What I learned on highschool swim 

Make sure to check out my team in my description! Ingrid in particular is the one who works all those awesome anime references into the videos, and she loves seeing y'alls comments finding all the anime characters ;)

No one Todoroki writing in the corner of the class: *I hate my dad.*

"so how many references do you want" Illy: *yes*

I never joined a swim team. Never had the option. I would have been terrible! Despite that, I'm a very successful swim teacher and have been doing it for 10 years. I teach anywhere from 6-month-olds to adults. And let me tell you, teaching adults really is a practice in creative thinking. It's quite hard to find the right words, the right techniques, to help them feel good about themselves and their progress. Recently I had to step back, tell one of my swimmer to stop trying so hard and just have fun. Now we're working on silly swimming, not form. She's not planning on joining any team. She just wants to be safe and comfortable if she gets invited to a pool party. So that's what we're doing.

As a swimmer myself, unless you're injured, sick, or dying, you should NEVER miss practice. One day missed in swim means a week of recovery in my case

Illy: "I'm not really into Anime" Also Illy: That's a better redemption arc than Endeavor's-

This literally sounds like the plot to an anime except there’d be like a super mean bully or something

As a long time swimmer since 7 years old, this actually made me really happy and excited to start the new swim season! I remember all of my past struggles with diving, flip-turning, breathing, an streamline. To anyone that is interested in swimming, go ahead and try it out! I hope you love it as much as I do and never give up!

When I was in middle school I joined my school’s cross country team, and as someone who couldn’t finish a mile in 12 minutes, that was a daunting task. I struggled so much during my first year, and I was pretty bad through most of it, literally tripped over my own feet constantly, but I was determined to keep pushing myself and avoid walking as much as I possibly could. At the end of my season, my coach was super proud of me and told me I was the most improved that year. Trying really hard and improving is a good feeling 😊

You know I'd like to think that you were on the swim team with class 1A

This felt like an anime redemption arc and I'm all here for it 💪💪💪

I watch this video every time I have a swim meet, and it always makes me feel less anxious about it.:)

As someone who's on their sophomore year and doing swim team, I love this sm

Imagine actually participating in extracurricular activities for school 😬 could never be me

"Don't breathe underwater" Instructions misunderstood. I'm now 100% water.

as a highschool newbie swimmer on the swim team who has been struggling with starts and flip turns youve motivated me a lot to keep on pushing and trying . thank you!!!

this came at the right time in my life, tried out for track absolutely didn't meet my expectations and was so embarrassed i wanted to die, BUT after hearing this story it made me feel so much better i used to watch you when i was younger and still do from time to time but this made me love you even more tysm ☹.

The ammount of ANIME REFERENCES in this. (also im living for historia being the prom queen and dancing with ymir eeeee)

Mat pat sees ily mocking him Matpat: hold my diet coke for a second

This is really inspiring, since recently i started highschool and i only learnt how to swim in the holidays and that was just dog paddles. With extra swim lessons on Tuesdays and 2 lessons of swimming in PE a week in term 3 i really hope i improve ALOT i already did. Thanks so much i am definitely subscribing

9:25 this really motivated me. i don’t do swim, but i just started volleyball and i’ve been really insecure, especially about serving. thanks, illy. i’m glad i decided to binge all your videos for the 2956255th time 💀

"hey how many anime references do you want, illy?" y e s

How many anime references de you want? Ily: YES!!!!! AND NOT ONLY ANIME ONES

In my school we have a tradition called the freshmen 500. Basically no matter how good or bad you are at one point during ur freshmen year you were signed up to compete in a 500 meter race. The problem was you wouldn’t know which meet you would do your 500 in so that meant at one point you would just be told “hey so your doing your freshmen 500 at the meet today”.

I just want say that I love your videos and that I want you to know that I’m hear to support your channel your videos are so relatable to my life and I am just happy that there are people that feel like me sometimes

"just keep swimming" *"N O T H A T S C O P Y R I G H T E D"*

Illysa's brain: should we make references Illysa: yes Illysa's brain: how many Illysa: Y E S

i still do swimming to this day, and i absolutely hate swim meets, diving off the blocks, and dryland. ESPECIALLY swim meets. all the noise disorients me and i don't like the pressure of winning for my team. even after years, i still hate all these 😭😭

omg long distance with asthma? UR SO STRONG OMGGG. i also love ur teammates ! i love ur story, it encouraged me to keep trying, bc i just started competitive and its not rlly going well. Thanks.

