At FOX, we pride ourselves on developing well-rounded swimmers and children, both in and out of the pool. A big part of our swim training focuses on building swimmers who can excel at any race, regardless of stroke or distance and are excited to attack any challenge in front of them.
To that end, USA Swimming uses the National IMX, short for IM Xtreme, program to help measure swimmer versatility that we will be highlighting within our program. The IMX program creates a standardized score for all events based on a swimmer's age and then the individual races scores add up to create an IMX score. This allows for swimmers to be competitive with one another across all ages and genders as everyone’s score is calculated relative to their age and gender. IMX-scoring events vary by age, with the following age groups scoring in the following events:
- 10 & Under: 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM
- 11 & 12: 500/400 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM
- 13 - 18: 500/400 Free, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM
In order to have a total IMX score, swimmers must compete in each event in their age group. To help incentivize and reward IMX scores, FOX has created an award system based on IMX event average score with the following tiers:
Diamond: 700+
Platinum: 600-699
Gold: 500-599
Silver: 400-499
Bronze: 300-399
IMX Certified: Swimmers who have completed all IMX events for their age group
These tiers are designed to motivate swimmers to improve in all four strokes- an important trait for long-term development! As an extra motivator, swimmers who qualify for the Gold tier and above will earn a special FOX IMX Elite t-shirt!
IMX scores are designed to help swimmers reach the next level by encouraging swimmers of all ages to compete in all strokes, rather than specializing in one stroke too early. This is consistent with our team and coaching philosophy focused on long-term team and wholistic swimmer development. Continue to train hard, improve on your weaker strokes and move up the tiers!
