The maternal love of a swim mom knows no bounds.

A swim mom is a mother of a swimmer who is understood to be a hands-on, full-time mother of a pool swimmer under the age of 18. But it can also refer to a mother of an open water swimmer of any age.

Swim moms passionately care and worry about their child’s well-being as it relates to their peers, coaches, teammates, goals, general team ambiance, improvement expectations, and personal responsibilities.

Swim moms also have a reputation to be detail-oriented, effective, and available to volunteer in a variety of roles on a swim team or escort boat whether it is simply to have food ready for the swimmer and crew or to even kayak.

They will do what it takes to help their children succeed and enjoy themselves along their career. But the practical matters of transportation, feeding, and time management are core to their mission. A significant amount of their time is also taken up by transporting her child (or children) to swim practices, swim meets and open water competitions.

While the term swim dads is also used, swim moms is the more heavily used term that refers to women who most generously help the swim team of their children function and stay afloat through a variety of their activities and support.

In the open water swimming world, swim moms take on an entirely different set of responsibilities and burdens. Mothers of swimmers like Barb Schumacher kayak for their children the entire distance across the Catalina Channel without breaks and complaints. Others like International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee Freda Streeter are supportive not only of their record-breaking child, but also of entire sets of communities like the English Channel crowd.

Photo above is from this week’s English Channel training sessions in Dover posted here.

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