Why Swim Year Round? |
Date: Sep 07-2007 |
Water is a unique medium that offers opportunity for everyone: Newborns, toddlers, children, teens, adults and the elderly, including athletes, arthritic, and the injured. Swimming is the only sport one can do, literally, from first breath to last. It is a lifelong skill with benefits that cannot be replaced or duplicated by any other sport. It is a skill that saves lives, infant, child and adult.
Life Saving: Swimming is a skill that all Californians need. People swim at pool parties, beach outings, hot afternoons at a friend’s house. Children gain confidence and self-esteem by knowing how to swim well when they are with friends. Children also need to know their limits and what they can do to help when another swimmer is in trouble. Many drownings turn into double drownings because people generally do not know the best course of action when a swimmer is in trouble.
Exploratory: The newborn can locomote and explore in water before he is able to crawl or walk. Three dimensional movement is attained, free from the restrictions produced by gravity or untrained muscle groups. Even older children and adults are fascinated with the ability to move in all directions, similar to what astronauts must experience in space.
Curiosity & Safety: Everyone loves water and is drawn to it. Just look at real estate prices near water. Children are no exception. Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children under five in the state of California. Toddlers who learn how to swim are more respectful of the dangers of water, have learned water safety skills and are less likely to drown. Even if you don’t have a pool in your backyard, someone in your neighborhood does.
Physical Fitness: The benefits of water exercise are long standing. Resistance is a key factor in improving strength and cardiovascular fitness. Compared to exercise on land, the same level of fitness can be attained in up to ½ the time! Water can be from 4 to 44 times more resistant than air, depending on how hard you work. Even athletes train in water because the medium produces resistance for every muscle group and the athlete becomes stronger and more flexible for other sports. Water can also be a safer environment to exercise in because of virtually no impact, as gravity is reduced to 10% of that on land. A note to remember is that many people enjoy water exercise so much that they overdo it without even knowing it, as there is little pain associated with it, so take it easy when you begin your program.
Physical Therapy: A warm water pool is beneficial for many ailments including, but not limited to, arthritis, fibromyalgia, & injuries of all kinds. The reduction in gravity leads to less stress on injured areas and the warm water provides a soothing environment which relaxes muscle groups adding optimal conditions for therapy and healing.
Fun: Everyone loves water!
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