PRACTICE GEAR
CHECKLIST & GUIDE
Required for meets, and great for practice too. The team suit is very durable and will survive YEARS of practices and meets without stretching or fading. It's a good idea to have a backup suit too. Swimmers are free to wear any suit in practice, but it's good to practice in the same gear you plan to race in. If you aren't sure whether a suit is legal or not, check the Competitive suit section below.
◻ Competitive Goggles (at least 2 pair)
if you're not sure if yours are competitive goggles, then they are not. Most kids' goggles won't work. Check out Goggle Recommendations below, for specific models. And check out the section on Leak-Proof-ing Goggles to make sure they fit well!
◻ Competitive Swim Cap (at least 2 purple)
Great for workout, and required for meets. Silicone and fairly robust. Even boys with short hair wears a cap. Even Adam Peaty with NO HAIR wears a cap! Why?
◻ SHORT Training fins
Must be short fins! Long fins allow bad kicking. The TYR Crossblade is great. The Speedo Switchblade is essentially a twin. The TYR Stryker or Speedo Short Blade Training fin are also good options. Fins can get pricey, but you can buy/sell them locally with OfferUp. Be sure to buy short swim fins. Diving or snorkeling fins won't work. If you fall between sizes, get the larger option. Oversized fins can be kept on with a rubber band or hair tie around the foot.
◻ TYR Jr Kickboard or small kickboard
◻ TYR Jr Pull buoy or small pull buoy
◻ FINIS Jr. Swimmers snorkel - Jr. snorkel is shorter and easier to ‘clear’, though more likely to take in water from the top.
◻ Mesh Bag - keep gear together during practice! Kids without mesh bags lose stuff often. There is a LOT of stuff on deck during practice, and gear piles rarely stay together.
◻ Towel & Parka / Robe / Fleece
clothing that you can put on quickly and easily after practice, in the short time allowed for dressing
◻ Water Bottle with water!
◻ Swim Bag
any LARGE swim bag will do, but it needs to be large enough to hold swim gear (fins, kickboard, snorkel, pull buoy), towels, and dryland gear (mat, shoes). Also needs to drain.
◻ Dryland Clothes - appropriate for the weather, layered for warmth, no cotton!
◻ Shoes - fit for running, NO SANDALS FOR DRYLAND!
◻ Yoga Mat - the thicker the better.
◻ Jump Rope - any kind will do!
*PRO TIP: Don't lose stuff - put your NAME on every side of every thing in LARGE CONTRASTING colors!
Gear Suppliers
Swim Outlet - The Amazon of swimming! (100% piranha free, guaranteed)
OfferUp - Need gear? Need to get rid of gear? This is a great, local, peer-to-peer marketplace. Great for fins that no longer fit, or anything else.
Gear FAQ
What is a Competitive Suit?
In general: A close-fitting suit without 'extras'. Tight and smooth like sharkskin.
Off limits: shirts, baggy shorts, rash guards, pants, skirts, tech suits (for 12&u), transparent fabrics, anything 'indecent', sports tape, extra flotation, wetsuits, zippers, frills / folds / loose material, electric motors...
The only exception to the rule is for a religious, medical or other significant reason. Apply for an exemption well in advance of the meet. Even so, it is still good to get tight-fitting shirts like sharkskin, sealskin, or dolphin skin. Anything else is a drag.
TEAM SUIT: Required for meets, and great for practice too, most team suits are very durable and survive YEARS of practices and meets without stretching or fading. It's a good idea to have a backup suit too. Swimmers are free to wear any suit in practice, but it's good to practice in the gear you race in.
Why Wear a Cap?
DRAG - Even very short hair and bald swimmers wear caps. Water acts like glue, 'sticking' to walls, ceilings, skin, and especially hair. Water clings to every surface of every hair on your head, trying to hold you where you were, dragging you back and slowing you down.
Spine Alignment- Most swimmers dislike hair in their face. To prevent it, they lift their head to swim forehead first, or even head out of water. This forces an unhealthy neck angle and an inefficient body position (dropping hips, plowing water).
Goggle clamp - Caps can help keep goggles in place. Caps can be pulled down to cover the top of goggles, creating a ramp to deflect water. They can be worn over the google strap to secure the goggle strap. This makes it difficult to remove goggles, but good for meets.
Hair Care - Caps can keep hair mostly dry, but even if they don't, they reduce hair exposure to chlorine.
All the cool kids do it - if you've ever watched the Olympics, you know what I mean.
How to Wear a Cap?
TIGHT! - no air heads.
Mohawk Style - the 'spine' (or fold) of the cap should cross over your head like a mohawk, starting just above your eyebrows on your forehead, running over the top, and all the way down to your spine in the back.
Hide your Hair - ALL of it! Bald is a good look on swimmers!
EARS IN! - it's alright to fold the cap up to hear Coaches at practice, but get used to swimming with it down. Good strokes
To see a real human put on a cap, check the video at 1:06
Goggle Hacks
Try these in order - these solutions are ordered easiest to hardest, most permanent to least permanent and least painful to most painful. Those at the bottom are race-worthy only.
