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Learning How to Swim Swimming is one of the greatest abilities that a human may possess. Swimming is act of moving in the water using body, arms and legs, by moving in a certain kind of motions called strokes. This ability to swim usually is present in each and every human kind from the day they are born but in order to do it well some exercises and practice is necessary. Some scientists believe that human beings are born with an instinctive ability to use their arms and legs to stay afloat. That instinct, however, disappears within a few months after birth. Later in life many children and adults learn to swim in order to be safe around the water, to have fun, and to participate in competition.
In this paper I am going to talk about the issues concerning obtaining that interesting and significant ability to swim, in other words learning how to swim. Most people learn to swim by imitating others, most often their parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. Most youngsters also take lessons at swim clubs, community centers, schools, and recreational facilities in order to get that habit. In addition, the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) and the American Red Cross sponsor programs that teach children about water safety. Instructors teach students skills that will make them safe, efficient, and confident swimmers. Beginners first put their heads in the water and blow bubbles by exhaling.
Gradually, students progress to floating, treading water, and ultimately, learning the techniques of the major strokes. Individuals should not swim in conditions that their ability and experience will not allow them to handle. For inexperienced recreational swimmers, many safety hazards exist, even in a pool. These hazards include misjudging a dive and hitting ones head on the bottom, holding ones breathe too long, becoming exhausted, and experiencing sudden cramps while too far from shore or other swimmers. Well as it was already mentioned the skill of being on water is usually present in all the human kind but that is not really enough for swimming. There are three main categories of human bodies in relationship to being able to float on water: positive, negative and neutral.
People with positive floating ability may float on water easily, without using any motions and thus energy. This category of people learns how to swim easily because of their natural phenomenon of positive floating ability. Negative swimming ability is when a particular person cannot float on water without any motions and goes down right after getting into it. This category usually finds it difficult to learn how to swim, especially to swim very well because they need lots of physical power if for example they want to compete with the first category mentioned. The neutral ability to float on water is something in between the first and the second categories mentioned. This is a rare category and these peoples chances to learn how to swim are somewhere in between. (Guzman) Although all the people may learn how to swim this is dependent on the factor how this swimming ability is going to be used.
For example some people want to go to pools, others want to swim anyplace including rivers and oceans, yet others want to participate in swimming completions, and some want to become a lifeguard. We are going to focus our attention on a category of people that want to be able to swim in any circumstances but do not strive to be a professional in any, which is probably the most people that live around. In order to learn how to swim there are several necessary factor the core of which is water. The less significant factors are good weather if it is outdoors and the best case is to have an instructor. There are several possible techniques of swimming and we are going to talk about some of them. Four of the five main swimming strokes are: the crawl, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly-are used both in competition and recreation.
The fifth major stroke, the sidestroke, is slower than the competitive strokes and is used primarily as a recreational and life-saving technique. The crawl is the fastest and most efficient swimming technique. It is also called the freestyle, because swimmers use it in freestyle events, which allow the use of any stroke. To swim the crawl, a swimmer travels through the water with the chest and head pointing downward toward the bottom. The legs move in a flutter kick, moving up and down quickly and continually.
Each arm stroke begins as the right arm is brought in front and slightly to the right of the swimmers head and into the water. When the right hand enters the water, the right elbow should be above the surface of the water and the body should be tilted slightly to the left side. At the same time, the left arm accelerates underneath the water in a pulling motion down the length of the body. After the right arm enters the water, the body naturally rolls to the right so that the body is horizontal to the water surface. The left arm continues through the stroke at the swimmers side.
The swimmer continues to extend the right arm forward, and the body begins to roll onto its right side. As the right arm begins to pull the swimmer forward, it increases the bodys tilt to the right side, and the left arm exits the water near the swimmers hip. The swimmer then brings the left arm forward to enter the water while the right arm travels down the swimmers side. As the left arm enters the water and the right arm exits, the swimmers body begins to turn to the left side again, and the swimmer begins the stroke sequence once more. In the crawl, turning the head to breathe is a simple, easy motion that should be coordinated with the body roll. As the body tilts completely to the right or left side, the swimmer should roll the head to the same side and take a breath.
