Innovation

Competitive Stroke Camps

Hands on approach  

There is a real personal touch to our camps. The instructional ratio facilitates meaningful camper-to-coach interactions throughout the entire camp experience.  Our resident coaches and counselors - collegiate swimmers, club and high school coaches, and collegiate coaches - not only coach the campers in the pool, but do dryland and critique sessions with the campers, eat with them in the dining hall, participate in lectures and evening activities, and have fun together.  The 24-7 immersion of our staff in the camp schedule not only creates a safer environment, but greater opportunities for mentorship and lasting relationships.  In fact, Total Performance alumni have consistently cited interaction with the coaches and counselors as one of the best things about the camp.  It is no surprise then that each year we have former Total Performance campers who return to Total Performance to work as a counselor - an ultimate testament to our motivating and inspiring camper-counselor experience! 

Stroke Critique Videos

When the camps were founded in 1980, Total Performance Swim Camps lead the industry in providing each camper with take-home video analysis of their swimming on a VHS tape!  To this day, not all camps offer video analysis, and if they do, they don’t always come with a coach’s feedback in an instructional setting.  The Total Performance stroke critiques happen in a small group atmosphere, where our head coaches review feedback one-on-one on a laptop or iPad and provide feedback with the camper.  This gives another opportunity for meaningful engagement between our head coaches and our campers.  

Learning is Fun

We believe that campers can have fun while engaged in learning experiences.  We don't believe in hours of unstructured free time each evening - rather night-time activities include organized camp activities like scavenger hunts, talent shows, and ice-cream outings as well as additional opportunities for campers learn and grow as athletes, with guest motivational speakers and expert clinicians in a variety of topics like sports psychology, inspirational journeys, collegiate-swimmer panel discussions, and nutrition.  
 

Elite Camps 

College-bound Athletes

We invite high school state meet qualifiers from every state across the country to attend the Elite camps, which creates an environment of excellence that motivates campers to achieve new heights in their swimming.  The average Elite camper sees collegiate swimming in his or her future, and the Elite Camps deliver a mini-collegiate-athlete experience.  Hundreds of our Elite Campers have gone on to swim for colleges and universities in all divisions, and many have even excelled at the highest levels within each division.  The Elite Camps are open to any swimmer between the ages of 13-18, but are most appropriate for swimmers who have achieved National AAA times according to the USA Swimming National Motivational Time Standards.

Stroke-Specific Training & Curricula

The Elite Camps focus on a singular specialty or stroke with an attention to detail that is unavailable at most camps.  Elite swimming is built on understanding the nuanced training and technique needs associated with different specialties - for example, what makes sprinters elite is very different from what makes distance swimmers elite.  The curriculum for the Elite Camps focuses on the latest and most successful techniques that are being used by the world's greatest swimmers today.  

Data-Driven Approach

Total Performance Elite Camps are built around data and understanding how swimmers compare to themselves, each other, and the vast database of elite campers from the past.  We use these databases to highlight a swimmer's power, speed, and performance capacity within each specialty.  Elite campers are challenged with test sets each day that chart their performance against themselves, other campers and the historical record of all past campers to find areas of strength and areas where their performance capacity can grow and improve. Furthermore, at the end of the camps, swimmers receive records of all their performances scaled against our historical data.   

Access to World Class Coaches & Athletes

We bring some of the finest coaches, technicians and motivational athletes in the country and the world to conduct small group, highly structured programs for specific specialties.  This access to world-class coaching in more than just a meet-and-greet setting, makes the Elite camps one of the most unique camp experiences available to a swimmer in America today.  

Past Elite Camp headliners and special guests have included:

  • Arthur Albiero - University of Louisville
  • Jessen Book - Kenyon College
  • Mike Bottom - University of Michigan
  • Abby Brethauer - Princeton University
  • Steve Crocker - Former World Record Holder
  • Bill Dorenkott - The Ohio State University
  • Steve Jungbluth - University of Florida and Colgate
  • Nick Folker - Olympian, University of California Berkeley and University of Hawaii
  • Kristy Kowal - Olympian
  • Bret Lundgaard - University of Kentucky
  • Doug Lennox - Princeton University
  • Breeja Larson - Olympian
  • Kirk "Corky" Semler - North Allegheny High School & PA Hall of Fame Coach
  • David Wharton - Olympian & New Albany Aquatic Club 
  • Josh White - University of Michigan