of beads can be used for example the row of beads carried by rod 28 can represent a single lap the beads carried by rod 30 can represent 5 laps the beads carried by rod 32 can represent 10 laps and the beads carried by rod 34 can represent 20 laps again the number of laps represented by each row of beads is illustrative as the swimmer can let each bead and each row of beads stand for any number of laps so too can the number of rods be different in number than the 2 rod and 4 rod embodiments illustrated in the drawings again rods 28 30 32 and 34 are arranged diagonally from one corner of each end block 24 and 26 to assist the swimmer in moving the beads only on a desired rod such lateral stagger of the rods also is present in swim lap counter 10 as described above while the rods need not be so staggered it is desirable so as to enable the swimmer to locate and identify the desired rod and move only the beads along that desired rod color coding of the beads along each row also is a visual cuing system enabling the swimmer to locate and identify the desired row for movement of the beads referring.