Competitive Swimming

Liz Aguiar

What do you think swimming is?

When you think of swimming some of you will probably think of those old people who swim around in circles at the local pool.

A lot of you will think of you and your friends swimming around and sitting in the hot tub of the public pools or swimming in the lake

Another bunch of you will probably think about those aqua fit classes.

A some of you will think of swim lessons And a tiny amount of people will think of the difficult sport

called swimming, where you go to a few swim meets a year. That goes all year around where you practice almost everyday and trained around 5-6K a practice.

And a microscopic amount of you may or may not think of open water swimming

In the slide above those were some examples of swimming, except this isn’t about the easy play swimming, this is about the hard racing kind of swimming where some of us practice 9 times a week, to race only so many times every year.

The historyCompetitive swimming started in Europe

around the 1800’s. It was also in the first modern Olympic

games in Athens. In 1908 the world swimming association or

Federation Internationale de Natation or FINA was made.

There are stories that Vikings would do swimming competitions in the sea, who ever got back first would be the winner.

The strokes Butterfly Backstroke Breaststroke Freestyle A simpler way is to call them Fly, Back,

Breast, and Free, an even simpler way would be Fl, Bk, Br, Fr

Looks like thisButterfly

Probably one of the most draining races to do. Your arms must simultaneous go over your head kind of like your hugging someone, and you most keep your legs together and kick them up and down like a dolphin leading the kick to be called “dolphin kick” . Type of turn: open two handed touch turnThe races for fly are 50m, 100m and 200m.M=meters

Looks like this BackstrokeMost people will know this as back crawl, but this should really be called side stroke, because you must turn your body on its side when your arms go around. In Back stroke your arms move like a fan spinning around your body, when one is under water the other is over the water. Back stroke kick is called flutter kick where your legs are not simultaneously kicking, your legs are going up and down at different times.Backstroke is the only one of the strokes that is always on it back and starts in the water.Type of turn: flip turnRaces for this stroke are 50m, 100m and 200m

Kind of like this

Streamline

BreaststrokeIs one of the stroke where if you can’t do it right, you can’t do it fast. Most people, according to my coach, are breaststroke intolerant, they just can’t swim breaststroke fast no matter how hard they try.In breaststroke your allowed something called a pull out in the other strokes when you push of the wall you do dolphin kicks, but in breaststroke you can do a pull out; in a pull out you pull your hands down to your side quickly with a little dolphin kick then pull your hands in to stream line position with a kick that looks like a frog kick. When swimming breaststroke your arms go from stream line to opening wide to the side and then bend them so they are under your stomach then push them back to stream line. The kick is like a frog kick you bend your legs then straighten them.Type of turn: open two hand touch turnThe races for this stroke are 50m, 100m and 200m

Streamline is when your arms are pointed up, so you look kind of like a candle and your legs are closed together this is used for after turns when your underwater.

Like this

FreestylePeople will know this one best as front crawl, where your arms spin around your body and you do flutter kick, that’s what its like, but you don’t have to do it like that.Freestyle has the word “free” and “style” in it. In a race you could swim any of the strokes or even do doggy paddle or something you just made up. You won’t be disqualified unless you miss the turn or push off the bottom.Type of turn: flip turnRaces for this event are 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m

The turnsWhat am I talking about? In a pool you can’t just stop and turn and continue swimming, and there is no such thing as a 100m and 200m racing pool, so they invented turns, they are quick flips and pushes off the wall that are specific depending on what stroke your doing.

Two types Flip turn: is for

backstroke and freestyle, when the wall is there you bend your upper body down and the water should make you do a little tumble where your legs should be bent and then straighten ,when you can see the bottom of the pool, and push off the wall into stream line position.

Open turns: must be used for breaststroke and butterfly, but is used for backstroke and freestyle for younger kids. In an open turn both hands (unless its back or free) must touch the wall at the same time, then one hand will go down to your side , the other one will go up over you head, and your bent legs should come underneath you to the wall where they straighten and you push off the wall in stream line position.

Flip turn Open turn

Starts Swimming is a little like running a race in track

and field, except there are different strokes and more distances. But the start is sort of the same.

In a swimming start you stand behind diving blocks, a referee (official) will blow a whistle five times, 4 short ones and 1 long one this means get on the diving blocks, then another official will say “take your marks” now you lean down and grab the front edge of the block, then you will hear a beep that’s when you jump off the blocks.

FYI: there is no “get set” in a swimming start

There are actually more then one kind of dive depending on what you are swimming

The Dive The dive was described on the

last slide, but depending on what kind of person you are is how you put your feet on the blocks. Some have both feet at the front edge of the block with your toes hanging over the edges, and some people will have one of their feet closer to the back of the block and their dominant foot right at the edge with its toes hanging over. The latter is more efficient.

This is for fr ,br, fl and IM events

The Backstroke start When swimming backstroke you

are only allowed on your front when going into a turn which means you don’t jump off the blocks, when the four short whistle blasts go off you jump into the water and when the fifth whistle blast goes you hang onto the bars on the blocks. Then an official says take your mark you bend your elbows and put your feet on the wall as you lift yourself a little out of the water then when the buzzer goes you extend your bent legs and shoot your arms over your head.

