Courtesy of SwimWarrior, a SwimSwam partner.
The Retention Crisis in Competitive Swimming
Recent data from USA Swimming highlights a concerning trend: a decline in both membership and the number of active teams. According to the Fall 2024 Membership Report, athlete membership peaked at 380,517 in 2017 but has since decreased to 334,166 in 2024. Similarly, the number of registered clubs has dropped from over 3,109 in 2019 to 2,745 in 2024. These declines underscore the challenges the sport faces in retaining participants.
Competitive swimming is facing a retention crisis—not due to lack of talent, but due to lack of engagement. Many swimmers, especially in their early years, struggle to find continued motivation, leading to high dropout rates.
The problem? Swimming isn’t always fun, engaging, or rewarding in a way that keeps athletes invested long-term. Unlike many other youth sports, where instant feedback, game-like elements, and team-based play keep kids hooked, swimming can feel isolating. Long hours in the pool, delayed gratification, and minimal real-time feedback make it challenging for athletes to stay excited about their progress.
This is where SwimWarrior comes in.
What Is SwimWarrior?
SwimWarrior is a free app designed to gamify competitive swimming, making the sport more interactive, rewarding, and motivating for swimmers of all levels. Instead of focusing solely on meet results, SwimWarrior turns every swim into an opportunity for progress, ranking, and achievement.
The app allows swimmers to:
- Track their race times in real-time
- Earn rankings based on their performances
- Compete in a game-style leaderboard format
- Set personal goals and see their progress over time
- Track time standard qualifications across USA Swimming & LSC standards
- Foster a more engaging and competitive team environment
By giving swimmers instant feedback, measurable progress, and friendly competition, SwimWarrior helps keep them motivated and engaged in the sport longer—ultimately improving retention rates across all levels of swimming.
How Highland Park Aquatic Club Uses SwimWarrior to Keep Swimmers Engaged
One of the clubs embracing SwimWarrior is Highland Park Aquatic Club (HPAC), located in Illinois. Under the leadership of Coach Enrico McConney, HPAC has integrated SwimWarrior into its training and intrasquad meet structure, creating a more dynamic and exciting experience for swimmers.
Coach McConney, a long-time swim coach with a passion for developing athletes, immediately saw the potential in SwimWarrior’s gamified approach.
“When I first heard about SwimWarrior, the game aspect caught my attention,” says McConney. “It keeps kids engaged in a way that traditional training methods don’t. Now, my swimmers are constantly checking their rankings and talking about how they can move up. Even new swimmers who don’t have a rank yet are eager to compete in new events to earn one.”
HPAC hosts biweekly Senior Night Meets using SwimWarrior’s ranking system. Swimmers are split into teams, captains strategize event lineups, and athletes race to earn points and track their real-time rankings. By making competition feel like a team-driven challenge, SwimWarrior has transformed intra-team meets into high-energy, high-stakes events that swimmers look forward to.
“The kids love it,” McConney shares. “They can go home, look at their times, and track their improvement. It makes every practice feel like it has a purpose.”
A Free Solution for Teams to Grow the Sport
One of the biggest challenges for swim teams is keeping costs down while providing the best possible experience for athletes. SwimWarrior was built with accessibility in mind—it’s 100% free for teams, coaches, and swimmers.
By removing financial barriers, SwimWarrior ensures that every team, no matter their size or budget, can benefit from a more engaging and rewarding system. The goal isn’t just to improve retention within individual clubs, but to grow the sport of swimming as a whole by making it more exciting for the next generation of athletes.
How Teams Can Get Started with SwimWarrior
SwimWarrior is already being used nationally by clubs like HPAC to enhance swimmer motivation, increase retention, and create a more engaging competitive environment. The best part? It’s completely free to use.
Want to bring SwimWarrior to your team? Getting started is easy.
📧 Email us at [email protected]
🌎 Visit our website at www.swimwarrior.com
