Compete is built around questions swimmers and parents actually ask: Am I improving? What are my best events? What should I target next? What do I need for that qualifying time, and what does my short-course time mean in long course?
Individual swimmers can claim their own athlete profile and access their full individual analysis without requiring club membership in MyAthlete. Squad views, coach views, and club records remain club-scoped — see 6. Access: Solo Swimmers vs. Club Members.
1. Understandable progress tracking
Compete explains racing in plain English. It covers:
- Performance over time: how performance levels trend across competitions, grounded in total official races swum.
- Lifetime and season bests: fastest swims ever and fastest this year, each with its World Aquatics (FINA) points so quality can be compared across strokes and distances.
- Where you are strongest: best scores and race counts broken down by stroke, distance, and pool length (long course / short course).
- Full meet history: every sanctioned meet with per-race context — how far each swim was ahead of or behind your best at the time, in seconds, and its points value.
2. Goal setting with real progress tracking
Compete turns vague ambitions into measurable targets. Swimmers set time goals for a specific event and deadline, and the system tracks the journey from a chosen starting point — such as a lifetime best, season best, most recent swim, or any past race:
- Honest progress: percentage of the targeted drop achieved, seconds remaining, and the weekly pace needed to hit the deadline — not just a raw percentage of the target time.
- Automatic achievement: when an official meet time hits the target, the goal is ratified with the achieving swim saved. Edited targets keep their version history rather than overwriting it.
- Qualification standards built in: official national and regional consideration cuts, matched to age and gender and convertible between long and short course, which can be adopted directly as goals.
3. Planning tools: projections, pacing, and conversions
For looking ahead rather than back, Compete offers:
- Future time projections: machine-learning estimates for a target meet date, built from recent form, with a confidence range for realistic season planning.
- Pacing plans: lap-by-lap split strategies for a chosen target time.
- Course conversions: equivalent times between 50m long course, 25m short course, and 25y pools using the industry-standard SPORTSYSTEMS algorithm.
4. Deeper analysis: RaceLab & Race Videos
Two specialist modules go beyond times. They have their own guides:
- RaceLab: forensic diagnostics from official electronic timing — pacing strategy, start reaction and decisive margins, and prelims-to-finals conversion. Pro plan. See RaceLab: Forensic Race Diagnostics.
- Race Videos: race footage linked to official swims, broken into dive, underwater, clean swimming, stroke counts, and stroking speed, with theater playback and full-race charts. See Race Video Analysis.
5. Club Records (Club Members Only)
MyAthlete automates the tracking and ratification of official Club Records. Club records are club-scoped and are not tracked for swimmers without club membership:
- Representation Check: A swim only qualifies if the athlete officially represented the club at that sanctioned competition.
- Dual Junior & Open Credit: If a 15-year-old swimmer breaks the senior club record, the system automatically awards both the Junior age-group record and the Senior Open record.
6. Access: Solo Swimmers vs. Club Members
Compete distinguishes between the swimmer's own analysis and club-scoped views. Access is granted via the athlete profile itself (SELF / verified GUARDIAN / invited COACH link, or family guardian), or via ACTIVE club membership for club resources:
| Capability | Solo Swimmer (No Club Membership) | Club Member / Club Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Progress tracking, goals, standards & planning tools (Sections 1–3) | Full access. | Full access, plus squad reference standards and coached-athlete goal tracking for coaches. |
| RaceLab & Race Videos (Section 4) | Available with the relevant plan (Pro for RaceLab; active Pro plan for videos). Coach access requires an explicit invite. | Same plans apply. Coaches need an explicit invited COACH link from the athlete or a guardian. |
| Coach views | Not available. Coach access to a swimmer requires an explicit invited COACH link from the athlete or a guardian. | Available to coaches with ACTIVE club membership and the coach role. |
| Club records (Section 5) | Not tracked. | Tracked where the swim represented the club. |