Everyone in class 1-A talking when the teacher isn’t there Iida: raises hand

I love how many anime characters she decided to just drop in this

Hey Illy. This really helped my confidence with my new job. I feel like I'm not doing as well as my boss would like. This really really helped. Thank you

I love how the swim class is just MHA characters, FINALLY SOMEONE WHO LOVES MHA LIKE ME (I watched the whole show 3 times)

Illy's brain: how many references should I put in the vide- Illy: *yes.*

ALL MY HOMIES HATE FLIP TURNS

I had this crazy but awesome old vietnam vet swim coach in highschool and he really pulled the effort out of us, we were the only public school to make it to State and we actually won it. He would make our "warmups" super hard to intimidate the other teams lol

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY, A SWIM THEORY! Loved the reference there, and at the end with the music :D

Illy: being embarrassed to say she joined bc of an anime game. Also her showing, mha, Haikyuu, hxh, aot,etc.😂😂

“Oh, and don’t breathe under water” -illymation 2020

Man this actually made me miss my swimming classes. We actually had swim meets and my god they made me nervous but I love it at the same time. I really miss my 9th grade swimming class.

As someone whose been in theater, has asthma, and decided to join the swim team, this is by far the most relatable video ever. I’m a sophomore in high school, and I’m incredibly nervous to join, but here I am. If I get on the varsity team…I’m gonna update this comment. Wish me luck!

Someone: so how many anime references would you like? Her: *YES*

Illymation: Swim theory. MatPat: Write that down, Write that down!

This same thing happened with me at track practice. I was one of the slower kids and the older kids weren’t even jerks about it

loving it... Thank you for providing this wonderful inspiration for a swimmer

Illy’s left brain: should we make some references? Illy’s right brain: Yes

Illy: Swim theory Matpat: WRITE tHAT doWn STEPH

I love your videos so much!!!! I'm go through a illymation marathon😄

Aww this reminded me of when I joined swim team in high school too! We were a new school, so everyone was on the team if they were interested. I didn't know how to do anything but freestyle and I also got most improved at the end of the year. I would have loved to stick with it, but I had to get a job to help with bills the following years, but it was exhausting fun while it lasted!

I love how she used anime characters from different anime’s.

Nobody: Me: **loving all the anime references**

Thank you illy for making this video. It has encouraged me to join swim team my first 50m freestyle was 57 seconds and by the end of the season I was at 41 seconds. Not a great time tbh but I'm hoping for the best for my second season of swimming.

4:20 C'mon, a "rivalry" implies that both parties have a chance and are taking their opportunity seriously. 8:50 OH WAIT THAT'S SO COOL-

Illy: "dont breath underwater" *me who already choked on my water from laughing after hearing the mario sound effect*

THE MHA REFRENCES I LOVE IT. ESPECIALLY SHOTO WRITING I HATE MY DAD

BUT THATS JUST A THEORY A SWIM THEORY matpat is proud

Good lord that drawing of Nyx avatar in the beginning is so incredible. Love it.🥰

*Non weebs watching the video wondering why there’s a random kid with half red and half white hair: 👁👄👁

ok but can we talk about how much Ilyssa’s art style has improved since she first started making videos? like, she was good before but she’s even better now

I'm really surprised how much I can relate to this video! I'm currently a sophomore in hs and this is my 2nd year on my hs swim team. The first year.... I wasn't very good. In fact, I mostly got last place. The events I would normally swim included the 200 free relay and 100 breaststroke. This year... I felt a little stronger. Even though I was one of the shortest people on my team, I did my best in practice. Although I got last place still, there were a few memorable moments of my sophomore swim team experience. My coach signed me up for the 500 free! I remember being so scared and getting ~9 minutes, but I was proud I survived. I also remember when my coach signed me up for the 200 IM. That scared me even more cuz I didn't even know how to do the transition turns (ex. Fly to back). Luckily, my friend taught me during warm up and I was really grateful. :) One of my favorite memories was when my team (15 people) TIED with the best team in our district (they had 40+ swimmers and NO losses). It just goes to show that size doesn't matter - it's the courage and determination you and your team has. I have league meet in 3 days. This video and my experiences have me fired up >:)

1:07 I love the references

“How many anime references do you want?” illy: yes.

Kenma and Kuroo sitting there in class like 👁👄👁 👁➖👁

I have been a competitive swimmer for 5 years and I'm a butterflyer and freestyler. *Good job illymation!*

"BUT THAT'S JUST A THEORY..A SWIM THEORY!!" -illymation,2020

I love that Mineta was just straight up not in that classroom with the 1A characters. That was a nice touch.

Nobody: *Shoto writing “I hate my dad” in the corner*

I was in my Highschool varsity swim team, I love swimming. I always participated in both butterfly and backstroke 100, 200, and sometimes 500 meter runs. The first time I ever placed 1st in a 500 meter backstroke meet I was so happy.

Holy beans! Your 200m story is my exact 500m story! Great job to both of us!!!

SO MANY ANIME REFERENCES IN THIS VIDEO and I'm here for it

Someone: so how much anime do you want in this video? illy: *yes*

GURL I FEEL YOU

I love how many references there are but the one that genuinely saddened me was the ‘swim theory’ one because mattpatt retired recently and I bet a lot of people are sad bout that- but anyways, I love your content! Illy you are amazing ❤ keep it up 👍 😊

As a USA Swimmer, I must say: I'm very proud of you! Swimming takes a lot of time and breath, and despite Asthma, you did AWESOME! Never give up Illy! You can do anything!

