/f/76838/320x320/5ae195db58/zrydij3ztxwowyaogojy.jpg "a collegiate swimmer training in an Endless Pools Elite pool on a NCAA swim deck")
School’s back in session, and on the pool decks at select universities, including Harvard and USC, that means it’s time for stroke refinement in an Endless Pools® Commercial model.
Earlier this year, Arkansas Razorbacks' then-Head Coach Sean Schimmel told an interviewer, “We have been getting great facility upgrades with the new team suite and the Endless Pool. Those two things just really help our team's experience and our ability to get better.”
The Razorbacks’ Endless Pools Elite pool allows Schimmel’s swimmers to swim in place, carefully observing their strokes in the underwater or overhead/backstroke mirror – up to a blistering 0:51/100-yard pace!
Schimmel added, “It is certainly an exciting time to be a part of our Razorback Family.”
At Penn State University, the Lion swimmers love their Elite. "It's a huge help with fixing strokes," senior Nate Savoy told a student reporter last year. "The mirrors really make it easy to see what you're not doing correctly and to be able to fix it."
"It's a great tool in helping us perfect technique," senior Caitlyn Karr noted. "Especially with how close we are to Big Tens, every little thing counts at this point."
In a separate interview last year, PSU Head Coach Tim Murphy told us, “The Endless Pool can teach you efficiency, and it can teach you how you create speed.” He called it “a tremendous tool [that] helps to create a more enhanced learning environment.”
Olympic open-water swimmer Alex Meyer trained in the Elite pool at Harvard University. He refined his stroke sufficiently to win gold at the 2010 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championship.
Crimson swimmers continue to use it for training and for some friendly intramural competition.
At the University of Louisville, shouts of “Go, Cards!” can be heard alongside their Elite. Stephanie Juncker, the Cardinals’ Assistant Swimming Coach, has called it an “awesome tool” that gets used “on a daily basis.”
The University of Southern California’s Endless Pools Elite model was requested by, and named for, their esteemed coach, David Salo. Salo is renowned for coaching a slew of Olympic medalists, including Jessica Hardy and Jason Lezak; for the 2004 Athens Olympics, he served as Assistant Coach to the men of Team USA.
Two-time Olympian Mike Alexandrov also coaches in the Elite, but for USC’s club team, the Trojan Swim Club.