What is Swimming?

Swimming is an individual or team racing

sport that requires the use of one's entire body to
move through water. The sport takes place
in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most
popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events
in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these
individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley
relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke,
breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques;
in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable form for each individual
stroke. There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps, jewellery and injury tape that
are allowed at competitions. Although it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur several
injuries from the sport, such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees, there are also multiple health
benefits associated with the sport.

History of Swimming

Leander swimming across the Hellespont. Detail from a painting by Bernard Picart.
Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest
evidence dating to Stone Agepaintings from around 10,000 years ago. Written references date
from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad,
the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a Swiss–
German professor of languages, wrote the earliest known complete book about
swimming, Colymbetes, sive de arte natandi dialogus et festivus et iucundus lectu (The
Swimmer, or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming and Joyful and Pleasant to Read).
Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the
first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths was opened to the public. By 1837, the National
Swimming Societywas holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools,
built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first
national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already
over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.

In 1844 two Native American participants at a swimming competition in London introduced the
front crawl to a European audience. Sir John Arthur Trudgen picked up the hand-over stroke
from some South American natives and successfully debuted the new stroke in 1873, winning a
local competition in England. His stroke is still regarded as the most powerful to use today.
Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel (between England and
France), in 1875. Using the breaststroke technique, he swam the channel 21.26 miles (34.21 km)
in 21 hours and 45 minutes. His feat was not replicated or surpassed for the next 36 years, until
T.W. Burgess made the crossing in 1911.
Other European countries also established swimming federations; Germany in 1882, France in
1890 and Hungary in 1896. The first European amateur swimming competitions were in 1889
in Vienna. The world's first women's swimming championship was held in Scotland in 1892.
Men's swimming became part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902,
the Australian Richmond Cavillintroduced freestyle to the Western world. In 1908, the world
swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation(FINA), was formed. Women's
swimming was introduced into the Olympics in 1912; the first international swim meet for
women outside the Olympics was the 1922 Women's Olympiad. Butterfly was developed in the
1930s and was at first a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952.
What’s Benefit of Swimming?
Swimming is a healthy activity that can be done by most people throughout their life. It is a low-
impact workout that has several mental and bodily health benefits all while being a good
recreational activity. Swimming builds endurance, muscle strength, and cardiovascular fitness.
Correspondingly, it also improves weight loss while being a safer alternative of working out for
someone who is injured or for women who are pregnant. Swimming requires less effort than
other sports, but the athletes will get the results they are looking for.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that two and a half hours per week of aerobic physical activity
such as swimming can decrease the risk of chronic illnesses, and help regenerate healthy cells.
Furthermore, swimming is linked to better cognitive function; also lowering the risk of Type II
diabetes, high blood pressure, and a stroke. It can improve lung and heart strength while it tones
muscles in a full body workout. People can typically exercise longer in water than on land
without increased effort and minimal joint or muscle pain. When in the water the body undergoes
less physical stress thus releasing pressure from the joints.
In addition to the physical benefits of swimming, lower stress levels and occurrences of
depression and anxiety are known to decrease while swimming. Swimming is a meditation sport
meaning there is an increase of blood flow to the brain which allows an individual to evaluate
stressors more calmly. The activity can help increase the memory for older aged individuals who
suffer from dementia.
 Kinds of Swimming

1. Front Crawl

Types of Swimming: Front Crawl (Credits Arena)

This stroke is also known as ‘Freestyle’. It gives maximum speed with minimum effort. Freestyle
swimming includes a Prone horizontal (face down) position. Flutter kicks and alternate arm
move movements helps create the thrust needed to push the body.
Legs move alternately with quick and compact kicks in the water keeping the feet
pointed. Arms are used to pull the water back alternately. While one arm pulls the water from an
extended forward position towards the hip, other recovers outside water from hip to the extended
forward position.
Breathing is done sideways when an arm is brought out of the water for recovery. Head comes
out of the water sideways with the shoulder as the air inhalation happens quickly. Air is exhaled
inside the water itself to ensure enough intake in the fractional time of inhalation.
Front Crawl is the fastest and most efficient stroke in swimming because:
1. a) Drag is minimum during the arm recovery because of the pointed hands.
2. b) There’s always one arm pulling the water.

Muscles used in front crawl are:

1. Core and abdominal muscles in keeping the body streamlined and lifting it while breathing.
2. Forearms muscles are used in pulling the water back.
3. There is the utilization of glutes and hamstring for the propulsion through legs and maintain a
balanced position.
4. Hand’s entry underwater and reaching out also requires involvement of shoulder muscles

2. Breaststroke

Types of Swiming: Breaststroke (Credits Arena)

This type of swimming stroke also occurs in a prone position. In Breastroke, the body is forced
into an inclined position from a horizontal position to do the movement. Frog-like kicks and
simultaneous hand movement inside the water helps the body glide through the water.
Legs are bent and kicked out inside the water to propel the body forward. This frog-like
movement (symmetrical whip kick) happens underwater.
 Arm movements are symmetrical and simultaneous. An arc is made by the hands from an
extended forward position to below the chest. But unlike the freestyle stroke, hands move in a
straight line during the recovery phase.
Breathing is done at the end of propulsion when the hands are beneath the chest and the head is
above the water surface.
Breaststroke is the slowest one among all the 5 types of swimming strokes. Generally, the
beginners are taught this technique first since the head is above the water for most of the time.

