Splashing INN to Swim Team

By: Tyler Saldarriaga

You step up on the block and you take your mark. You get in position to dive and the buzzer beeps signaling for you to leap off the block and dive into the pool. 

Most people don’t really know what goes on with the Fountain Inn High School swim team; they just see someone swimming laps back and forth until they stop. So I’m going to teach you a little more about swimming because it is so much more than just that.

There are 11 distinct swimming events, eight are individual and three are relays. Within these events there are four different strokes. Before I can start explaining all the individual events you must first know what the different strokes are.

The first stroke to go over is freestyle; freestyle involves kicking your legs in a scissor kick motion very fast. While you kick, you are also swinging your arms forward and pulling in an alternating motion. 

Every stroke has its own stroke to stroke turn; for freestyle, it is the flip turn in which you do a flip forward underwater on the wall and then push off. Freestyle is the fastest of the four strokes and has both the shortest and longest event.

The next fastest stroke and the most strength-focused is the butterfly. While swimming butterfly, you are doing a kick called dolphin kick. Dolphin kick can be best explained by the way a dolphin actually kicks, except instead of having a tail you must keep your legs together.

 The arm movement for the butterfly is lifting both your arms out of the water at the same time then bringing them both back down under the water and pulling. You need to do two dolphin kicks for every butterfly cycle, when your arms go down you kick and when your arms go up you kick. 

For the butterfly turn you must touch the wall with both hands then put your left elbow down and back while moving your right hand up past your ear and over your head; both hands will meet as you turn onto your front and push off the wall.

The next stroke is backstroke which is the only competitive stroke swum on your back. Backstroke is very similar to freestyle in the fact that you still do the scissor kicks. While kicking you move your arms in an alternating circular motion. One arm at a time comes out of the water then comes down pinky first and pulls you forward. 

The turn for backstroke is a little different than any other turn because you can’t see when you are going to reach the wall. You need to rely on seeing the flags which are positioned 5 meters/yards away from the wall and memorize your stroke count which is how many strokes it takes to get close to the wall from the flags.

Once you are close enough to the wall you turn over onto your front and do one freestyle pull with your arm into a forward flip turn and push off the wall on your back.

The final stroke is breaststroke which is the slowest stroke but also the most technique based. For your arms you push out with your hands together, move your hands out a little bit in a sweeping motion  then scoop your hands inwards towards your chest to catch the water.

The kick is best described as a frog kick if you could imagine the way a frog kicks when it swims.

The turn for breaststroke is the same as the turn for butterfly but it has a special motion you must do after you push off the wall. To help put it in context for every other stroke after you push off the wall you do dolphin kicks in a streamline position (hand over hand with arms squeezing your head) until you have to come up for air or reach the maximum underwater distance.

For breaststroke, when you push off the wall you glide in streamline position then do one dolphin kick while pulling your arms back to your sides then glide and do one frog kick to get you to the surface. Once you are on the surface you continue swimming breaststroke normally.

Now that you know what all the swimming strokes and their turns are we can now get into all the individual events. I will go in the order that the events are done during a swim competition and refer to all of them in meters for simplicity (depending on the pool the event could also be referred to in yards).

The first event in a swim meet is the 200 meter medley relay. For the medley relay there are four swimmers involved. Each swimmer swims 50 meters of a different stroke in this relay. The first swimmer swims a 50m backstroke, the second swimmer swims a 50m breaststroke, the third swimmer swims a 50m butterfly, and the final swimmer swims a 50m freestyle.

When one swimmer finishes their swim the next swimmer will dive off the start block and continue swimming until the last swimmer finishes their 50m freestyle.

The second event is the 200m freestyle. This is the second longest freestyle event and focuses on speed but also the ability to pace yourself. You usually want to start at a moderate pace and slowly get faster after every 25-50 meters leading up to a sprint in the last 50 meters.

The third event is the 200m individual medley (IM). The individual medley is swam in a different order than the relay, it starts with butterfly and then continues with backstroke, breaststroke, and finally freestyle. This event also has some special turns for when you turn into a different stroke.

For a butterfly to backstroke turn you touch the wall with two hands then push off the wall on your back. For the backstroke to breaststroke turn you need to do what is called a “bucket turn.” You need to count your backstroke strokes into the wall then when your hand touches the wall you do a backwards somersault underwater then push off the wall on your front. 

For the breaststroke to freestyle turn you just do the same as a butterfly to butterfly turn.

The fourth event is the 50m freestyle which is the shortest event available. This event is a full sprint the entire time for swimmers especially at a short course pool (25m long). For competitive swimmers it can be completed in 30 seconds or less.

The fifth event is the 100m butterfly. This event relies mostly on strength and can be very physically taxing especially on less experienced swimmers.

The sixth event is the 100m freestyle. The 100m freestyle depending on your strength can be a full sprint event or just a partial sprint. The stronger swimmers will sprint the entire time while other swimmers do the first part at a moderately fast pace then sprint the last 50m.

The seventh event is the 400m freestyle which is the longest available event for high school swim. This event is so long that each swimmer must have a counter which is a person who puts a board in the water showing how many laps the swimmer has left. 

During the 400m freestyle pacing yourself is very important because if you spend too much energy at the beginning you can’t do a fast finish but if you go too slow the whole time you will fall behind. Finding the right speed that is most balanced for you is key to succeed in the 400m freestyle.

The eighth event is the 200m freestyle relay. In the 200m freestyle relay there are four swimmers that each swim a 50m leg of freestyle. Usually for the freestyle relays the fastest swimmer swims last and is the anchor and the second fastest swims first, while the other two swim second and third. But in some cases the order can be switched up to best suit the specific relay team.

The ninth event is the 100m backstroke. The 100m backstroke is a medium paced event since backstroke is a slower stroke and really relies on a swimmers confidence in their stroke count (how many strokes it takes to reach the wall).

The tenth event is the 100m breaststroke. This event is the longest event swum by the slowest stroke breaststroke. This event can also be tiring because of the distance having to be swam at slower speeds.

The eleventh and final event for high school swim is the 400m freestyle relay. In this relay each of the four swimmers must swim a leg of 100m freestyle. Everything that applied to the previous freestyle relay also applies to this relay, the only difference is the distance swam.

All of these events can also be swum in yards which are shorter than meters. None of the events change in quantity (a 100m freestyle becomes a 100yd freestyle) except for the 400m freestyle which is changed to a 500yd freestyle to better balance out the distance.

Times swum in yards can not be compared to times swum in meters until you multiply the yards time by 1.11 to account for the about 10 percent difference in length from a yard to a meter.

Now you should know all about what is really going on in the swim team and that it's really more than just swimming laps. So go take your knowledge to the pool with everything you know now about the strokes, turns, and events!

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Reaching New Heights! At Fountain Inn High, we are joining the celebration! For the first time in Greenville County Schools’ history, the graduation rate has surpassed 90 percent—reaching 90.6% for the Class of 2025, an 18-point increase since 2012! Additionally, 85% of the graduating class earned College/Career Ready status, and 97.7% of Greenville County schools rated Excellent, Good, or Average on the State Report Card. This tremendous progress is a win for our entire community, and you’re a part of it! We are proud—but not finished. Together, we’ll keep the momentum going and ensure students continue to graduate with the skills, credentials, and confidence to succeed in college, the military, or the workforce! To learn more about the celebration, visit

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2025 Testing Schedule

PSAT/NMSQT - Test Day 10/6 - Makeup Day 10/15

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