History of Swimming
There are many things that are involved in the history of swimming like,
- When did people start swimming competitively?
- What did people wear?
- What was the first indoor pool like?
- What is Spring Grove’s history with swimming?
These are all questions that a lot of people don’t ask so, I’ll answer some for you. People started swimming competitively around the 1830’s in England. Often, people whore heavy wool swim suites that weren’t really made for speed. Also, the first indoor pool was owned by St. George’s baths (which was owned by the Liverpool Cooperation) in London, England. Also, here’s some of Spring Groves history with swimming. You might have heard of Michelle King and Daniel Gordon. These people were really, and I mean really good swimmers. They have won countless awards when they swam for Spring Grove. Another person you might have heard of is Kaliyah Hinson, who broke the schools record for one hundred yard butterfly. Also, an Olympic swimmer went to Spring Grove and was a Spring Grove graduate. This person is Hali Flickinger. Hali went to the twenty-sixteen summer Olympics and the twenty-twenty summer Olympics. In twenty-sixteen, she won two bronze medals and in twenty-twenty she didn’t place, but she got seventh place in her event. Also, Flickinger didn’t swim for Spring Grove, she swam for the YMCA. (The image below is what women would wear as swim suits in the eighteen -thirties.) (The second image is the Spring Grove Swim Club logo.)
Swimmers
Here are some swimmers that you may not know all ready and some things about them:
- Janet Evans
- Katie Ledecky
- Kantinka Hosszú
First, I’ll start with Janet Evans. Evans went to Stanford University in Stanford, California, USA. Her main stroke is freestyle. Evans is 54 years old and only swims for fun now. Katie Ledecky grew up in America, specifically Bethesda, Maryland. She also went to Stanford University. Ledecky is known for having 14 Olympic medals. Also, she is 28 years old. Moving onto Katinka Hosszú. Did you know that she is Hungarian and has been to four Olympics? She has competed in the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics. Also she has four Olympic medals, 3 gold and 1 silver. (The images below are: FIRST PICTURE Janet Evans and Katie Ledecky, SECOND PICTURE Katinka Hosszú.)
College Level Swimming
Some famous schools for swimming are, Stanford, Berkeley, Texas, Florida, and Ohio State. These schools are wildly known for having amazing swimmers. In order to get to college level you need to be fast and focused. You need to be resilient when you’re swimming and you can’t give up. You also need to improve your starts and turns so that you can get in to their swimming programs. (The image below is Stanford’s pool). (The second image is Berkeley’s pool).
Statistics of Swimming
Did you know that only 30,000-40,000 elementary students start swimming in the USA every year? In this paragraph you’ll be learning about statistics of swimming in the USA. About only 300,000 high school students are in a swim team. Which, once you think about it, isn’t that many. Also, there are only about 25,000 to 30,000 college swimmers in the USA right now. Which is decently way less high school students, which kind of makes sense because you to be really good to get in. (The first image is the USA Swimming logo.) (The second image is stats of high school and college swimmers).
Why I Like Swimming
I like swimming because of how creative it is; in other sports, the players usually use the same moves every time unlike swimming. In swimming the are so many events and different lengths and many other things. My favorite stroke in swimming in is backstroke because it is not too easy and not too hard. It isn’t like the other strokes because you’re on your back. My favorite event is probably a medley relay because you have a chance at any stroke. In swim meets, you get assigned events and when you are in a medley relay (like I said before) you have a chance at doing any stroke. (The first image is a person doing backstroke.). (The second image is something you might see in a medley relay.)
Meets
Meets are basically the equivalent of a game. It’s where a bunch of swimmers race to see who’s the fastest. Also the are about 16 meets in a normal winter season that stays local. On the other hand, during summer season the can be from 4-12 meets. During a meet, there are roughly 60-70 events. The male and females are separated for events most of the time. An event can take any where from 1 minute to 3 minutes. The wide range of time lengths happen because some swimmers are faster than others and relays take up more time. For example, an eight and under event will probably take longer than an event with thirteen and overs because teenagers are usually way faster then young kids. (The image below is what a meet could look like). (The second image is the Spring Grove high school team at the pool at the high school).
When and Why I Started Swimming
When I started I was in fourth grade. I started in the winter season and I was 9 years old. My swimming abilities weren’t very good, but I got in the first time I tried out. I started because of my siblings. Let me rephrase that, I started because my siblings were in the swim club and they really wanted me to join. I have one brother (he is the oldest) and one sister (she is the middle child). My brother joined first and it was really weird not having him around like before. He played basketball too, but I was used to that since he had done it for so long. My sister and I always dreaded going to swim meets because they were so long. Then she joined. That was even weirder. At meets, it was just me, my mom, and my dad. Both of my siblings then really wanted me to join because they loved it so much. I finally caved in and tried out (and like I said before) I got in to the Spring Grove Swim Club! Once my brother got to high school he couldn’t do both because the practice times over lapped and he liked basketball more.
When is the Swim Season(s)?
In swimming, there are two seasons, a winter season and a summer season. The winter one is October-February and the summer one is May-July. I am not really sure why the winter one is longer (since swimming seems more like a summer event),but it is two whole months longer. In total “swim” is eight months long, so it is a huge part of a lot peoples lives. I think that the winter season should be shorter and the summer season should be longer so they would both be four months long.
The Different Strokes in Swimming
In swimming, there are four strokes, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. They all are very different but the two groups of two that are most alike are, freestyle and backstroke and, breaststroke and butterfly. I would say that the easiest one is freestyle because of its simple pattern and butterfly is the hardest because it takes up a lot of more energy and the pattern is more complex. Freestyle is your basic swimming technique. In freestyle you bring your arms out of the water three times before you breathe and kick your legs normally the entire time. In backstroke you basically just put what you did in freestyle and just do it on your back, hence the name backstroke. In breaststroke, you kind of move your body through the water like a frog. For your arms, you put them in a circular movement and splitting your hands through the water. In butterfly, you kick your legs like a mermaid and bring your arms out of the water wrists first.
The Pool
The basic pool for competing is twenty-five yards long and twelve feet deep. On one side of the pool are diving blocks. Those are what you dive off of. You put your toes on the part that is kind of diagonally sticking out of. The main part is where you crouch down and put your other foot and your hands. You put your other foot that is not on the other part in between your hands. You want your toes to be rapped around the edge of block. Then once the announcer presses the buzzer you dive into the pool and start swimming.
The 2024 Olympics
The 2024 Olympics were in the summer and during the summer, swimming is one of the many sports! During the Olympics there were a hundred eighty-seven countries! If you don’t know how the Olympics works, a bunch of different countries compete in a lot of different sports. For swimming, there were for hundred sixty-three male swimmers and three hundred ninety-one female swimmers. In total there were eight hundred fifty-four total! There were thirty events -seventeen men, seventeen women, and one mixed-. Also it might be a shock to you that the pool was only about seven feet deep!
