The history of swimming, the rules and styles

THE HISTORY OF SWIMMING

Swimming has a very ancient history, also testified by the prehistoric drawings found in some caves in Egypt and depicting swimmers with Lifeguard Training Near Me.

Very important in antiquity, swimming was practiced everywhere: in the civilizations of the Far East and in the Roman one.

In medieval times , the practice of swimming slowed down in Europe, because ignorance and superstition branded water as a vehicle for infections and epidemics .

Modern swimming was born, like many other sports, in the nineteenth century. The crawl was derived from the swimming style of Australian pearl hunters with American Lifeguard Florida.

It was brought to the West by Frederick Cavill (1839-1927), who made his profession of teaching swimming. Swimming has been around since the first modern Olympics , in Athens in 1896.

The first Italian swimming company was founded in 1891, the Rari Nantes Roma, while in 1928 the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) was founded.

The first Olympic medal in swimming for Italy was obtained at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 by Novella Calligaris, who won the silver medal in the 400 meters freestyle.

SWIMMING, RULES 

 Swimming is a sport that is practiced a lot in our country even outside its competitive aspect, and which develops the entire organism in a harmonious way.

From the point of view of competitions, for men and women, it can be both individual and, when practiced in relay races of four athletes, as a team.

Recently acquired in the Olympic disciplines is synchronized swimming , which consists in the execution in water of figures and evolutions accompanied by musical pieces; the competitions can be individual, in pairs or in teams of five athletes.

THE POOL 

The Olympic swimming pool used for the Olympic Games is 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. It includes 8 lanes, divided by ropes and floats: the central lanes must be 2.5 meters wide, while the outer ones 3.

Many races are held instead in short course, of 25 meters. On the edge of the short side of the pool, at the beginning of the lanes, there are the starting blocks, that is the elevations from which the swimmers dive to start the race.

Just below the block there is a handle, which is used for the start in backstroke races.

CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT

  In swimming, the main tools needed are a swimsuit, cap and slippers, but also a bathrobe and goggles to allow for underwater viewing.

A variety of equipment is used for swimming training , such as:

the board , a float used for the initial learning of styles;

the pull buoy , floats of different types that are inserted between the legs to allow only the movement of the arms;

the paddles are objects with special shapes which, when inserted into the hands, increase the friction of the water, allowing a work to strengthen the upper limbs.

 THE STYLES OF SWIMMING  FROG 

 It is the slowest style, the only one in which the movements of the arms make only a pull and no push. In this style, arms and legs only move underwater.

The movement of the arms involves two phases:

in the first, the hands that start together are pushed forward by the chest;

in the second, the hands separate and return by pulling the water under the chest (traction).

The legs carry out a pushing movement, which also involves two phases:

the first phase is bending and approaching the body;

the second is removal from the body.

As for breathing, you inhale at the end of the pulling phase of the arms and exhale during the return phase of the hands forward.

FREE STYLE 

It is the fastest style. It is also called crawl (from to crawl, which means crawling on the water), to indicate the action of taking water from the front with one hand at a time and pushing it behind the body to move forward.

The action of the arms consists of four phases:

1. the support grip, that is the moment in which the arm is extended and the hand is positioned forward to enter the water;
2. in the traction phase the arm, underwater, performs a small arc of a circle outwards;
3. the push phase, in which the arm performs an arc of a circle towards the inside, and comes out of the water at the height of the thigh;
4. the recovery phase, in which the arm, out of the water, moves from back to front for the next support grip.