But the national youth team arrived at the viewing deck to find hundreds of pieces of Lego scattered around after they skipped their Wednesday morning pool session last week.

It was a left-field challenge to literally start putting together the building blocks for their hopes of long careers in the water.

The junior national swimming team held their first training camp ahead of the world championships at the AIS to start their journey towards future Olympic Games.

The idea of the camp was to strengthen relations between athletes, coaches, management and support staff, many of whom met for the first time. And the best way to break the ice? Building Lego of course.

"Building Lego represents what each person can do individually to help strengthen the group," said coach Glenn Beringen.

"We wanted an activity that would be a little different. We compete in what is essentially an individual sport but when we go away and compete, our success is built on the contribution of every person."

Each coaching group built a tower and then incorporated elements which represented their individual personalities. West Australian swimmer Joshua Edwards-Smith thrived off the exercise and helped his group build a detailed map of Australia to represent their goal of making the Australian Olympic team.

"It was our journey of swimming," Edwards-Smith said. "It was very blue, had obstacles on it and a little Lego figure trying to get to the flag at the top. It shows after hard work there's a reward at the end."

Edwards-Smith will head to his first world championships after breaking two Australian-age records earlier this year.

The 16-year-old took 3 seconds off Olympian Mitch Larkin's 200 metre backstroke record at the Australian-age championships in April. He also broke Andrew Lauterstein's 100 metre backstroke record.

"It was a great feeling of relief and happiness," Edwards-Smith said.

"We set out these goals beforehand and it seemed quite unrealistic to break an Australian record but I relied on our huge block of preparation and worked hard. It meant a lot to me and everyone who helped out."

Beringen believes the future is bright for Australian swimming, with most of the current junior team in contention for the Paris Olympics.

"It's probably one of the strongest teams we'd had for quite a few years because a lot of successful athletes from our recent junior team have progressed to seniors," Beringen said.

"It take a little while to rebuild but we have some exciting young talent. A lot of them are too young and need to develop quite a bit so they most likely won't be in the frame for the Tokyo Olympics, but this group has potential athletes for the 2024 Olympics in Paris."

The coach is expecting this year's championships to be one of the strongest meets yet, but says the athlete will use it as a stepping stone to represent Australia at a senior level.

"The junior world championships have become increasingly stronger since its inception," Beringen said.

"It will be high class international racing and is the biggest meet for these swimmers on a global stage. If they can equip themselves well here, it's a great opportunity for them to progress to the senior team."

The junior world champions will begin on August 20 at Duna Arena in Budapest.

Meanwhile, the world's best senior swimmers will start their world championship campaign in South Korea on Sunday.

Australian Ariarne Titmus has emerged as a real threat in the 200 metres with the fastest time of the year (1:54.30), with compatriot Emma McKeon close to that mark at last month's Australian trials.