Peak Performance Swim Camp Returns to Manassas Park

is the latest stop for the Peak Performance Swim Camp.

With 20 camp sessions this year alone, thousands of swimmers from varying levels and countries all over the world, Peak Performance is one of the most unique swimming camps around.

Camp founder and swim coach Nick Baker said that there are two major differences between Peak Performance and its competitors.

First, most camps have close to 100 swimmers and just a few coaches, but Peak Performance is more intimate.  This week's camp has about 20-25 swimmers and a swimmer to coach ratio of 7 to 1.

The second is that this camp doesn't just focus on the swimmers' physical endurance. Instead Peak Performance focuses on what Baker calls the Swimming Triangle: The mental, technical and physical aspects of swimming.

Baker said that at the beginning of each session, he polls his campers to see where their focus lies. Usually 85 to 90 percent of their time is spent on the physical. Baker and his coaches work with them to not only improve their endurance and technique, he also strives to teach them mental positivity.

Baker has copyrighted the term “swim positive,” which is printed on a blue band all swimmers are required to wear throughout the camp. “Positive thoughts create positive attitudes,” Baker said. “And positive attitudes create positive results.”

This is Peak Performance's second camp in Manassas Park this year. The first camp in April was two days long. The camp, which concludes today, is five days long and more intensive.

On a typical day, campers will start off with an hour, dry-land strengthening session which consists of plenty of stretching and jogging, plyometrics or yoga, Peak Peformance business manager Brenda Cunningham said.

Before and after lunch they will complete two, two and a half hour water sessions and conclude each day with a mental instruction session.

They see campers from all over the world every year, Baker said.  Many of the children in this camp session come from outside the Washington, D.C. metro area—some as far as Asia, Cunningham said.

While Peak Performance doesn't have any immediate plans to come back to Manassas Park, Baker would love to hold another camp here. “(The community center) is an excellent facility,” Baker said. “We look for quality facilities and this one is excellent.”

 Baker is currently working on his second book, The Swimming Triangle: A Holistic Approach to Competitive Swimming which will be out in early August. Baker's first book is called 101 Winning Ways.

For more information about Peak Performance and upcoming camps, check out their website.

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