Competitive events

Competitive swimming races are held all over the world where it has become a popular sports among many nations. The events which will be include in a competitive swimming meet are mostly the same events that you can see in an Olympic event. The lengths of the race and lengths of the pools are depends on the type of event and type of meet. However most of the swimming meets from high school level to national or international level consists of  the four main strokes which described in my previous post. 

Retrieved from http://blog.stack.com/wp-content/uploads/Olympi+
Team+Trials+Swimming+Day+5+Q5MWUpgdCesl.jpg

Long Course

Long course is a type of swimming meet where usually main events can be experienced and an Olympic standard 50m pool will be used. Furthermore in this type of meets 50 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters will be the basic distances used and a single is available for each and every stroke (Goldsworthy, 2011). Therefore the four strokes freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly has individual events for 50m, 100m and 200m distances. In addition only for freestyle there are 400m races and also in extended races 800m for woman 1500m for men can be seen (Goldsworthy, 2011).

Short Course 

This is another type of swimming meet where short distances comes to action. short course swimming races are usually held in 25 meter length pools and as similarly the major events such as the 50m, 100m and 200m for the four strokes are conducted (Goldsworthy, 2011). Here the main difference is that the swimmers have more turns using tumbles due the short length of the pool and with this under water roll of the tumble turn the swimmer can gain more speed by pushing off from the walls when each lap is completed (Goldsworthy, 2011). 

Individual Medley

This is another event that can be seen mostly in every swimming meet. Individual medley is an interesting event to watch but a hard to swim. This event commonly known as "IM" consist of all four strokes and the swimmer must complete all four in the order of Butterfly, Backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle (Competitive Swim Events, n.d.). Moreover this event is done in 200meters where 50m for each stroke and 400 Meters where 100m for each stroke. 

Relays 

Retrieved from http://WWW.cfpsa.com/en/
Images/MWTeamUpdates/April2009/
swimming.jpg

A relay is where four swimmers will perform as a team. There are two types of relays namely medley relay and freestyle relay where in medley relay the four swimmers will swim the four stroke in order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle (Competitive Swim Events, n.d.). In freestyle relays all four swimmers will be swimming freestyle and generally the fastest will swim the last lap of the race. Furthermore in relays the swimmers will enter the water after the previous swimmer touch the wall and one swimmer will swim only one lap of the race (Competitive Swim Events, n.d.). 

Open Water

Retrieved from http://WWW.nacmasters.com /
assets/images/WOMENS_NAC_DOCKLANDS_SWIM_
MX1.jpg

Open water swimming events are held out doors and it can be in lakes or sea and this is a long distance race where mainly freestyle stroke is used. In this kind of event the competitors have to go through natural conditions such as waves and different temperatures (Goldsworthy, 2011).

How I started competitive events

One of my first meets. I going to start the race in lane 8

Soon after i learned my four main strokes i was enable to participate in school level meets and after a while i entered  national level. My first national level meet was a Novices which we had to pass through to participate in other national level meets. 

When  i first started freestyle was my main and best stroke where i participated in many events and after several years it changed to backstroke and with time to breast stroke as well. During that time i participated almost all the events i described above but giving more space for my main stokes. However relays were the most nicest to swim and most enjoyable events in the list. Usually the meets were always ends with the relays. Here i also like to share some photos of me taken when i was participating in my first Novices meet. 

One of my first relays

Waiting anxiously for the event to start in one of the
first meet i participate in

Reference List

Competitive Swim Events, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bluewaveswimteam.com/documents/

           CompetitiveSwimEvents.pdf

Goldsworthy, J. (2011). Types of races in competitive swimming. Retrieved from

           http://www.livestrong.com/article/416582-types-of-races-in-competitive-swimming/

The Four Strokes

People from all around the world with no age barrier enjoyed swimming for many years; either you are a beginner or a competitive master swimmer or either you are swimming for enjoyment, exercise or regular basis training.
There are four main strokes in Swimming and namely they are freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke and these four strokes are used on all levels, from swim competitions at your local swim club to the Olympics (Herman, 2011).

Retrieved from www.google.com.my/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=632&q=swimmers&gbv=2&oq=
swimmers&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.3..0l10.1373.2789.0.3309.8.8.0.1.1.0.128.586.4j3.7.

A bit from history: How it all started

The history of swimming runs back to the Egyptian times dating 2000 B.C. , and it is found that Egyptian art found from  that era exhibits swimmers performing a certain style similar to the freestyle (Barlowe, 2011). Moreover same article describes Assyrian stone carvings also show swimmers performing a style similar to the breaststroke. Furthermore according to Barlowe (2010), the interest of swimming showed by Japanese during 1603, the Emperor Go-Yoozei made school children compete in swimming races. In addition in 1800s British started Swimming as a competitive sport in Europe.

Freestyle

Retrieved from http://theopinionclub.org/wp-content/
uploads/2012/FREESTYLE.jpg

Free style which is also called the front crawl stroke is the fastest and the most common stroke of all four. This stroke is easily recognized by the alternative arm strokes and swimmer rotating head side to side for breathing (Seltzer, 2011). When swimming this style your face have to be down in the water and your arms are moving in a windmill motion and legs are kicking up and down alternatively (Herman, 2011). When consider the hand motion the elbows are bend a bit when the hand is outside the water and one hand move above water to the front while the other

pushes back in the water.

Backstroke

Retrieved from http://www.caribbeanedu.com/images/
back.jpg

This stroke is similar to free style in a way that your arms and legs move, but here you will be facing up in a floating position instead of facing down in the water. Therefore this also known as the back crawl a flipped over version of front crawl and here swimmer use alternative arm motion, up and down flutter kick and breathing is not big deal since the swimmer will not be entering the face in to the water (Seltzer, 2011). 

Breaststroke

Breaststroke is the slowest among the four and the force is provided by the legs and arm which will remain under the water. This stoke is also a face down stroke where both arms do the same movement at the same time by moving the hands straight out in front of your body circling them out to the side and then back again (Herman, 2011). While the arms working in a large heart shaped the legs will be brought together straight near to your body and kick away from your body together at the same time with the hands.               

Retrieved from http://thewatershyswimmer.com/graphics/breaststroke2.jpg

Retrieved from http://media.web. britannica.com/eb-media/
43/62743-004-F3B6CCDE.gif

Butterfly

This is the most challenging stroke among the four and it is also called as dolphin stroke. Here your face will be again down in the water and arms will be moving together in a shape of a butterfly wings, while your legs doing a up and down kick similar to dolphin’s tail (Herman, 2011).

Reference list

Barlowe, B.(2011). History of Swimming Strokes. Retrieved from

                http://www.livestrong.com/article/347359-history-of-swimming-strokes/

Barlowe, B. (2010). Origins of Swimming. Retrieved from

                http://www.livestrong.com/article/34577-origings-of-swimming/

Herman, J. (2011). What are the four strokes in Swimming? Retrieved from

                http://www.livestrong.com/article/378883-what-are-the-four-strokes-in-swimming/

Seltzer, G. (2011). Types of Swimming Strokes. Retrieved from

               http://www.livestrong.com/article/406196-types-of-swimming-strokes/