By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam
Courtesy of Kevin Pierce. Follow Kevin on SubStack here.
Swimming is often viewed as the ultimate individual sport. Swimmers chase personal bests. Swimmers chase records. Swimmers chase greatness.
They chase these things through early morning alarms, through countless silent laps, through an internal battle that few outsiders ever truly understand.
Yet here is the paradox: While the competition is individual, the experience of swimming is rooted in something much deeper. The best memories, the defining moments, the life lessons that stay long after the final race are not solitary at all. They are team moments.
They are relay wins fueled by trust. They are locker room laughs after brutal sets. They are standing on the pool deck, arms around each other, hearts pounding together.
Swimming at its best is not an individual story. It is a team story.
And that is why the future of the sport cannot rely on lone wolves any longer. Swimming needs more captains. More servant leaders. More athletes who see beyond their own lane.
Swimming needs leadership to be as fundamental to its culture as flip turns and streamlines.
The Myth of the Natural Leader
Too often in swimming, we assume leaders will just emerge. We hand out captain titles based on seniority or performance and hope the swimmer knows what to do. Sometimes it works. Many times it does not.
Great swimmers do not automatically make great leaders. Toughness in training is not the same as empathy in hard conversations. Consistency in practice is not the same as inspiring unity during adversity.
When leadership is left to chance, the consequences quietly appear. Divisions form within teams as smaller cliques pull away from the group. Disconnected swimmers feel isolated even while standing among dozens of teammates. Coaches carry the emotional burden of motivating everyone alone without peer support. Teams collapse under pressure because no internal leadership structure exists to hold them together.
The culture either rises because of intentional leadership or it decays in its absence. There is no middle ground.
Leadership is a Skill, Not a Trait
We must treat leadership as a skill set to develop. Just like we teach technique, strategy, and mental toughness, we must teach leadership behaviors.
Teaching leadership means showing swimmers how to praise others genuinely rather than focusing only on themselves. It means teaching them how to confront negativity without becoming negative themselves. It means training them to model consistent behavior even when circumstances around them are changing. It means helping them understand that communication is not a luxury. It is an oxygen line for the team.
A captain is not simply the loudest voice or the fastest swimmer. A captain is someone who understands the temperature of the locker room and knows how to turn it in the right direction.
The Hidden Power of a Strong Leadership Core
A team with distributed leadership is a team that does not break when a star swimmer graduates. It is a team where freshmen feel safe to grow, take risks, and find their place. It is a team where personal ambition fuels collective success rather than personal isolation.
Programs that intentionally build leadership habits often experience real, lasting benefits. They see improved practice intensity because swimmers hold one another accountable. They retain more swimmers over the years because athletes feel a deep sense of belonging. They produce better performances at championship meets because the team culture fuels confidence and resilience.
In contrast, teams that rely solely on coaching directives often experience hidden fractures that do not show up on the surface until the pressure is on.
You can see it in a relay exchange that is just a little bit late. You can see it in the shoulders that slump after a missed taper. You can see it in the eyes that drift away from the team huddle instead of leaning in. Leadership is the unseen current that either pulls swimmers together or pulls them apart.
Training Leadership Like We Train Swimming
Imagine what it would look like if leadership development was baked into swim programs from the very first day. Not something reserved only for seniors or captains, but part of the daily rhythm of the team.
Picture starting every Monday practice by taking two minutes for swimmers to share something positive they noticed about a teammate the week before. Imagine ending Friday practices with a quick team huddle where swimmers recognize each other for outstanding effort or sportsmanship. Picture assigning swimmers different leadership moments during the week, like leading the dryland warmup or giving the pre-meet talk, so they can practice communication in front of their peers.
If we ask swimmers to own their training plans, we must also ask them to own their team culture. Both require practice, effort, and patience. Both are essential if we want not just strong swimmers but strong people.
Leadership Sets: A New Kind of Practice
There is a simple way to embed leadership into practices without losing valuable training time.
Start with a leadership warm-up where each swimmer shares one positive thing about a teammate, making sure the praise is specific and meaningful.
During the main set, pair swimmers across different groups or ability levels and challenge them to teach each other something, whether it is a drill, a breathing pattern, or even a simple life lesson they have learned through swimming.
End the practice with a team cool-down by setting one small, achievable group goal for the next day, such as focusing on streamline quality or shouting encouragement after every set.
By weaving leadership habits into the natural flow of practice, they eventually become second nature. Just like a great start or a perfect turn, leadership can become a muscle memory skill when practiced consistently.
A Call to Action: Leaders in Every Lane
It is time to stop waiting for leadership to appear. It is time to start training it intentionally.
We need leaders in every lane, not just captains who wear a title on their parka or a star next to their name on the roster. We need captains of positivity who lift up the energy of the entire deck. We need captains of grit who model persistence when everything hurts. We need captains of belonging who ensure every swimmer knows they matter.
These are the leaders who will keep swimmers engaged in the sport for years. These are the leaders who will make coaches’ jobs more joyful rather than more draining. These are the leaders who will turn teams into second families instead of collections of individuals who happen to swim in the same pool.
Swimming is hard. Leading is even harder. But when the two are taught together, something incredible happens.
Teams do not just survive difficult seasons. They thrive. They grow closer. They leave legacies that last far beyond championships or school records.
And when the final race is over, when the medals are packed away, and when the pool deck grows silent, what will remain will not be the times posted on a scoreboard.
It will be the people.
It will be the relationships forged through fire, through water, and through a commitment to lead.
That is the real gold medal.
ABOUT KEVIN PIERCE
Kevin Pierce is a dedicated high school swim coach, leadership consultant, and advocate for athlete development. As the head coach of the Ridley High School boys’ swim team (Folsom, Pa), he has a passion for helping young swimmers reach their full potential, both in and out of the water. With years of experience in coaching, mentoring, and program development, Kevin specializes in leadership training, team culture, and athlete motivation.
Beyond the pool deck, Kevin is the founder of Green Mystique Leadership Consulting, where he works with youth and high school athletes to develop leadership skills that extend beyond sports. He is also the author of Leo The Lion’s Great Adventure, a children’s book that teaches leadership lessons through storytelling.
Kevin contributes to SwimSwam with insightful articles on high school swimming, leadership in sports, and strategies for fostering a winning team culture. His expertise in balancing athletic performance with leadership development makes him a valuable voice in the swimming community.
Instagram – CoachKevinPierce Website – CoachKevinPierce.com X – kevpierce14 Substack – kevinpierce.substack.com/Read the full story on SwimSwam: Why Swimming’s Future Depends on More Captains and Fewer Lone Wolves
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