Tryouts
What parents should expect at swim team tryouts
A parent-friendly look at what swim team tryouts usually evaluate, how to prepare, and what a coach is really trying to learn.
Read articleCoach-informed swim learning
Stingrays Learning Center
A growing collection of practical articles, coach-facing resources, and stroke-by-stroke technique guides for parents, age-group swimmers, and coaches.
Article library
Browse all 21 swimming guides.
Choose a category or scan the complete collection of parent, swimmer, technique, meet-day, and coach-facing articles.
Tryouts
1 guide
Year-Round Swimming
2 guides
Year-Round Swimming
Is your swimmer ready for year-round swim team?
Signs that a swimmer may be ready for a year-round team, including consistency, coachability, water comfort, and family readiness for the rhythm.
Read articleYear-Round Swimming
Summer swim team vs. year-round swimming: what families should know
How families can compare summer swim team and year-round swimming, including the benefits of each path and signs a swimmer may be ready for a bigger commitment.
Read articleTraining Habits
3 guides
Training Habits
Building endurance without losing technique
How young swimmers can build stamina while still protecting body line, breathing rhythm, turns, and the stroke habits coaches are trying to improve.
Read articleTraining Habits
Speed versus technique: what young swimmers should focus on
A practical explanation of why young swimmers need both speed and technique, and how coaches decide what to emphasize at different stages.
Read articleTraining Habits
Why swim drills matter even when they feel slow
A swimmer-friendly explanation of why coaches assign drills, how drills connect to stroke changes, and how families can tell whether drill work is helping.
Read articleStroke Technique
2 guides
Stroke Technique
Should swimmers keep their fingers together or slightly apart?
A coach-informed look at hand position in swimming, what research suggests about slight finger spacing, and why relaxed hands matter more than forcing a shape.
Read articleStroke Technique
Common freestyle breathing mistakes for age-group swimmers
Four common freestyle breathing habits that slow young swimmers down and make the stroke feel harder than it needs to.
Read articleRacing Skills
1 guide
Racing Skills
Turns, streamlines, and finishes for age-group swimmers
Why walls matter so much in swimming, what young swimmers should understand about turns and finishes, and how better streamlines can change a race.
Read articleMeet Day
1 guide
Meet Day
What to expect at your first swim meet
A calm, practical guide to warmups, events, heats, waiting time, and what families can do to help a first swim meet feel manageable.
Read articleParent Guide
1 guide
Parent Guide
How parents can support swimmers after a tough race
What to say, what not to say, and how parents can help young swimmers process disappointing races without taking over the coaching role.
Read articleCoach's Corner
10 guides
Coach's Corner
Building a healthier team culture around food, body image, and pressure
A practical Coach's Corner draft on language, boundaries, and daily habits that help protect swimmer wellbeing in a low-risk and coach-appropriate way.
Read articleCoach's Corner
Coaching different learning speeds inside one lane
A practical coach article about keeping one lane unified while giving swimmers different entry points, cues, and expectations.
Read articleCoach's Corner
Better parent conversations when progress is uneven
A practical coach article about discussing plateaus, technique changes, attendance, and long-view development without sounding vague or defensive.
Read articleCoach's Corner
How assistant coaches can stay aligned without sounding scripted
A practical guide for building staff consistency through shared priorities, cue banks, and short debrief habits rather than forced identical wording.
Read articleCoach's Corner
Dryland that actually transfers to better swimming
A coach-facing guide to choosing dryland that supports posture, rhythm, force direction, and durability instead of random fatigue.
Read articleCoach's Corner
How to build a weekly practice theme that swimmers can actually feel
A practical guide for coaches who want a training week to feel connected instead of random to the swimmers living inside it.
Read articleCoach's Corner
How to read meet results without overreacting
A coach-facing framework for turning times, splits, DQs, and race details into useful planning decisions instead of emotional verdicts.
Read articleCoach's Corner
Teaching turns and finishes without letting practice stall
A practical article for coaches who want better wall skills without turning every practice into a traffic jam.
Read articleCoach's Corner
What to say on deck and what to save for after practice
A coach-facing guide to separating cueing, correction, and bigger conversations so feedback helps instead of crowding the lane.
Read articleCoach's Corner
When to simplify a set and when to hold the standard
A coach-facing decision guide for recognizing whether the real issue is confusion, readiness, effort, or fatigue before changing the task.
Read articleLearning paths
Choose the question your family has right now.
The Learning Center is organized so families can enter through readiness, training habits, stroke details, or meet-day support instead of hunting through a flat article list.
New families
Start without feeling lost
Tryouts, readiness, and first-meet expectations for families learning the swim team rhythm.
Training habits
Understand what practice is building
A clearer view of drills, endurance, technique choices, and how coaches layer skill work over time.
Stroke and racing
Connect technique to race details
Stroke guides and racing-skill articles that explain what swimmers are trying to hold together.
Parent support
Help swimmers process the sport well
Plain-language guidance for the emotional side of meets, progress, and long-term development.
For coaches
Borrow deck-tested coaching ideas
Coach-facing articles on practice planning, communication, meet analysis, and building a steady program culture.
Stroke library
Browse stroke technique by stroke, not by scattered tips.
Each stroke guide uses the same framework: key components, drills with a purpose, and efficiency notes swimmers can revisit between practices.
Stroke technique hub
One repeatable framework for every stroke.
Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly each get a dedicated guide with snapshots, components, drills, efficiency notes, and related reading.
Visit the stroke technique hubLong-axis
Freestyle
A stroke-by-stroke breakdown of freestyle for swimmers and parents, including the pieces coaches watch most, the drills they assign, and the habits that make the stroke more efficient.
Open stroke guideLong-axis
Backstroke
A practical backstroke guide that breaks the stroke into posture, rotation, arm path, and drills so swimmers and parents can understand what coaches are trying to build.
Open stroke guideShort-axis
Breaststroke
A breaststroke framework for swimmers and parents that explains timing, kick shape, glide point, and the drills coaches use to keep the stroke legal and efficient.
Open stroke guideShort-axis
Butterfly
A butterfly technique guide that organizes fly around timing, body undulation, breathing control, and the drills coaches use to keep the stroke powerful without turning it frantic.
Open stroke guideNext step
Use the Learning Center, then reach out when you're ready.
If these guides are helping you picture the next step for your swimmer, send us a note and we will help you think through fit.