Before Fitter & Faster became one of the most recognizable educational platforms in swimming, I watched David Arluck concept it, build it, and launch it over 17 years ago. Now Fitter and Faster is deeply woven into the fabric of our sport. This year alone more than 40,000 swimmers across all 50 states and Canada will participate in Fitter & Faster’s in-person educational platform. That reach is staggering. But the real measure of Fitter & Faster is not only scale. It is impact.
David’s letter below captures that impact beautifully. At the College Swimming Coaches Association conference in Chicago, David had the kind of encounter that reminds a founder why their work matters. It was personal, unexpected, and deeply connected to the mission David set out to build all those years ago. I hope you enjoy David’s letter.
THANK YOU, CHARLIE
Over the past few days, I was in Chicago at the College Swimming Coaches Association conference.
I had a lot of great conversations with coaches, industry leaders, and people who care deeply about the future of the sport.
But one interaction stood out in a way I didn’t expect.
I met a recent Tufts University class of 2025 graduate named Charlie Duffy. He started a company called Our Team Forever, focused on connecting current college athletes with alumni for mentorship. Charlie was thoughtful, driven, inquisitive, and asking the kind of questions that show he’s serious about building something meaningful.
As soon as we met, he mentioned that he had attended Fitter & Faster camps when he was younger. He remembered who his clinicians were (Tyler Clary & Giles Smith) and why they had such an impact on him. After 17 years of building this company, hearing specific stories like that never feels routine.
What also immediately stood out to me was the group around him. Charlie was spending the conference with two close friends – one from Purdue and another from MIT. All three had different paths, grew up in different places, attended different schools, and ultimately came together through swimming.
They weren’t there working for him. They were there supporting their friend because they believed in him and cared about what he was building. In a world where so many relationships become transactional, there was something genuinely refreshing and meaningful about seeing three young people connected by years of friendship, shared experiences, and sincere support for one another through this sport.
Over the next couple of days, we stopped to speak with each other a few more times and always seemed to have something to talk about. Then on the final day of the conference, Charlie came by the Fitter & Faster booth and found me again.
He had gone back to his parents’ house – just outside Chicago – and brought back a framed photo from his time at one of our camps because he wanted to show it to me.
It was such a simple gesture, but it hit me in a powerful way.
Seventeen years ago, I started Fitter & Faster with the belief that this sport needed more opportunities for swimmers to learn, connect, be inspired, and create experiences that would stay with them long after the camp ended. Over time, we’ve had hundreds of thousands of participants and watched thousands of swimmers move through the sport – into college programs, onto national teams, into coaching, business, medicine, technology, and every other walk of life imaginable.
I hear success stories often, and I’m incredibly proud of them.
But this felt different because it wasn’t about athletic achievement or recognition. It was personal.
Here was a young man who had gone on to attend a great university, build lifelong friendships through swimming, and start a business of his own. He didn’t need anything from me. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He simply went out of his way to share something meaningful because his experience with Fitter & Faster had stayed with him all these years later.
In that moment, I wasn’t being reminded why I started Fitter & Faster. I already know why I do this.
But Charlie and his friends gave me the opportunity to stop for a moment and truly feel it.
That’s a very different thing.
What I saw in those few days is exactly what I believe swimming is supposed to be about.
Not just faster times.
Connection. Friendship. Shared experiences. Mentorship. Learning from others. Being inspired. Creating memories and relationships that last long after an athlete leaves the pool.
That’s what I want Fitter & Faster to contribute to this sport.
Yes, we teach skills and technique. Yes, we help swimmers improve. But I also hope we create experiences that stay with people for life. And my hope has always been that our impact on the sport and its people will continue long after I’m gone.
Most of the time, when you spend years building something, you don’t fully get to feel the impact it’s having. You just keep moving forward, trying to do good work and help as many people as possible.
But every once in a while, someone goes out of their way to show you what you’ve built truly meant to them.
So I want to thank Charlie and his friends sincerely for their time, their energy, their curiosity, and their kindness. I’ll always remember our conversations and what they brought to me this week in Chicago.
They gave me a real moment to feel why I started all of this in the first place – and why I continue to work as hard as I ever have to keep it strong for the swimming community and generations to come.
Sincerely,
David
Fitter and Faster has supported of SwimSwam news for 15 years. Fitter and Faster also supports nearly every organisation and non-profit in the swimming community, from ASCA to CSCAA to ISHOF David Arluck is engaged.
