Most people leave high school with only the vaguest notion of what they want to do as adults. Carolanne Caron knew then she wanted to coach swimming. And that is exactly what she does. Caron founded Winning Swimming in Merrimack three years ago and provides private swim lessons to athletes, kids and adults in her 16-foot long endless pool (the water version of a treadmill).
The current in the pool can be adjusted to force swimmers to go faster, and four different cameras, two outside the pool and two underwater,
videotape sessions.
Coaches and athletes also rent the pool to record workouts to improve form and speed.
The four camera angles can be viewed at the same time, something Caron does frequently to determine how to help a client fix their stroke as swimming is highly technical.
Caron now sees 30 to 35 clients a week and is nearly at capacity, up from a handful a week when she started. About half of her clients are athletes looking to improve their form while the other half are adults and kids looking for private swim lessons. She sees more athletes during the fall and winter, when it’s too cold to swim outside, and more beginning swimmers in warmer months.
“Many adults love it because most adults are embarrassed they can’t swim. So every session is a private session, and they don’t have to worry about people seeing them,” Caron says.
Caron grew up swimming and now competes in shorter triathlons. “The athletes who use it love it, especially triathletes. They are working for distance and they don’t want to worry about turning.”