Physical Health Education, JSS 3, Week 4
Topic: Swimming
Content
- Swimming
- Swim Styles
- Swimming Officials
Introduction
Swimming is the sport or activity of moving through water by moving your arms and legs. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an individual or team sport and activity. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley.
The goal of competitive swimming is to beat the competitors in any given event. Swimming in competition should create the least resistance in order to obtain maximum speed. However, some professional swimmers who do not hold a national or world ranking are considered the best in regard to their technical skills.
Typically, an athlete goes through a cycle of training in which the body is overloaded with work in the beginning and middle segments of the cycle, and then the workload is decreased in the final stage as the swimmer approaches competition.
The final stage of swimming is referred to as “shave and taper”: the swimmer shaves off all exposed hair for the sake of reducing drag and having a sleeker and more hydrodynamic feel in the water.
Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 16 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50-meter pool, called a long course pool.
Swim styles
In competitive swimming, four major styles have been established. These have been relatively stable over the last 30–40 years with minor improvements. The four main strokes in swimming are:
- Butterfly (fly) – The butterfly stroke stands out among the competitive strokes because of it’s unique and spectacular technique. It uses a symmetrical arm stroke with an above water recovery. It also uses a wave-like body undulation and a dolphin kick. Butterfly is the second fastest swim stroke after freestyle. It has a reputation of being hard to learn and is quickly exhausting.
- Backstroke (back) – Backstroke is swum on the back. It uses alternating circular arm movements and an above water recovery. The legs execute a flutter kick similar to the one used in freestyle. Backstroke is faster than breaststroke but slower than butterfly. Physicians often prescribe backstroke swimming to people experiencing back problems because it gives the back an excellent workout.
- Breaststroke (breast) – Breaststroke is the most popular swim stroke of all. In breaststroke, both arms execute half-circular arm movements at the same time under water in front of the swimmer. The arm recovery also occurs under water. The legs simultaneously execute a whip kick.
Breaststroke is often the first swimming stroke taught to beginners. In fact, many casual swimmers can only swim this stroke. The advantage of breaststroke is that beginners can keep their head above the water. This avoids breathing and orientation issues. More experienced swimmers however submerge their head during the stroke cycle to improve efficiency.Breaststroke is the slowest of the competitive strokes - Freestyle (free) – The Freestyle Stroke or front crawl is often the preferred stroke of seasoned swimmers. It uses alternating arm movements with an above water recovery. The legs execute a flutter kick. Freestyle is fast and efficient. In fact it is the fastest of all swimming strokes.
Events in competition may have only one of these styles except in the case of the individual medley, or IM, which contains all four. In this latter event, swimmers swim equal distances of butterfly, then backstroke, breaststroke, and finally, freestyle.
Swimming Officials
There are several types of officials, which are needed to manage the competition.
Referee: The referee has full control and authority over all officials. The referee will enforce all rules and decisions of FINA and shall decide all questions relating to the actual conduct of the meet, and event or the competition, the final settlement of which is not otherwise covered by the rules. The referee takes overall responsibility for running the race and makes the final decisions as to who wins the competition. Referees call swimmers to the blocks with short blasts of his or her whistle. This is the signal for the swimmers to stand next to their blocks. Then the referee will blow a long whistle that will tell the swimmers to step on the block. The referee will then hand over control to the starter by extending his or her hand toward the starter in any manner.
Starter: The starter has full control of the swimmers from the time the referee turns the swimmers over to him/her until the race commences. A starter begins the race by saying, “Take your mark.” At this point, the swimmers will get into stationary positions in which they would like to start their race. After all swimmers have assumed their stationary position, the starter will push a button on the starting system, signaling the start of a race with a loud noise (usually a beep or a horn) and flash from a strobe light. A starter sends the swimmers off the blocks and may call a false start if a swimmer leaves the block before the starter sends them. A starter may also choose to recall the race after the start for any reason or request the swimmers to “stand” or “relax” (for backstroke/backcrawl events only) if he or she believes that (a) particular swimmer(s) has gotten an unfair advantage at the start.
Clerk of course: The clerk assembles swimmers prior to each event, and is responsible for organizing swimmers into heats based on their times. Heats are generally seeded from slowest to fastest, where swimmers with no previous time for an event are assumed to be the slowest. The clerk is also responsible for recording and reporting swimmers who have chosen to “scratch” (not swim) their events after they have signed up or qualified to a semifinal or final.
Timekeepers: Each timekeeper takes the time of the swimmers in the lane assigned to him/her. A chief timekeeper assigns the seating positions for all timekeepers and the lanes for which they are responsible. In most competitions there will be one or more timekeepers per lane.
Inspectors of turns: One inspector of turns is assigned to one or more lanes at each end of the pool. Each inspector of turns ensures that swimmers comply with the relevant rules for turning as well as the relevant rules for start and finish of the race. Inspectors of turns shall report any violation on disqualification reports detailing the event, lane number, and the infringement delivered to the chief inspector of turns who will immediately convey the report to the referee.
Judges of Stroke: Judges of stroke are located on each side of the pool. They follow the swimmers during their swim back and forth across the pool. They ensure that the rules related to the style of swimming designated for the event are being observed, and observe the turns and the finishes to assist the inspectors of turns.
Finish judges: Finish judges determine the order of finish and make sure the swimmers finish in accordance with the rules (two hands simultaneously for breaststroke and butterfly, on the back for backstroke, etc.)
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