swimmingrelated professions. Use LWC connections to engage with the broader swimming community. Achieve swimming related qualifications such as RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Qualification and Swimming Teaching certificates.
Components of the Programme
1. Technical Training
• Stroke Refinement
Work on improving all four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly).
Focus on biomechanics for all strokes, reducing drag and maximising propulsion.
Video analysis to identify and correct technical inefficiencies.
• Starts, Turns, and Finishes
Focus on improving technique in starts, turns and finishes: Explosive starts, fast reaction times, streamline positions and optimising underwater phases to maximise speed.
• Pacing Strategy
Work on pacing strategies tailored to race distances (e.g., 50m sprint vs. 1500m endurance).
2. Physical Conditioning
• Aerobic Endurance
Build a strong cardiovascular base through interval and distance training.
Cross-training (running, cycling, or rowing) to complement swimmingspecific conditioning.
• Anaerobic Power
Develop sprint capacity with highintensity, short-duration sets
• Strength and Conditioning
Include gym-based resistance training to enhance power and injury resilience with a focus on muscle groups critical to swimming (shoulders, core, and leg strength)
• Flexibility and Recovery
Incorporate stretching, yoga, and or dynamic mobility exercises to improve range of motion and reduce injury risk.
3. Mental Training
• Performance Psychology
Focus and Visualisation: training the mind to visualise races and execute strategies under pressure.
• Resilience and Coping Strategies: learning to handle setbacks, fatigue and high-stakes competition
• Goal-setting for motivation and focus
• Mindfulness and Relaxation: Use breathing techniques and meditation to manage stress and enhance focus.
• Mental toughness training to maintain focus and resilience during races.
• Logbook
Keep a log of training sessions and mental reflections to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
4. Tactical Development
• Race Strategy
• Pacing strategies: Distributing effort effectively across the race to avoid burnout or residual energy using strategies such as negative splits or front-end speed.
Starts, Turns, Transitions and Finishes: Timing turns, breakouts and finishes to gain an advantage
Develop race-day routines, including nutrition and hydration plans.
• Competition Simulations
Practice specific race conditions, including high-pressure situations, split management and heat management.
5. Competition Prep and Strategy
• Pre-Race Preparation
Physical - Tapering: Reducing training volume whilst maintaining intensity in the lead up to allow the body to recover and peak.
• Mental – Goal-setting, visualisation and relaxation techniques
• Technical fine tuning: Race simulation and equipment check
• Effective warm-up, pacing plan and adaptability
• Post-Race Reflection and Recovery
Effective cool down, rehydrating and refueling
• Evaluate performance after each competition to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
• Mental reflection focussing on the positives and set new goals
• Long Term Competition Strategy
Identify events which align with your strengths, analyse competitors, compete in a variety of meets to gain confidence, adapt and test strategies
6. Academic Integration
• Manage training schedules around academic exams and assessments.
• Ensure adequate rest and recovery during peak academic periods to avoid burnout.
Seasonal Plan
Short-Course Season (Autumn/Winter)
Focus: Build technical skills, endurance, and strength.
Activities:
• Long paddling sessions to build aerobic capacity.
• Intensive technique work, including video analysis.
Long-Course Season (Spring/Summer)
Focus: Endurance, Race Strategy, and Peak Performance
Activities:
• Endurance sets
• Race Specific Pacing
• Stroke Specific Endurance
• Starts and Breakouts
• Regular competitive events to gain experience.
• Strength & Conditioning
Evaluation and Tracking
• Monthly Assessments: Regularly assess technique, fitness, and mental progress.
• Competition Metrics: Track race times, splits, and stroke counts.
• Feedback: Ongoing feedback and meetings with coaches, fitness trainers, and mentors.
Example Weekly Schedule*
Day
Activity Duration
Monday PM: Endurance swim (long-distance focus) 1.5 hours
Tuesday AM: Pool Session (speed work) 1 hour
PM: Strength training (upper body and core focus) 1 hour
Wednesday AM: Pool Session (underwater work) 1 hour
PM: Recovery & Flexibility (flexibility and breathing) 1 hour
Thursday AM: Pool Session (sprint-focused) 1 hour
PM: Strength & Conditioning or Gala 1.5 hours
Friday Pool Session (light technique or race-specific) 1 hour
Saturday Competition/Simulation (timed intervals or race pacing) 2 hours
Sunday Rest or Active Recovery (for boarders) 1 hour
Competitive race or team relay As required
*This is flexible based on other sporting (or other) commitments
Professional Qualifications run at LWC
RLSS NPLQ and NRASTC Lifeguarding
STA Swim Teacher Certification (Level 1 and 2)
This programme combines high-performance training with academic and personal development, ensuring that you not only excel in swimming but also develop important life skills.
