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Swimming is one of a kind. There are no other sport that has so few injuries, that gives exercise to the whole body in such a healthy way. It is a sport for everyone - not only the talented one. We have chosen swimming to be one of main-subjects here at SMF's Residence, but we will mainly go into swimming as the professional sport.

Why start swimming?

Each year more people participate in the sport of swimming than in any other sport on a world basis.  Swimming is the nation's number one activity because no other sport or activity produces as many or as varied benefits for the individual throughout one's life, from early childhood onward. It is safe, with less risk of injury than most other activities and promotes a clean, healthy life without using "enhancements" such as drugs, tobacco or alcohol.

The lessons learned in swimming are courage, discipline, diligence and personal responsibility to name a few, all of these are important lessons in the conduct of anyone's life.  They encompass not only the body and mind but also the emotional, psychological and social sides of the individual.   Competitive swimming encourages and develops these worthwhile traits and habits better than any other activity.  Any person, especially any youth, anywhere, will benefit by becoming a participant in swimming.

   The goal for many youths will be to take part in a competition like the Olympic Games, but to get there one must train hard and be smart. The road to this level of success begins the same way for every young child.  It is that first day of practice, that first lap, that first age-group meet and that flush of pride that comes with the first ribbon.  Though very few swimmers ever make it to the Olympic Games, every swimmer can fully appreciate the talent, dedication and hard work of those swimmers that do represent their country in the world's greatest sporting spectacle.  In the coming summer of the year 2000, in Sidney, Australia, American swimmers will again compete in the Olympic Games and bring home their winning achievements. Professional coaches are the backbone of every swimming club.   Swimming is one of only a handful of youth sports that has professional coaches teaching children from the very moment they enter the program.   Maybe the most important thing about swimming is that it is not only a sport, it is a lifetime activity.  

Swimmers of all ages remember three things about their swimming experience:  fun, friends and excellence.  Swimming is one of the most beneficial sports.   Swimmers and their parents (as club and meet officials) can participate in programs together as a family.  There are clubs located throughout the world with at least one near you.  If you wish to pursue swimming as a sport, contact one of clubs near you - you will not regret!

What Makes People Swim?

If you ask a swimmer what he likes about his sport he would probably answer that it is the environment, the teamwork, between him, the other swimmers and his coach.
In my experience are those who likes swimming best, and gets good at it, very individualistic persons.
They like to fight against others, but most of all against their self.
Their goal is to defeat themselves, their "limits", their time and their competing mates.

Swimming in General

Swimming is one of the most known sport in the world. So to speak everyone has dumped by swimming in some occasion of their life. Most people even has taken a curse with swimming. The art of swimming I am referring to here is competing-swimming. Every nation with some respect for it selves has at least one swim-club. There is also the part of swimming where most begin; water-habituation. This part has been growing here in Norway because the Government wants to learn every person a little swimming.

There are four strokes in swimming:
- Butterfly
- Backstroke
- Breast stroke
- Crawl/Free style
For a demonstration of how these strokes are used you will have to ask a coach about, because I am not going any farther into that area.

A competing-swimmer has, in the age of 13 to 18 years, about seven to nine workouts or sessions per week. Plus they also have at least two workouts of weights-training. Each session can contain everything between 3 000 to 12 000 meters of swimming. What the program contains of meters, strokes, distances, etc. is decided on witch type of swimmer each different person is. There are mainly four groups of swimmers: super-sprint, sprint, middle-distance and long-distance. Out of this knowledge the coaches set up programs for each swimmer or for different groups.

What Makes a Talented Swimmer?

Well, first of all a talented swimmer needs to be good at swimming pure fysicly. That has to be number one. But my opinion is that that is not a enough. A talented swimmer is first really talented when he got these thing inside:
- finds real interest in swimming personally.
- works hard
- mixes his own experience with ad wise from his coaches and searches for for more information in the media/other places.
- works out a lot, but still realizes that he should set of time for other activities such as school and friends.
- wants to spend a lot time at swimming and is able to think ahead.
These are the main points, there are also other things involved like a positive attitude to the other swimmers, a good relationship to his coach is also important.

The Coach

The way I think a coach works best is when he knows his part is only to guide the swimmers - not hunt them.
The coach must, as the swimmers, be talented. Talented in the way of being a supporter, in knowledge, in the resourceful way, in the active way. It is also important both for the coach and the swimmer that they have a good and understanding relationship.
The coach ought also to be human-knower - that way he will catch a lot that are unsaid; and he ought to be good at communication, because without that there are no hope for a good dialogue between the coach and his swimmer(s).

There will be added one paragraph to this article about swimming each time the site is updated.

You can see some examples of swim-programs here.

If you got any comments or questions about this page or swimming, then e-mail me!

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