Molly Sweeney competes in the 100 yard breaststroke on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, during the IHSAA state finals prelims. The meet was held at the IU Natatorium at IU Indianapolis. (Submitted: Molly Sweeney)

For decades, the Carmel Swim Club (CSC) has been a powerhouse in the competitive swimming world. The club has sent athletes to the 2024 Paris Olympics and has dozens swimming at the collegiate level. But as the swimming landscape begins to adopt artificial intelligence, including tools that can analyze race footage and correct technique in real time, CSC has found itself at a crossroads: remain rooted in traditional training methods, or embrace the growing wave of technology.

Right now, CSC falls on the more traditional side.

“Swimming is a people business,” Carmel Swim Club CEO and head coach Chris Plumb said. “Our main interaction is customer service. You can’t coach remotely in this sport. Everything we do is person-to-person.”

Yet around the country, AI-powered training has begun to take off. And even swimmers at CSC wonder what role technology could play in one of the nation’s most decorated swim programs.

A club built on community, now competing nationally

Founded as a community-focused program, CSC’s mission is to be a “community club with a national presence.”

And in many ways, they’ve achieved it.

CSC now supports over 500 competitive swimmers and offers more than 1,000 swim lessons per week, thanks in part to the addition of a second 50-meter pool and the expansion of its sister program, Carmel Swim Academy.

Plumb says this growth is intentional.

“We want everyone to have a place to participate and learn how to swim,” Plumb said. “At the same time, we want to compete with the best in the country and the world.”

But as CSC scales upward, many large clubs with similar ambitions have leaned heavily into AI-based swimmer analysis, something CSC has yet to explore.

AI in swimming: the new competitive edge

Across the competitive swimming world, AI has quietly become one of the sport’s biggest innovations.
Programs like Dartfish and USA Swimming’s Computer Vision (CV) tools can:

• Track stroke rate and efficiency
• Analyze underwater technique
• Compare swimmer progress over time
• Provide immediate technical corrections
• Detect early signs of injury risk

At the 2023 World Championships in Japan, USA Swimming tested CV technology that delivered real-time race data to coaches, including pacing patterns, breakout speed, stroke tempo and more.

For swimmers, milliseconds matter.

And AI is proving it can help shave those off.

Senior Molly Sweeney, a CSC swimmer and US Junior National Team member, said she has seen the difference technology can make.

“Whenever we watch race videos, you notice a lot,” Sweeney said. “If we had AI telling us exactly what to fix, I feel like so many people here could drop time faster.”

Where CSC stands now

Despite the benefits, CSC hasn’t integrated AI into its operations or training yet.

Coach Plumb acknowledges that other clubs have begun exploring the technology, but he says CSC’s priority has always been hands-on instruction.

“I’ve seen people working with AI for race analysis,” Plumb said. “I see it as an opportunity, but it’s not something we’ve spent a lot of time on yet.”

Still, he recognizes areas where AI could help, such as financial reporting, marketing, performance analysis, and organizing swimmer performance databases.

‘If I understood the financial software better, AI could probably help,” Plumb said. “There are ways it could help us with our swimmers and customers more effectively too.”

Student swimmers say AI could change training

For many CSC swimmers, AI isn’t a question of if, but when.

Junior Yi Zheng, a CSC swimmer who competed in the 2025 Junior World Championships, said the club’s size makes it hard for coaches to catch everything.

“Some groups have 40 or 50 kids,” Zheng said. “You might not get that many corrections in a practice. If AI could analyze your stroke while you’re swimming, that would be huge.”

Sweeney emphasized the importance of balance.

“Coaches know us as people,” she said. “AI can’t understand your confidence, your nerves, or how tired you are. I’d want it as a tool, not as the coach.”

What AI integration could look like at CSC

Based on industry research and CSC’s existing resources, a lightweight, realistic AI integration plan could include:

1. Expanding underwater camera use

CSC already owns an underwater Athlee camera for underwater viewing.
Expanding its use across more practice groups and implementing AI software would give coaches  more data to work with.

2. Introducing AI-enabled video software

Programs like Dartfish can:

• Compare technique side-by-side
• Highlight inefficiencies
• Track stroke patterns
• Provide frame-by-frame feedback

Plumb said while the club hasn’t investigated these tools yet, they could be useful as CSC grows.

3. Using AI for operations

AI could streamline:

• Billing and financial analysis
• Marketing analytics
• Membership trend reports
• Schedule optimization

This would free staff time and improve efficiency.

The future: tradition meets technology?

Carmel Swim Club is expanding fast, with a second Olympic-sized pool, a growing swim academy and an increasingly national reputation.

With that growth comes new possibilities.

Plumb says CSC is not opposed to AI. They’ve just prioritized other areas.

“Anytime you’re running a business, you have to ask whether something is worth it,” he said. “Swimming is a very niche business. But if AI can help us serve our community and help athletes improve, then it’s something we’ll look at.”

For swimmers like Sweeney and Zheng, the idea of AI isn’t about replacing coaches or changing the club’s identity., but more about opportunity.

“If we want to stay the best, we should use the best tools,” Sweeney said. “I think AI could help us get there.”