Get Competitive goggles - Most goggles aren’t made for competitive swimming and will come off in a good dive. Competitive swimming goggles fit inside the eye socket, under eyebrows, not around the eye, and have a much lower profile. Check Goggle recommendations, below, for specific models. I recommend tinted goggles, not clear, to help to switch a brain into 'swim mode', where the laws of physics work differently. Clear goggles..
Get the right nose bridge - Most competitive goggles will come with several sizes of nose bridge to fit different faces. Use the smallest nose bridge that fits. It shouldn't hurt your nose, but may leave a temporary indentation.
Open eyes WIDE to put them on - Eyebrows as high as they'll go. Fit the top of the goggle in first, under the eyebrow, then the bottom. When relaxed, the eyebrow should slightly bulge over the top of the goggle. Water tries to grab the top of the goggle in a dive, so the less it has to grip, the better.
Nothing gets between the goggle and skin - goggles seal to skin only. If anything gets between your goggles and your skin , they won't seal to your eye. The usual suspects are eyebrows, caps, hair and even goggle straps.
Make sure they ‘burp’ - Push goggles into the eye socket with palm of hand. They should ‘burp’ air, and seal. It's very obvious to a swimmer when it's sealed. It feels like your eyeball is being pulled out of it's socket.
Suction test: The seal should be good enough to hold goggles on your eye without the strap, even with a good head shake.
Split the straps - Competitive goggles have 2 straps for a reason. The higher strap keeps them on when diving. The lower strap keeps your goggles on when not diving. If they go around in the same place, they are likely better at keeping googles on when not diving
Tighten the strap - get a strap that can be tightened / loosened quickly, like a bungee strap. If a swimmer can adjust tightness without even taking them off, then they can crank them down a little tighter for the sliver of time that they'll be racing.
Tuck your head in - Dive with your chin in the ‘notch’ (suprasternal notch) between your collar bones on your chest. This is the chin parking spot in streamline, and gives you a fetching double chin that no one sees.
Pull cap down over top of goggles - this forms a mini ramp, leaving less 'goggle ledge' for the water to grab. This also ensures that cap doesn't get between goggles and skin.
Put your Cap on OVER the goggle strap - goggles on first, cap on second. This one makes it difficult to take your goggles off your eye without taking your cap off. For this reason, Olympic swimmers often sandwich the goggles between 2 layers of cap (Cap #1, goggle strap, Cap #2). This also keeps the cap tighter, minimizes air in your cap ('airhead'), but can feel like your head may implode. It won't.
Learn how not to care - this is a bulletproof 'Plan B', but you still have to open your eyes! The goggle leak was invented with the first goggles, and humanity will cure cancer before goggles stop leaking. Total Gogular Failure (TGF) happens to all swimmers at all levels. Michael Phelps set a world record in the 200 FL with leaky goggles (couldn't see a thing by the end). Yet even when swimmers can see, all they should see is a black line. The biggest technique problems are caused by wobbling heads and wandering eyeballs. Goggle leaks are great at winnowing out the fussy, panicky swimmers. Don't be one of them. Don’t let a piece of plastic get between you and greatness!
PRO TIP: GOG-FOG PREVENTION Are your goggles fogging up? - A drop of tear-free baby shampoo, like Johnson & Johnson is all you need! Swish it around and rinse once, and you’ll be gog-fog free! If you can’t afford $2 of baby shampoo, spit works too and is usually available... But slightly grosser.
Goggle Recommendations
* competition goggles are smaller than recreation goggles, so 'adult' models often work well for age group swimmers.
Speedo Speed Socket 2.0 - likely the most widely used, low-profile competitive goggles. They work great for swimmers with average to deep eye sockets. Worn by many Olympians, including Leon Marchand.
Arena Tracks Jr - these are the only competitive goggles that seem to work for younger swimmers with very narrow faces. Make sure to get the Junior version.
Arena Cobra Ultra - most stable, low-profile goggles available. They are the least likely to come off in a dive, but can conflict with long lashes, and may leak for narrow faces. They are also pricey, so 'scattered' athletes who often lose gear, may not be ready for these... yet. Worn by many Olympians including Adam Peaty and Kristof Milak
Speedo Vanquisher Jr - the most universal, inner-eye fit available. These work well for most competitive swimmers, but they are not very low-profile, so a bit more likely to fall off in a great dive.
Magic 5 - next-gen, custom-built competitive goggles. You scan your face, and they make them to spec. I have never tried them, but I hear only fantastic things about them. They are expensive, but worth a try if nothing else works.
Bungee strap - great for tightening quickly before a race or dive practice.
If these goggles seem uncomfortable, they are far better than they were! Back in 'my day' we mostly wore swedish goggles, with no gasket or cushion. I still have dents in my skull, from cranking down the straps in races. But we were glad to have them. Before 1976, no one could wear goggles, they were illegal!
Technical difficulties? More solutions to common problems:
Goggle problems
12 Ways to put on a Cap
10 Hacks to enjoy workout more