Recently at the 2024 ASCA World Clinic, SwimSwam asked coaches what the best Get Out Swim they’d ever seen in practice was. For reference, a Get Out Swim is a one-time swim (or task) a coach gives to a swimmer during a practice accompanied by a goal time. If the swimmer hits the goal time, the swimmer (or sometimes the entire team) gets to forego the rest of the practice.
Moving forward, I’d also like to start asking podcast guests about this, so don’t worry. There will be more editions. In the mean time, what’s the best Get Out Swim you’ve ever seen?
This was way back, during a summer practice sometime around 1994/1995. It was not a normal get out swim, in that the coaches (a pair of brothers who were varsity swimmers at the local university) were the ones doing the swim and we swimmers gave them the challenge.
The challenge was a 100 fly with no breath. One of the brothers was a butterflier, the other was not. The non-butterflier made it about 60 yards before calling it quits. The butterflier brother made it to the 75 turn just fine, though his back and shoulders were pretty purple by that point. He made it all the way to just before the flags at the finish before he passed out. His… Read more »
There’s a podcast called the get out swim that is awesome and host asks this question to every guest, check it out
While swimming at Long Beach State, our coach Tim Shaw (former Olympian and World Swimmer of the Year) swam 54.8 100 yard freestyle in a PARKA. He had to break 55 or the team got to finish practice early. He was an absolute beast!!
I’m trying to wrap my mind around this… in a parka??!?
Santo Condorelli dropping a 44.6 100 free in a brief when he was at Bolles (back when going 44 in the 100 free as a high schooler meant something lol)
Coach set 100 LCM underwater no breath as a get out swim. Two guys on the team failed then the best female backstroker had a go. Made it to 95m before passing out cold under the flags. Practice still got cancelled.
Needless to say this is incredibly dangerous and shouldn’t happen.
Was this in the UK? If not there is an identical story from Ben titley’s loughborough squad back in the day
Not a get out swim explicitly, but I once saw Ryan Lochte go a 1:31 200 free in practice. First 50 @ :19.
Best I have ever seen was one I participated in. At Auburn 1978, with Eddie Reese, Ambrose Gaines was given a 20 yard head start and I ran him down in a 200fr get out swim…….. 6 months prior to Rowdy getting 2nd in thee 200fr at the World Championships in Berlin behind Billy Forrester……
Watching James Enoch eat a giant cockroach so we could get out of saturday am practice…
I ate a June Bug once to get out of summer league practice once @Joe Aertker.
And now what I wouldn’t give to go back and have just one more summer league practice 😭