INTRODUCTION TO SWIMMING
DEFINITION OF SWIMMING
Swimming is the act of propelling oneself through water by means of the arms and legs.
It is the act or the art of floating or moving progressively in the water by the hands and
feet.
This course website was prepared with the intention of making the subject easier to
understand by the students.
Concepts
No matter who you are or where you live, swimming is a rewarding activity to learn. This
sport can provide you with the skills necessary to propel you through life.
Objectives:
1. To help students, specifically beginners who have always wanted to swim, to find
ways of developing their skills.
2. To guide students on gaining confidence in water and learning the basic strokes with
efficiency.
3. To serve as hints and tips aimed specifically for beginners to learn to love the sport
for all round health that can be thoroughly enjoyed.
4. To serve as primary resource for students for a beginning activity or as self-
instructional guide for observing and correcting typical errors.
5. To guide swimming instructors in planning their daily class activities, lessons and
drills.
SWIMMING
Swimming is a very rewarding activity to learn. It is not only a sport but a life skill that
can propel our advancement in life. Through swimming, one can acquire important
qualities and vital knowledge, such as goal setting, time management, work ethic, and
self-confidence. Besides being a viable fitness activity, swimming offers full-body
exercise and excellent physical conditioning,
Our national statistics for incidents in drowning cases are still increasing to the higher
level of its spectrum range these usually occurred during friend and family outings /
recreation in beaches, swimming pools or other related areas which have the presence
of deep body of water used for recreation. Furthermore, terrible drowning incidents were
usually the common scenario during the strike of flood disasters brought by typhoons,
heavy rain and tsunami; some of these were also the tragic results of passenger ships
sinking accidents. One of the best solutions to prevent these ordeals and heart breaking
of drowning incidents is to equip our citizens especially our young people of water
safety and survival through sharing with them the potent benefits of true scientific
swimming skills. Losing the life of our love ones due to drowning incident of not knowing
how to swim is not an option. Furthermore, schools now a days should be developing
swimming program as part of the growing practical skills and needs of pupils and
students; and as other means of promoting the name of the school through the field of
sport. From all of these things arise the needs of having competent swim coaches who
will help to pave the way in solving these delicate challenges
The other undeniable fact of swimming is its broad range of useful potent benefits one
of these after water safety and survival is the benefits to swimming athletes in the
dynamic sphere of sport because through this the swimming athletes develops versatile
character and iron will to face life challenges, overcome obstacles in a positive way and
finally to succeed in life.
Moreover, swimming is a complete different and excellent aerobic means for total
fitness because it uses the buoyancy force of the water which means a person could
attain a high level of physical fitness especially of the heart without endangering his/her
knees due to friction stress caused by gravity which are strongly active and present in
running, jogging and other ground exercise.
Other important fact that makes swimming an excellent means for total fitness is the
following statement:
"Swimming has this added effect: When your body is horizontal and
immersed in water, your heart is actually larger than when you're vertical
on dry land and it has to pump against gravity as a result, between 10 and
20 percent more blood is pumped with each heart contraction. This effect
gives you the potential to work harder and longer than you ever could on
land. And it makes swimming the ideal (sometimes the only) exercise
available to those who suffer from heart disease."
-Dr. Jane Katz, ED. D.,
Consultant of the President's Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports of United States of America
