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Why
Swim?
The USA
Swimming (USAS) age group swimming program is America’s
largest program of guided fitness activity for
children. Age group swimming builds a strong
foundation for a lifetime of good health by teaching healthy
fitness habits.
1.
Physical Development
Many physicians consider swimming
the ideal activity for developing muscular and skeletal
growth. Why do doctors like it so much?
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Swimming develops high quality aerobic endurance, the most
important key to physical fitness. Unlike other sports, where
an hour of practice may yield as little as 10 minutes of meaningful
exercise, swimming practices provide sustained aerobic
conditioning.
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Swimming provides proportional muscular development by using all
the body’s major muscle groups.
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Swimming enhances children’s natural flexibility at a time
when they ordinarily begin to lose it by exercising all of their
major joints through a full range of motion.
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Swimming helps develop superior coordination because it requires
combinations of complex movements of all parts of the body,
enhancing harmonious muscle function, grace, and fluidity of
movement.
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Swimming is the most injury-free of all children’s
sports.
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Swimming is a sport that will bring fitness and enjoyment for
life. Participants in Master’s Swimming programs still
train and race well into their
80s.
2. Intellectual
Competence
In addition to physical
development, children can develop greater intellectual competence
by participating in a guided program of physical
activity. Learning and using swimming skills
engages the thinking processes. As they learn new
techniques, children must develop and plan movement
sequences. They improve by exploring new
ideas. They learn that greater progress results
from using their creative talents.
3. Preparation For
Life
One of the great values of
swimming as a sport is that it prepares one for
life. The total swimming experience is made up of
people, attitudes, beliefs, work habits, fitness, health, winning
and losing, and much more. Swimmers learn to deal
with pressure and stress, success and failure, teamwork and
discipline.
Swimming is a
self-achievement activity. There is only one
person in the water in a given lane in any
race. The responsibility for performance
ultimately lies with the individual. How well the individual has
prepared physically and mentally to a large degree determines the
performance level.
By learning how to handle
frustration and disappointment, swimmers gain
confidence. They learn dedication and
commitment. Through perseverance, swimmers learn
to overcome adversity. All of these experiences
tend to develop individuals who are better able to handle
life’s hardships and face problems.
Swimmers must learn that
not all people are born with the same natural
talents. They learn to emphasize their given
talents and skills. Swimmers learn that if they
do their best, then there are no failures. They learn to set
realistic goals for themselves which they will achieve through hard
work.
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