TAKE YOUR MARKS, DIVE.
“The life is like a
swimming pool. You dive into the water, but never realize that how deep it is!
There are moments where you choke, there are moments when you want to give up,
there are moments that are monumental in our ideas of living! When you are so
attached to it, it definitely becomes an inseparable part of your life.”
Tuning back to my
school days, I remember each day being always better or worse than the previous
one, in any instance, but that never got into the way of what I loved doing the
most everyday, Swimming. The water all around and over me, my goggles leading
the way, different muscles making sure that I do it with poise and well, my
brain centers pressurizing me to move my head at times, to keep me afloat. It is
an indescribable feeling for all swimmers across the world. Even after a
15-hour work shift, when I feel the wavy waters of the swimming, it just blasts
with relief, with such composure.
Well, lets talk more
about swimming now.
Historically:
Swimming has evidently
been shining since the stone age, dated 10,000 years ago. Till today from then,
it has been one of the most distinguished creative art form used for mere
recreation. A book published in 1583 by
renowned Swiss-German, Professor of Language, Nikolas Wynmann, accounts for
earliest adventures in swimming.
Some historical
milestones in swimming were:
· #In 1844, It was officially considered as a sport, and Sir John Arthur Trudgen picked up the hand-over stroke from some South American natives
and successfully debuted the novel stroke which is still pronounced as the most
avid strokes seen.
·
In 1875,
using breast stroke technique, Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to
swim across the English Channel covering a distance of 34.21 kms, in 21 hours
and 45 minutes, who was surpassed in 1911 after T.W. Burgess made the crossing.
· #In 1882 at
Germany, 1890 at France and 1896 at Hungary, swimming federations were
established, that later recognized.
· #The first
competitions in Europe were conducted in 1889 at Vienna.
· #The first
Women’s swimming contest was held at Scotland, 1892.
· #Men's
swimming hit the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902,
the Australian Richmond Cavill brought
in the category freestyle to the World. The FNA, head of all swimming contest
and swimmers was introduced to the world in the year, 1912.
·
Further to
this, Women's swimming was introduced into the Olympics, making it the first international
swim meet for women debuted in 1912.
·
Butterfly
stroke and Breast stroke were considered to be synonyms, until both were
separated into two different classes in the mid 1930s
Competitive
Swimming:
Popularity of competitive swimming started gaining
momentum in the 19th century. And as the word competition preceded
it, it was clear that, the swimmers had not only to compete with their
competitors but also with themselves to beat their personal best in previous
games. Sometimes all some swimmers need is some resistance and the others work
it out with their technical skills, that keep them on the charts. Cycles and
cycles of training boost their body, in order make them splurge in the water.
The overloads during the training, help the swimmer to boost himself in the
water, when the training wheels are off and it is exclusively upon him to
attain their goals as the overloads are less in the competition.
Swimming Styles:
Overall
in swimming, four important styles are followed. These have been the founding
stones and minor variations are seen over the past couple of years. They are as
follows:
When
in contest mode, each of these strokes are counted as a category in the races.
An exception is to be made in the cases of contests like, individual medley,
which comprises of all four strokes. Olympics conduct the swimming contest in 2
distances 200m and 400 m. For young swimmers, the distances are shortened to
100m, to gain experience over the gradual years of practice.
A note on the competition
pools:
The Championship pools are required to be 50
metres long and 25 metres wide and 2 metres deep, with a definitive ten lane
division that is termed from 0-9 respectively. And each lane is to be 2.5
metres wide. Starting blocks and touching pads are to placed at the either ends
of the pool and also attached to it is the Automatic officiating equipment,
that comprises of sensors and timers, that help official to mark the time of
completion, in order to avoid, confusion and discrepancies.
A Little medical
perspective:
Rotator Cuff Injury:
- The fear of any swimmer, is the
infamous, Rotator cuff injury.
- The Rotator cuff, is a group of
muscles that stabilises the shoulder joint, maintaining the articulation of the
same.
- Here, due to overuse and trauma, there are chances for wear and tear in the muscles.
- The common stroke affected here is
Butterfly stroke at the maximum and the other strokes are less affected but can
also aggravate the injury.
- Time is an important factor in the
treatment of the same. Enough time is to be given, for the muscle to heal.
Breast Stroke Knee
or Swimmers Knee:
·
The succeeding injury is the infamous Breast stroke
knee or also known as the swimmers knee.
·
This injury is the result of the constant kicking
motion of the knee that is a part of the breast stroke.
·
The kicking movement has found to cause wear and
tear on the knee joint, that finally ends in excruciating and constant pain.
·
Recent studies have gathered that, the disease was
presumed to be pertained to only when the person kicked with the help of the
knee joint, but later it was found to be extending into affecting all day to
day activities.
Each sport is unique. Each sport is different, no matter what you
think about it, each has its pro’s and con’s.
So dive in, swim out, and feel the threads of water rippling across you
and then don’t forget to Breathe!
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