Nike Swim Camp at Whitman College Walla Walla, Washington
Whitman College is located in historic Walla Walla in the scenic southeastern corner of Washington, two-and-a-half hours from Spokane, four hours from Portland, and 4.5 hours from Seattle.
Campers train each day at the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center in the Louise and Paul Harvey Pool. The Center is a 38,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that opened in the fall of 2006. Located north of Cordiner Hall at the corner of Park and Main streets, the facility features a sparkling 30-meter swimming pool with eight competitive lanes and three practice lanes.
The Nike Swim Camp at Whitman College is designed to help competitive swimmers improve their stroke technique so they can compete at the next level. Upon arrival at camp, campers are placed in groups with other swimmers having similar abilities and goals. Our camp staff will do their best to accommodate your needs, keeping in consideration your experience and desire to improve.
Highlights Include
- Stroke technique refinement for competitive swimming
- Low camper to staff ratio and 24 hour supervision
- Underwater videotaping and on-deck review with coaches
- Small group and individual stroke analysis and discussion
- Fun evening social activities
- Every camper receives a Nike Camp T-shirt and Nike Swim Cap
- Every camper is eligible to receive merit-based prizes during camp
The Nike Swim Camp at Whitman College is open to any and all entrants. For your safety and benefit, we recommend you have competitive swimming experience (e.g. U.S.S. age group, national qualifiers, high school swimmers, or summer league swimmers) and can swim at least 50 meters in all four competitive strokes: fly, back, breast and freestyle.
Meet your coaching staff
Camp Director
Jennifer Blomme
Jennifer Blomme, the 2011 NWC Women's Swim Coach of the Year, has spent the last decade transforming Whitman College into one of the top swim programs in the Northwest Conference.
Blomme, who coaches both the men's and women's swim teams at Whitman, was named NWC Coach of the Year four times in her first 10 years at the college.
Read Full BioHer most recent coaching award (for women's swimming) came at the close of the 2011 NWC Championships, when her women's team broke schools records in all five relays and Whitman sophomore Katie Chapman won all three of her individual races and was named the Women's Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet.
Her men's team, which finished a strong third at the 2011 NWC Championships, also made notable headlines outside of the pool, earning Team Scholar All-America honors while posting the highest combined grade point average in all of NCAA Division III.
Blomme was named NWC Coach of the Year for men's swimming after the 2010 championships, which capped the best season in the history of the men's program at Whitman.
Earlier in the decade, Blomme collected her first two NWC coaching awards (both for women's swimming) following the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
In addition to her coaching duties, Blomme manages Whitman's Louise and Paul Harvey Pool, which is home for the varsity swim teams and also serves the recreational needs of the campus community.
The 30-meter pool, which opened in the fall of 2006 as part of the new $10-million Baker Ferguson Fitness Center, features eight competitive lanes, three warm-up and cool-down lanes, and an elevated viewing area for meet spectators.
Blomme was a varsity swimmer, specializing in the breaststroke, at Grinnell (Iowa) College, where she earned her undergraduate degree in 1996, majoring in Spanish. Grinnell, which has a traditionally strong NCAA Div. III swim program, captured its conference title in two of her four seasons there.
After Grinnell, Blomme was an assistant swim coach at Dickinson College (Carlisle, Penn.) for one season and the head coach at Pennsylvania's Bryn Mawr College for one season. Before coming to Whitman, she served as a volunteer women's coach at Indiana University for two two years while she completed her master's degree.
Discounts Available
Camp Details
Sample Daily Schedule
- 7:30 am Breakfast (overnighters)
- 8:50 am Extended Day & Day Campers arrive, stretch
- 9:00 am Opening Comments and Discussion
- 9:15 am Pool Session 1
- Noon Lunch
- 1:00 pm Dry Land Exercises
- 1:30 pm Pool Session 2
- 4:00pm Day Campers depart
- 5:00 pm Dinner (Overnight and Extended Day campers)
- 6:30 pm Pool Session 3 or Evening Activities
- 8:30 pm Extended Day Campers depart
- 9:00 pm Supervised free time in dorm
- 10:00 pm Lights out!
Great experience!
Great experience to learn and have solid happy memories forever of new friends made and enjoyed. My grandaughter would return in a heartbeat.
Loved it!
My daughter LOVED this camp and can't wait to go back next year, even if none of her friends go. She learned a lot about technique and had a great time.
Kellen G.
Learned so much!
I really liked the Whitman Swim Camp. Jen and the coaching staff were amazing and I learned so much!
Whitman College Overnight Camper
Definitely be back.
Camp was really fun and well organized, and there was a lot of technique instruction. I found the personalized swim video to be very helpful! I'll be back next summer!