3/3/14

Swimming
Swimming is one of many sports that involve water. It is done by diving off platforms that are mounted onto a deck called blocks and into the water and by moving parts of your body in different ways to help you get down to the other end of the pool as fast as you can.

A swimming pool can be measured yards or meters and is usually 25 yards or meter long. If you have ever watched the swimming Olympics you might notice that it is longer then 25 yards, that is because it is 2 times the size of a regular pool.

Most people may think that swimming is boring and that you are really just flailing around in the water. But, once you have all the basics down and you really get into it the sport can be pretty amazing. 

There are 4 main strokes in the sport. Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. At swimming meets were you go and compete against other swimmers your age there is a huge variety of events. The events are measured in 25s so instead of saying 1 lap freestyle you would say 25 freestyle and instead of 2 laps backstroke you might say 50 backstroke. 

If you were to ever join a swim team you would need to know some key terms. For example, heat, lane, event, and marshaling. Heat means your group. If there are to many kids all signed up for the same thing the meet directors might split them into groups and have one group swim at a time. Your lane in the section you are swimming in. Like if a pool could be split into 8 sections one person would swim in a section or lane at a time. A event is a key term for when you swim. Like if a coach told me I was in event 3 then that is when I would swim. Finally, marshaling is were volunteers split you into your groups so when you get in line you won't be confused.

Right now if you are considering joining a sports team I know swimming is the right choice.