Courtesy: Elizabeth Spencer Rosenthal
Move Over 12 Days of Christmas… The 10 Days of Torture Are Here!
Don’t let the name fool you! Despite its over-the-top title, Ten Days of Torture has become one of the most popular and positive traditions on the CSP Tideriders calendar. The brainchild of Coach Lanette Imig, this unique holiday training program sets the tone for the upcoming championship season.
The concept is simple: for ten straight practices, swimmers are fully committed. They must be in the water on time, cannot miss a practice, and cannot leave early. The practice intensity increases during this time, and those swimmers who complete all ten days receive a shirt that lists their names, as well as some fun facts that happened during the training period.
“We wanted to do something that would encourage swimmers to be more consistent over a short period of time, and have some fun, while not using the ‘normal’ winter training terms coaches have used in the past,” said Mark Imig, the team’s Head Age Group Coach.
Photo: CSP Tideriders.
From the very beginning of the season, coaches begin talking it up to the parents and the swimmers, so there is a lot of anticipation. “Many kids have participated in the program for multiple years, and they even convince their parents to come home from trips early and skip other outings and events to make sure they make it to practice on time.” Team parents also step up to reward the kids with celebratory snacks and drinks to refuel after the workouts.
With participation among most of the team’s training groups, the program offers fun and fierce training, builds commitment, and reminds young swimmers why they love the sport. “This is a good challenge for our younger age group programs,” Coach Mark explained. “Our top group (Elite) doesn’t participate as they should already be showing up all the time, and entry level groups don’t participate as we don’t feel this challenge is needed at those levels,” he added.
All told, 101 total athletes completed this year’s edition of the Ten Days of Torture, swimming a total of 279,350 yards. On average, each training group had 76 percent of swimmers attend practice. In addition to completing all Ten Days of Torture workouts, four especially gritty girls also made all of their high school practices during the same time period.
“While the name seems ominous and scary, the truth is, the Ten Days of Torture may not be all that daunting. The process of making ten workouts in a row is the main idea and the kids really look forward to this time of year,” Coach Mark summarized. “We have always felt that those swimmers who step up during this winter training program have used it as a springboard going into the championship season in February and March. We always have those swimmers who really slingshot this time into greater success at practice going forward.”
In the end, Ten Days of Torture isn’t really about torture at all. It’s a testament to how a fun, shared challenge — even one with a dramatic name — can make a team stronger together.
Congratulations to the following athletes, by group, who thrived and survived the 2025-2026 Ten Days of Torture:
Advanced Stroke: Akshay Amberker, Finn Forsberg, Tony Gronski, Peyton Lewis, Srikar Pathuri, Eva Selinger
Age Group: Elias Burnham, Elizabeth Jaeger, Robert Liu, Edie Mallonee, Colton McArthur
Junior Varsity: Neve Agustin, Olivia Conway, Dylan Deahn, Maryam Delic, Quinn Haug, Alex Jin, Mia Juarez-Chiovatero, Ananya Karwa, Joseph Moore, Catherine Moritz, Srihita Pathuri, Denver Pettis, Carter Probst, Palmer Rand, Ben Russell, Tima Ryazanov, Tanvi Savarnya, Ray Stoffel, Nate Thompson
Senior: Aiden Ackenhausen, Ethan Ackenhausen, Olive Agustin, Kya Baker, Winnie Beardsley, Marie Boland, Julia Bucci, Timmy Chen, William Chen, Libby Cole, Kelson Cui, Boardie Fouke, Evan Givens, Paige Haug, Sam Henke, Charlotte Herbst, Ryan Hickel, Calvin Hyland, Amelia Kirsten, Kai Kirsten, Dhathri Kolli, Sloane Langdon, Grace Liu, Lucy Meyer, Elsa Moore, Molly Moriarty, Serkan Patterson, Dravya Pradhan, Kenna Riley, Raya Roberts, Parker Robic, Reid Sheperd, Lucas Theodos, Eamon Weis, Nicholas Zagromov, Katie Zimmerman
Senior II: Dev Desai, Davis Johnson, Bryce Kundel, Kaedyn Miller, Audrey Qureshi, Owen Wade.
Varsity: Logan Ackenhausen, Yusif Aghayev, Piper Aranda, Karter Bedel, David Boland, Nathan Chen, Caroline Crabtree, Vihaan Deore, Dasha Duncan, Anika Goettel, Sally Grey Mueth, Emily Henke, Lucy Huster, Hannah Johnson, Emma Juarez, Jason Lai, Mason Meconis, Liam O’Shaugnessy, Nila Patterson, Daphne Pottier, Darsh Pradhan, Ivan Ryazamov, Deon Saunders, Emerson Schneider, Layla Shepherd, Ben Ward, Chapman Wishy, Emma Wu, Austin Zhou
ABOUT ELIZABETH SPENCER ROSENTHAL
Elizabeth Spencer Rosenthal is a wife and mother of 3 from Miami. She is a passionate swim mom, volunteer and meet official, with a professional background in marketing and public relations. She holds a degree in Public Communication from American University, and loves finding a story to tell.
Love it – Congratulations to all of the swimmers who survived the 10 days of torture…next year it will be even more scary!
There should not be Hell Weeks or Torture…. Nothing supports this kind of training.
We just called it Hell Week back in the day, but we were lucky enough to spend it on a college campus while they were off somewhere really fun for Christmas training. CSP, class of 1994:)
Good to make things fun and motivating. Holiday training severely tarnished my mental healthy.
haha this is a direct rip-off of a plot point in the excellent young-adult book “Stotan!” by Chris Crutcher
Uh; no. Are you to suggest that any coach that creates a rigorous winter break training program is somehow “ripping off” some book that nobody ever heard of? Or that an article celebrating this 25 year tradition was “ripping off” a”plot point”? Or could it be that winter break “hell weeks”” are fairly common and the author of the book used it to also explore other themes.
WOW! Ten Days of Torture caught my attention, but I had a revision rather quickly! The topic is so attention gathering, but the story is a lot more attention attracting! I love reading about the discipline of the swimmers, and the reinforcement by the coaches. This kind of discipline has to be so useful as these swimmers graduate and move on to adulthood! They are one or more steps ahead of many of their peers, and will be noticed because of making use of their “Ten Days of Toorture!” Another winner by Elizabeth Spencer Rosenthal!
While I swam for a rival team, I loved having Mark as a coach for Zones and All-Stars trips. He always made things fun! I have great memories of winter break training, especially in middle school. It was a great way to bond with my teammates and build confidence in my swimming. Bravo to Mark and Lanette for adding to the fun!
You are too kind Denise. I can remember watching you as a 6 and under with Cool Dell all the way through many years. I hope you and your family are doing well.
Thanks, Mark! We are all going great. Good to hear from you!
The idea is all meant to be fun. At the beginning the kids are always so worried about the workouts. When we do by the numbers, they are meant to be fun and lighthearted and different every year. We have done minutes in the pool for all groups, amount of snow on the ground, and even one year we had a tornado actually hit our house so we could incorporated that into the numbers. These practices help to show the kids what they are capable of if they set their minds to it.