The iconic swim coach move of just signing you up for events you don’t think you’re ready for

"Never give up, never surrender"

I love how when she was in the swim team class Todoroki wrote "I hate my dad" on his paper

illy: I can't dive Teammate: I'm about to change this girl’s whole career

As a swimmer, this is nice because someone finally acknowledged that swimming was hard 😂

4:30 Speedos are cool.

I just joined my schools cross country team and not gonna lie I’m really bad at it. I know I just started and it’ll get better but I’ve wanted to quit so many times. Watching this video helped me feel better and more motivated to keep trying! Thank you!

As a actually comp swimmer, I can tell you that you are very smart for choosing to skip dry land day.

Human being: Why did you decide to swim? illymation: *inhales*, Animavideogam.

the swimsuit "2 sizes too small" was clearly a grinch reference.

as someone on the swim team, yes swim is one of the most endurance needed sports.

I remember getting a lot of "most improved awards" . It took way too long for me to realise they just meant that I really sucked when I started.

No one: Me getting so happy at Seeing anime characters

I’m on a swim team and I’m one of the best swimmers in my state. I love seeing my favorite RU-vidrs talk about their swim story’s.

i love how she kept including the characters from free

Me: Sees class 1A “Oh they look cool.” Realizes it’s mha “AAAAAAAAA DEKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER BABYS exept Mineta”

A strong runner is a strong swimmer. literally all the swimmers: DOUBT

I can relate to this video A LOT. Like im also an asthmatic, lungs problems, small and didn't knew how to swim before university, actually for some reason my body water disposal is really strange and when I absolutely relax on water on my back my body waterline is way off and I can't breathe because my mouth and nose is underwater and only tip of my nose is slightly above water. When I came to university I found out that there is an Olympic size swimingpool in there and I can choose swimming as sport lessons option. So I did. There were few other people who were inexperienced in swimming, but I was the worst in my class and all swimming pool. All my friends know how to swim pretty well while I spent time with my couch trying to learn the basic and don't die. I drank so much water from swimming pool so I guess its way off safe limit, but I managed to learn two main swimming style. Couch was really friendly and she allow me to study swimming after classes while swimming pool was open even if it was not my class, and sometimes for a two hour in a row of swimming back and forth drinking lots of water and finding for a breathe. And at the end of semester my couch said we have kinda finals and it will be kinda championship between ALL students and that she didn't accept "no" from me. She said that she will of course give me a "ok" grade even if I refuse, but on the other hand she don't want to hear my refuse (in a friendly and inspiring way). So I accepter 200m challenge. There were more than 200 students, some of them with more than 20 years of experience with couches from childhood and me - the learned how to not drown a few month ago. Also all of them had bodies like olympic gods (you now how professional swimmers looks like) and me... But I still I swam in 3 styles, 2 which I kinda knew (freestyle and backstroke) and another that I hardly can swim without drawing (butterfly). And I finished like 20th something on a backstroke (from 200), 30th-something in freestyle/front crawl (from 200!) and like 100-110th in style of butterfly (out of 200!!!). I almost drown at the end of butterfly because I really don't get to to efficiency swim and was already exhausted from 2 previous runs (and also drank so much water during freestyle). But I made it! And I was not even last one on either of this styles. And I and couch was really proud that I decided to try. We didn't had any nomination for progress, but I know that I did the most of it and that is actually matters. Its a pity that I had to switch University and there was no pool, but I happy that I tried to most difficult sport for me that I was not familiar with, that I learned, that I tried championship and really proud that I was in highest rank (20th, 30th and 100-110th) from people who didn't learned swimming before University and that what matter to me. Don't know if this will be as inspiring as Illysa's video, but everything kinda possible when you commit to it.

THIS ENTIRE THING WAS WAY TOO TRUE 😭😭 ESPECIALLY THE PART WHERE THEY JUST SIGN U UP FOR STUFF YOU DONT THINK YOU’RE READY FOR

Nobody: Me: freaking out over the little killua and gon in the corner of the whiteboard IT WAS SO CUTE

The beginning: Illy: talking Me, mha fan: all might?!? Ya know there’s also a class full of the characters of mha I’m going insane with these references

I kept pausing at the little anime (mha,haikyu) easter eggs and I LOVE IT

I actually have trouble diving and flip-turning and stuff like that. This video gives me hope I can improve!!

As a competitive swimmer who started at eight years old, it’s super wholesome to see someone start later in life and still feel happy and welcome. Swim environments can become very uncomfortable when people are super competitive, so I love seeing you enjoy it so much! I think a good swim team can be an amazing opportunity and experience.

Illy: how many references do you want? Also illy: yes

Swim coaches noticing your improvement and then immediately trying to kill you with events really is a universal experience huh