Here’s how to train like an elite swimmer in middle school.

First of all, the days are long. School swallows most of the day, and then it’s home for homework. An hour is allowed for eating dinner, packing swim gear for practice, and maybe — just maybe — a few minutes to relax.

Before sunset, it’s time to be in the pool.

The athletes on the Scituate-based Sailfish swim team train between three and five days a week, unless they have other swim clubs — in which case they’ll swim more. Their age range is wider than the 25-meter pool in which they train, varying from 6 to 18, but regardless of age the 29 swimmers will say it’s been worth it: They will all be competing in the AAU Junior Olympics July 27-30 in Rochester, Mich., having passed a qualifying test.

The Sailfish team will join three other clubs — Team Turbo Swimming (Plymouth), Swimpro Aquatics (Groton), and the Mystic Swim Team (Malden) — that will make up Team New England as it seeks its third straight title.

Among the swimmers are four 11- and 12-year-old girls — Charlotte “Charlie’’ Hoover, Paige Bleckley, and Megan Nelson, of Scituate, and Holiday Host, of Cohasset — who have lapped in Sailfish’s waters since the team’s inception five years ago. The four, naturally, have been swimming a lot longer than that.

Hoover’s parents were swimmers, so naturally, she became one, too. Bleckley watched her cousins at swim meets and was in the water as a toddler. Nelson, living so close to the beach, figured it was time to learn to swim and started joining summer leagues.

Host, on the other hand, took lessons by way of familial intervention. Barely more than a baby, she jumped into the pool at her grandparents’ house, terrifying them.

“So my grandparents said I would have to do lessons because they didn’t want to [put up] a pool wall,’’ Host said. “I grew from there as a swimmer.’’

Sailfish head coach Barbara Toohey thought it was time to take her team national two years ago. She spoke to coaches around the region, and Team New England was born.

The first year, Sailfish made up almost a third of Team New England’s swimmers. But at the AAU Junior Olympics, completely green to the competition, the team claimed victory.

The following year, Sailfish entered again, this time in strong numbers. It came away the winner again with 4,434 points — 500 ahead of its main rival, Team Arkansas.

The girls from Scituate and Cohasset were part of those endeavors. In the 100-meter butterfly last year, Nelson came in second, with a time of 1:19.96. Host took first in the 100-meter backstroke, and Hoover came first in the 200-meter freestyle relay.

In all, Hoover completed 10 trials, Host 12, and Nelson 15. Bleckley didn’t compete last year, but did in 2015, posting similar numbers. In other words, they racked up points for Team New England.

This kind of event at a higher level would be a lot for adults to prepare for. It’s a mountain for middle-schoolers to mentally climb, too.

“Just lay down in a dark room,’’ Host said. “And envision the race.’’

With all the girls have to handle, the Sailfish coaches make sure their swimmers’ heads are always in the right place. In the days leading up to the Junior Olympics, Toohey held team meetings and — the girls’ runaway favorite — carb-stuffed team dinners. The coaches told the swimmers to sing songs in their head while waiting to jump in and during their events.

Even with all that, it’s not candy and rainbows for the athletes. “We’re constantly getting pushed further and further,’’ Bleckley said, “and that’s just how it is.’’

But if they don’t win this event, it’s no big deal. That’s the Sailfish attitude. “Throw that one in the trash,’’ Nelson said. “The next one’s going to be good.’’

Hoover said she saw some swimmers from other teams in her age group last year leaving the pool crying. Their coaches were hard on them in a way she wasn’t used to seeing from her own mentors.

“Barb and Julie [Margolis] make it very stress-free,’’ Nelson said.

Margolis, the assistant head coach, said she and Toohey want their swimmers to be well-rounded. “Competitive without being over-the-top,’’ she said.

At the beginning of a recent practice at MIT, Toohey gathered her swimmers and gave them tasks. She asked them whether they liked the pool they were using and told them they were all great. Then she ordered the tasks again.

The coaches stay consistent, even if it’s a national event. “If we’re trying to break time, they won’t tell [that] to us. [They] say, ‘Have fun,’ ’’ Host said. “And then after, if we make it, they’ll get really, really excited and tell us that we did it.’’

Toohey couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her swimmers at the end of practice.

“They say thank you,’’ she said, “like I’m the one in the water.’’

Katherine Fominykh can be reached at katherine.fominykh @globe.com.