After inhaling, the swimmer puts his or her face back in the water, looking towards the bottom of the pool. The swimmer exhales slowly through the nose or mouth as the body rolls towards the other side. (Guzman) The backstroke is the only stroke that is swum on the back, with the swimmer looking up. Backstroke swimmers therefore cannot see where they are going. Because the face is out of the water, swimmers need no special breathing technique. Backstrokers use the same flutter kick that crawl swimmers do. At the beginning of each arm stroke, the swimmer extends the right arm so it enters the water slightly to the right of the head.
The palm should be facing away from the swimmer and the pinky finger should enter the water first. At the same time, the swimmer moves the left arm through the water below the left side of the body. Once in the water, the right arm begins pulling the swimmer forward by bending at the elbow. At the same time the swimmer holds the left arm straight as it reaches the hip, and lifts it out of the water. As the right arm continues to pull, the swimmer rotates slightly onto the right side and swings the left arm up above the head. As the swimmer finishes the right arms stroke along the body, he or she begins to rotate toward the left side as the left arm reaches to enter the water above the head.
As the left hand enters the water, the body completes its roll to the left side and the right arm lifts out of the water. Continuing these motions, the swimmer moves forward. (Guzman) The breaststroke is one of the easiest and relaxing strokes for novices. Competitive swimmers, however, find it difficult because it uses more energy than the crawl and backstroke when swum at a fast pace. To swim the breaststroke, the swimmer enters the water with the body streamlined, facing the pool bottom with arms and legs fully extended. To begin the stroke, the swimmer sweeps the arms out with the hands facing outward and bent slightly upward at the wrist.
When the swimmers body and arms form a T-shape, the swimmer bends each arm at the elbow. The elbows remain near the surface of the water, while the forearms and hands, pointing toward the bottom of the pool, sweep inward and underneath the chin. The swimmer shrugs the shoulders, looks down, and arches the back as the arm sweep pulls the body forward. The swimmer then raises the feet to the surface of the water, bends the knees, and spreads the legs. The thighs should remain in line with the body.
As the head and upper torso clear the surface of the water, the swimmer inhales and lunges forward with the arms. During this movement the swimmer turns the feet outward and kicks backwards. The swimmer then returns to the basic streamlined position and repeats the stroke. (Guzman) The butterfly stroke is powerful, graceful, and fast. More than any other stroke, the butterfly relies on good technique. The arms are brought forward over the waters surface, then brought back together in front of the body simultaneously. Each arm stroke is complemented by two dolphin kicks, meaning the feet are kept together and brought down then up again, much like the motion of a dolphins tail.
The swimmer begins the butterfly with the body in the basic streamlined position and the head facing downward. The arms enter the water with the hands facing outward, as the swimmer lunges forward, submerging the head and chest slightly. At this point the swimmer makes a light downward kick with both feet. The body glides forward, and the hands catch water and begin to pull.
The pulling stroke begins with the hands facing outward and the elbows near the water surface. The swimmer pulls the hands down so that they come together under the body. The legs start the second downward kick. When the swimmer then pulls the arms down to the hips, the motion forces the head and shoulders above the surface of the water. This positioning enables the swimmer to inhale. The swimmer finishes the arm pull with a sweeping motion that brings each arm along the sides with the palms facing in.
When the second downward kick is completed, the swimmer swings the arms slightly out of the water and glides forward. Another stroke cycle begins as the swimmer plunges the arms back into the water above the head. (Guzman) Consequently we may state that having a good instructor and the necessary conditions it is possible for a regular person to learn how to swim. Actually it is possible to learn how to swim without an instructor but that is more difficult and dangerous depending on the conditions. The major factor that contributes to good swimming ability is lots of practice and good physical shape, also any of these two comes from the first by themselves. Thus it is necessary to say that swimming ability is great skill that any person may possess and in many cases it is life necessary.
Therefore each and every individual needs to learn how to swim. Bibliography: Yan Guzman, Swimming Major Techniques, New York: Viking Press, 1989.
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