This is for bk events only, unless it’s the IM relay

A thing you should know in swimming is how to be

disqualified…

Starting before the buzzer go’s.

Swimming in the wrong lane or heat

Going over 15meters underwater

Going over 90° or flipping on your front (unless your turning) when

swimming Backstroke

Not doing a two hand touch while turning ( for butterfly and

breaststroke)

Doing flutter kick while swimming butterfly

Scissor kicks in Breaststroke

Doing 2 kicks in your pull out

Pushing off the bottom

Not touching the wall with any part of your body when turning

When you swim you’ll be in…A pool. When ever you are swimming your

obviously going to be in a pool, well unless your doing something like swimming across the lake, but that’s open water swimming.

Competitive swimming will usually take place in a proper pool it will be 25m or 50m, there should be a place to warm up/down pool (except if your H2o) enough seating for swimmers and their family. You’ll need a board clock that shows the place and time of the swimmers, diving blocks and places for timers, officials and coaches

Dress code Does swimming have a dress code???? In some ways yes. Every year swim suit producers

will try to make a suit that will create the least amount of drag. And every year one of these suits will become illegal. Why? Because it makes people too fast.. I guess. These suits will be bought really tight, they aren’t suppose to be able to be put on easily.

Some more swimming no no’s are…No full body suits for menNo wearing illegal suits to anything provincial and up

Boys don’t freak out you don’t have to wear any speedos

Times In swimming there are special times that are

different for boys and girls, and depending on how old you are. Getting these times will allow you to go to more difficult swim meets with faster people.

The time standards can be found every where and there are some rules for which races have and don’t have a standards, it also depends where you live.

Sometimes too many people are getting the time and Swim Canada will tighten the times or make the times faster so less people can get them, making less people qualify for the meet.

The ones on the next slide are the ones in Western Canada

Here the time standards , this is going slowest to fastest

200IM under 4 minutes, will allow you to leave the Jamborees“A” times, don’t really get you anything, can be done in any race

“AA” time, lets you go to the Double A meet, is a meet that happen twice a year in Short course and Long course. Doesn’t have 50m times

“AAA” times let you got to Triple A meets, is a meet that happen twice a year in Short course and Long course ( you can’t go to Double A”s

though) Doesn’t have 50m timesWestern, will let you go to Triple A’s and a meet for Western times

swimmer only. Western Meets happen once a year, short course only. Depending on your age a what race you got this time it is can be faster

or slower than an AGN time. Can be done in any raceAGN or Age group Nationals, are once every year, they happen during

the summer and switches between Eastern and Western every year. The new swim Canada rule states you must get 3 AGN time in different race

to go this year. Can be done in any raceSeniors, is the highest you can go in Canada, when you qualify for seniors if there are the Summer Olympics you are qualified to go to

Olympic trials. Where if you touch first in the Finals, or second and have the Olympic qualifying time you can go to the Olympics! This meet happens once a year during the summer. Can be done in any race

A pull buoy is a weirdly shaped piece of foam that is suppose to go between your legs so they float while you do pull

Fins are like shoes except they have really long toes that make you go faster.

Paddle, are plastic with some elastics that you put on your hands and they help you catch the water better.

Snorkel is a tube that connects to a mouth piece, it makes it so you can swim with out bringing your head out of the water to breath.

Band a little circle of elastic or rubber that you can put around your hand so you concentrate on your legs or put around your ankles so you concentrate on arms

Equipment

There is equipment in swimming, for racing you need goggles, cap, and a bathing suit. For training are other things too. For training you need a pull buoy, fins, paddles, a snorkel and a band.

RacesIf your competitively swimming of course it means there are races to swim. For every stroke there is a 50m, 100m, and a 200m, but some of them have longer distances. Plus there is races called IM which stands for Individual Medley, where you must swim all four strokes in a certain order the order is Fly, Back, Breast and Free. There are also relays where you are on a team and you all must swim certain lengths, there are only freestyle and IM relays, in the IM relays the order changes to Back, Breast Fly and Free, because of the dives.

Here they are…50m Fly100m Fly200m Fly50m Back100m Back200m Back50m Breast100m Breast200m Breast50m Free100m Free200m Free

400m Free800m Free1500m Free200m IM400m IM200m Free Relay400m Free Relay800m Free relay200m IM relay400m IM relay

Safety

• Some people may think its impossible to get injured in swimming. Untrue, just swimming a stroke incorrectly can work the wrong muscles and injure you seriously. Also there are people who have dislocated their arms when doing turns.

• Anyway, swimming isn’t super safe, there is a tiny itsy almost invisible chance of drowning, but most safety issues is if you are swimming and using the wrong muscles.

Now go out there and have some fun!! You might not be part of a swim club or

maybe you don’t want to swim all year around, then you can join a summer club. If you just want to try then try your high school every year there is a high school meet, it’s a good way to see if you like it or not.

Thank you to Google for the images Myself for the info My mom and other swim parents for

some of the other pictures. http://

wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_competitive_swimming_start this is where I got the background info