Welcome to the Lynchburg YMCA Swim Team! Interested in joining us in our pursuit of excellence? This a good place to start. We are the Lynchburg YMCA Swim Team in Lynchburg, Virginia. We have been around for 60+ years, helping mold young people to be excellent citizens and swimmers emphasizing our core values of Honesty, Caring, Respect, and Responsibility. We practice at two locations -- the Jamerson YMCA and the Downtown YMCA. We love to have fun and swim fast! Come find out what we are all about! New Swimmer...

USA Swimming Safe Sport Here at LY Swimming, we strive to make your swimmer's protection and safety our highest priority. By working together as coaches, swimmers, parents, and volunteers we can ensure all USA swimming members are supported in a safe and dependable environment both in and out of the pool.

Parent Article - "WHY DID THEY ENTER MY KID IN THAT EVENT?!?!" One of my favorite aspects of our Season Opener meet is that the format allows for every swimmer to swim in every individual event. Not all swimmers are entered in every event, of course, but many are. This gets to the heart of one of the fundamental tenets of our philosophy here at LY -- that we want our swimmers to be well-rounded. There are many reasons that we have adopted this philosophy. 1. We want our swimmers...

More Important Than the Clock by Coach Ryan Ultimately, the clock is how we measure our performance. It doesn’t lie, and it represents the sum of our actions to deliver our best race. Because of this, it is very easy for swimmers, coaches and parents to evaluate a performance solely on that metric. For a developing swimmer, though, the clock is only one measure of the quality of a swim. There are many other things that matter, and in some cases matter MUCH more, for instance: Swimmer’s stroke technique while...

Your Kid WILL Fail (And That's O.K.) by Ryan Woodruff The idea of failure as a requirement for future success has become a popular notion lately in the self-help genre. In swimming, where there is always 1 "winner" and 7 "losers" in a heat, failure can seem particularly frequent. Though it can be beneficial in the long run, failure can be hard to deal with for both swimmers and parents. Consider the following: Success is not the same as winning. It is possible to succeed and not win. Failure is...

Twenty Reasons Why Swimming is a Great Sport for Your Kids by Ryan Woodruff Not that you don't already know how great it is, but have you considered all of these? 1. Swimming is great exercise that emphasizes total-body strength and cardiovascular fitness. 2. Swimming is low impact. Injuries are not common and rarely serious. 3. All of your kids can be part of the same program. Swimming is definitely a family activity. 4. Water is calming. 5. Swimmers have excellent grades. 6. Swimmers nearly universally cite "time management" as...

The Phenom and the Climber by Ryan Woodruff Ours is a competitive sport and one that easily lends itself to comparison. Whereas in basketball or soccer for example we could have endless debates about who is a better player, in swimming we have the most black and white tool for comparison that exists: THE CLOCK. This is awesome because it allows to us to know exactly where we stand versus the competition at any meet or season of a swimmer’s career. This knowledge can be motivating but it ignores one...

What Can We Learn From the Career of Missy Franklin? by Coach Ryan Woodruff This week, American Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin officially retired from swimming. Though only 23, she has been at a world-class level since she was 15 years old when she first made the U.S. national team. At the 2012 London Olympics, she won 4 gold medals (5 total) and captured the admiration of young swimmers everywhere (you might remember the viral video sensation of that summer). Her retirement came as no surprise, but it brought to...

Do You Think My 8 Year-Old Will Be Good Enough To Get A College Swimming Scholarship? by Ryan Woodruff Years ago, a parent on my team asked me this question. Her daughter was 8, had just joined our team, and was a very novice-level swimmer, even for her age. At the time, I was dumbfounded. I think my response at the time was something along the lines of “You gotta be kidding me. That’s so far off that it is way too early to think about.” Perhaps not surprisingly, that...

Moving Up: The Parent Transition by Ryan Woodruff "Moving up" is an important experience in the life of a swimmer. When a swimmer is old enough, has shown a sufficient level of commitment, and has improved his skills to a new level, he will be invited to "move up" into the next training group. The invitation is an honor, a sign that the coaching staff believes the swimmer is ready to take his preparation and thus his performance to new heights. Moving up often means increases in commitment, training time,...