In all my years of swimming there was no better feeling than coming up out of a dive and being ahead of the field. You enjoy the benefit of stroking through “clean’ water as well as the adrenaline from being the first one in front. This was not however a skill that came naturally or easy to me, it was something that lacked in my races early on and was developed through guidance and coaching into my high school and collegiate career.

Here are some of the tips that I give to my students to help them achieve that lighting fast and efficient dive needed to get ahead early in a race.

Clearing the mind and visualizing the race ahead is vitally important to a great start. By clearing the mind you are making way for the most important movements in the legs and arms to happen. As the buzzer sounds you need to be confident and ready to propel yourself forward off the blocks as fast as possible. Clearing the mind can be increasingly difficult at large meets , with crowds in the stands, tons of other swimmers and music playing in between heats. Find a nice quiet place away from the other swimmers, listen to your favorite track and get focused.
Follow this link below for a very informative video on how some of the greatest athletes on earth mentally prepare for a race.
Move forward not up. One of the most common problems I see when teaching my age group swimmers competitive starts is the tendency to either stand up from the crouched position and then launch the body forward or launch the body “vertical and then out”. The main goal of a start is to get into the water as fast and streamlined as possible. The trajectory of a competitive dive should not be more vertical than it is horizontal. To execute a large “arching” dive has two downfalls: The first, it wastes a lot of time. If you are swimming a sprint event ( 50 or 100 yard distance) the extra .50 seconds that higher arching dive adds to your start could make the difference between making the podium or not. The second downfall is, if you are entering the water at too much of a vertical angle it becomes difficult to achieve an efficient streamline with a fast break out. This needs to practiced over and over again until the perfect angle of entry becomes second nature.
Here is a link to great video about competitive starts by head coach of the Division 1 Georgia Bulldogs, Jack Bauerle.
Water entry, Streamline and breakout. After you have launched yourself explosively off the blocks, the next task is to convert that into an efficient entry, streamline and breakout. The goal of the swimmer is to have the body enter through the same hole in the water. This hole is created first by the hands, followed by the head and the then the rest of the body. When competing in freestyle events a “shallower” dive is required ( move forward not up).
You have now set yourself up for a great streamline accompanied by some powerful butterfly kicks and an explosive breakout. Here is a link to a great video about the freestyle breakout by Michael Andrew, professional American Swimmer.

Train hard!