Muscles used in Breast Stroke are:

1. To move the arms inward against the water, Pectoral and Latissimus Dorsi muscles are used.
2. Glutes and Quadriceps are used to kick the legs inside the water.

3. Butterfly Stroke

Types of Swiming: Butterfly stroke (Credits Arena)

 The butterfly stroke involves a prone position. It is quite exhausting and strenuous relative to
other types of swimming strokes. In this stroke, the body executes wave-like movements,
moving chest and hip up and down the water surface.
Legs undergo dolphin-like motion which means both the legs stay together and straight as you
kick them in the water.
Arms movements are symmetrical again tracing an hourglass motion underwater. They start
from an extended forward position to beneath the chest toward the hips.
Breathing occurs while recovery when both head and chest are lifted above the water.
The butterfly stroke is one of the most difficult strokes to master. The undulations, dolphin kick
and the arm movements are all not so easy to learn. It is very tiring and therefore not usually
used for recreational or fitness swimmers.

Muscles used:
1. There is a high utilization of the core abdominal and lower back muscles which lift the body out
of the water when breathing.
2. Glutes are used in the leg-movement like a dolphin.
3. Pecs, lasts, quads, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, biceps, and triceps are all needed extensively in
this powerful stroke.
 4. Backstroke

Types of Swiming: Backstroke (Credits Arena)

Backstroke is the only type of competitive stroke that on the back. The head is in a neutral
position facing up. It is very similar to the Front Crawl type except for one major difference: the
back faces down.
Legs do flutter kicks with quick and compact movements.
Arms are used to pull the water beneath the back such that the body moves backwards.
Competitively, backstroke is third fastest behind Butterfly and Front Crawl.
Breathing is free from movements in this type of swimming stroke as the head never goes inside
the water.

Muscles used:
The shoulder muscles have to dominate more in this move than they do in other strokes. The
muscles in the lower leg also play a critical role in the backstroke. There is an extensive use of
small muscles of the rotator cuff, especially the subscapularis and the teres minor. Doctors advise
patients with back problems to try this swimming stroke as it will help in relaxing the muscles
and straightening it.

5. Sidestroke

Credits Make a GIF

One of the oldest types of swimming stroke that can be used to rescue someone who is drowning.
It requires only one arm with asymmetrical underwater arm movements and scissor kick. The
body is in a sidewards position during the whole stroke. The head is above the water all the time.
Legs do the scissor kicks with the upper leg pushing against the water with the back of the leg,
while the lower leg pushing with the front of the leg.
Arms movement is asymmetrical and random. The lower arm moves underwater from an
extended forward position to the chest and the upper arm, which was resting on the side, bend at
the elbow and recovers toward the chest.
Breathing is free of movements again as the head is above water throughout the stroke.
Muscles used:
Muscles on the one side of the body undergo more exercise more than the other at a time. So, the
physically challenged individuals use it to perform swimming.
Skill – Reading Comprehension

Read the text carefully and answer the questions that related with the text below!

Health Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the resistance
of the water. Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:

 Keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
 Builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
 Helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
 Tones muscles and builds strength
 Provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during
swimming.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving-health-benefits

1. What the topic of the text?

a. Swimming
b. Football
c. Sport
d. Diving
2. Is swimming has benefit?
a. No, it is not
b. No, swimming has not benefit
c. Yes, swimming has benefit
d. Yes, swimming can make us rich
3. Why is said that swimming is a good workout?
a. Because you need to move your whole body against the resistance of the
water.
b. Because it can make you feel relax
c. Becuase your body has to dive
d. Because your body can move in the water
4. What is the one of benefits of swimming?
a. Builds your body
b. Builds endurance
c. Builds self-confidence
d. Builds the healthy
5. Are the heart and lungs become healhty because of swimming?
a. Yes, it is
b. No, it is not
c. Yes,
d. Yes, they are
Skill- Writing Compehension

Instruction:
You can see the pictue above. There is a picture that is showed some kinds of swimming. Please
write the essay about the picture above. The minimum words is 300 words.
Skill – Speaking Comprehension

Choose your partner to accompany you in front of the class. You are both have to
memorize the dialouge below and speak up, your teacher will give you a score.
Please concern your pronouncation!

Angle : Can you teach me to swim?

Jane : Why don’t you take a class instead
Angle : Swim classes are embrrassing
Jane : I suppose I can teach you
Angle : How did you learn to swim?
Jane : My father threw me into a lake when I was 4 years old
Angle : You could have drowned!
Jane : I could have, but I swam instead
Angle : Is that how you plan to teach me?
Jane : It’s the best way to learn
Angle : I think I will sign up for the clas after all
Jane : Okay. That is less work for me.