Notebook, spreadsheet, Notion or specialized app: an honest overview of the tools available for swimming coaches. Compare the approaches and choose the one that actually saves you time.
You have been planning your sessions for years. Maybe in a notebook, maybe in an Excel spreadsheet, maybe in your head. It works. Until it doesn't.
The problem is not so much creating the session. It's everything that comes after: how do you get it to your swimmers before arriving at the pool? Where do you find what you did three weeks ago with the competition group? How do you avoid doing the same session twice by accident?
In 2026, swimming coaches have more tool choices than ever. But more choice does not necessarily mean more clarity. The real question is not which tool is objectively better. It's which one matches what you actually do at the pool.
Do not underestimate paper. Many experienced coaches still write their sessions by hand, and there are good reasons for that. Handwriting is fast, requires no connection, and does not break down poolside.
The notebook works well if you coach a small group, if you do not need to share your sessions, and if finding a session from six months ago is not a priority. For a volunteer coach running two slots per week, it is often the simplest solution.
Excel and Google Sheets are the default tool for many coaches who want to go digital without learning new software. The logic is understandable: it's free, everyone knows how to use it, and you can customize everything.
In practice, coaches use spreadsheets to log sessions week by week, calculate volumes, track distances covered. Some build elaborate templates with formulas and color codes by intensity zone. It's clever, but fragile.
The core problem with Excel for a swimming coach is that it was not designed for this. Every workaround you build represents time spent maintaining a tool rather than preparing your sessions. A tab per group. A column per stroke. A volume calculation formula. It's clever — and it's time that does not go to your swimmers.
Google Sheets has one advantage over Excel: sharing is simpler. You can send a link to your swimmers. But the spreadsheet format is not suited to reading a swimming session on mobile. A swimmer who opens your Google Sheet poolside from their phone will see a grid of hard-to-read cells, not a structured workout.
Notion, Obsidian, Airtable, Coda: these all-in-one tools appeal to organized coaches who want to centralize their professional life. The idea is appealing: a single platform for sessions, swimmer contacts, season reviews, competition notes.
The result is often disappointing for pure swimming use. For Notion to be useful, you need to create a database with the right properties, define the views, configure filters by group, and decide on a naming convention. Easily two to three hours before creating your first session. And if a swimmer wants to access it from their phone, they will need to create an account — and remember the link.
Notion works well for a very structured coach who adopts it as an overall work tool. It does not work well if your main goal is to plan sessions and share them with your swimmers: the ergonomics are not designed for this, and your swimmers will need to create an account to access your documents.
MySwimPro, OpenSwim, Swim Coach App, Coach Nage: these are applications designed for swimmers who want to track their own progress and access pre-built training plans. They are excellent for their intended use, but they do not meet the need of a coach who wants to create custom sessions for their group.
SportEasy is frequently cited for managing sports teams. It handles communication, notifications, and attendance well. But creating structured swimming training sessions is not its main function. You will not find an editor designed to structure blocks, sets, and intensity zones.
This is the category that directly addresses the need: create structured sessions, organize them in a calendar, share them with swimmers. SwimShare (ClubAssistant), Final Surge and Commit Swimming are English-language references, primarily oriented toward American competitive clubs. Outside the US, the offering is much more limited.
Padlie is a tool in this category, developed since 2017 by a developer who is also a former swimmer. It is used by more than 320 active coaches and 1,200+ members since its creation. The interface is designed so that creating a session is fast: structuring blocks, choosing strokes, defining distances and zones. Sharing with swimmers is immediate, without them needing to create an account to read their workout. The Free plan is permanent: not a 14-day trial.
| Criteria | Paper notebook | Excel / Sheets | Notion | Padlie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create a session quickly | ✓ | ⚠️ depends on template | ⚠️ needs setup | ✓ |
| Share with swimmers | ✗ | ⚠️ table link | ⚠️ account required | ✓ |
| Mobile reading poolside | ✓ | ✗ | ⚠️ | ✓ |
| Session history and search | ✗ | ⚠️ manual | ⚠️ | ✓ |
| Managing multiple groups | ✗ | ⚠️ tabs | ⚠️ | ✓ |
| No prior setup required | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Available for free | ✓ | ✓ | limited | ✓ |
This table intentionally simplifies. Excel can work very well for an organized coach who invests time in it. Notion can suit a particularly methodical profile. But if you are looking for a tool that works without configuration, usable poolside and designed for sharing, the right-hand column has a structural advantage.
If your notebook works and you have never had to search for a session from three weeks ago, stick with it. The tool does not make the coach.
But if you spent more than ten minutes this season recopying, photocopying, or re-explaining a session you had already written — the problem is not you. It's the tool.
In that case, test a specialized tool. Most offer a free version. Create two or three sessions, share one with a swimmer, check the calendar. If it saves you time on first use, that is a good sign.
Yes. Padlie offers a permanent Free plan, usable indefinitely for 1 coach, up to 5 swimmers and 1 team. No credit card required to sign up.
A specialized app like Padlie solves Excel's three main limitations: instant sharing with swimmers, mobile reading poolside, and centralized session history. Getting started is quick: 1 to 2 sessions are enough to be autonomous.
No, not with Padlie. Swimmers access their workouts via a direct link, without creating an account. Sharing is immediate from the app, and your swimmers can view their session from any device.
320+ active coaches · 7,500+ workouts · Since 2017
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