We’re back with world record holder and Team Speedo athlete, Caeleb Dressel, getting to know a bit more about his journey, to elite swimmer status.

In this part, we take things a little further back as Caeleb shares his best three pieces of advice for young swimmers.

“Communicating with the Coach”

Caeleb has a close relationship with his coach, Gregg Troy who famously led his development and helped him to eight medals at the World Championships. Six were golds.

“It’s not always fun and games, the whole time. But this year, it really has been just so much fun working with the guy. We’ve just been clicking on everything, pretty much. Having a guy that honestly holds you accountable to everything that you’ve told him since high school is pretty amazing and I feel like I’m very fortunate to work with a guy like that.”

“Telling your parents [to] back off at times! That’s not something I’ve had to deal with but something that I’ve seen, growing up. I’ve seen a lot of kids get burnt out because a lot of parents get too involved.

In swimming it seems, as much as in life, good relationships are really important.

“Knowing your role within the team is a big one too”

Here, there’s an understanding that absolutely everyone has a role to play in the team, no matter your level of ability. This is where both Caeleb and we, at Speedo undoubtedly align, in the belief that swimming is truly for everyone.

“Everyone has a different role to play in the team. It doesn’t matter if you’re the fastest or the slowest, it doesn’t mean your role is better or worse than anybody’s”

“You might be terrible at swimming, but if you’re the hype guy in the group, you’re contributing just as much as the fastest swimmer. If you’re really good at kicking and you’re not a great swimmer but you’re a good kicker, you’re contributing on those kick sets. I had plenty of teammates who could destroy me on certain sets like kick sets or pull sets. That was their role within the group. They helped me get better and I feel like I helped them get better. [You’ve got to] really know what your role is and really enjoy and capitalise on that role.”

Success really is a team game and at Speedo, we’re proud to partner with Caeleb, an athlete so eager to use his platform to help inspire others on their swim journey. But don’t think for one second he lets anything get in the way of what’s most important; his love of the sport.

“I would just say whatever it is you’re doing, enjoy it. Be good at what you do. Take some pride and honour in what you do, whatever your craft may be. Enjoy it but you don’t have to pigeon-hole yourself as a young kid. You can really branch out, learn from a lot of different things and when you’re ready to take that leap, then be ready to go all in on it’”

For more swim-spiration, follow @CaelebDressel