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 * __ Swimming __**

==== Swimming is an excellent and competitive sport that helps maintain your health and body. It includes competing in a team and swimming for fun. Practicing is a great way to excel in swimming four different strokes: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle. ====

==== One of the best sports to build up major muscles and to stay in fit is swimming. It burns more calories than running and biking. Swimming builds endurance, muscle strength, and cardio-vascular. Just like yoga, swimming helps relax your mind and body from stress. This sport is a great way to exercise with an injury because it doesn’t add weight and force onto it. ====

==== Swimming in a team can help develop important qualities both physically and mentally. A swimmer’s main goal is to beat other competitors and to reduce and improve times. Practicing in a team is a great way to achieve these goals. Swim teams are great social outlets. The coaches help improve your techniques and time. The swimmers on the team help motivate you to swim your best. Also swimming in a team can help develop life skills such as sportsmanship, time-management, and self- discipline. A relay includes four swimmers in each age group. Each swimmer from the relay is to swim a stroke and try to beat the competitors. Swim meets are where two or more swim teams come to compete against each other. The goal is to try to get first, second, or third in a heat to score points for your team. There are about seven events for each age group. Not everyone who swims is in a team though. Most people practice with a private coach or even alone. ====

==== There are four different strokes in swimming: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle. Each stroke strengthens and lengthens different major muscles and mainly exercises the heart and lungs. There are two types of relays. When four swimmers from an age group swim in a Freestyle Relay, they only swim Freestyle. In a Medley Relay, each swimmer swims one of the four strokes. The goal is to finish the relay first and improve times. ====

==== Backstroke is very similar to freestyle, but it is swum on the back. It involves using flutter kick, arms moving backward, and shoulders and torso moving side to side. It strengthens and lengthens hamstrings, calves, gluteals, foot muscles, ribcage intercostals, chest pectorals, abdominals, hip stabilizers, triceps, biceps, and deltoids. It has an advantage with breathing but the swimmer cannot see where they are swimming ahead. In a team medley relay, backstroke is swum first. Unlike the other strokes, backstroke is the only stroke that has a different start. The swimmers start in the water instead of on the block. Flip turns for Backstroke is also similar to Freestyle. The only difference is that the swimmer has to turn onto the stomach at the last second to do the flip turn. ====

==== Breaststroke involves arms sweeping under you, forward breathing, frog-kick backwards and is swum on the stomach. The torso is not rotated in this swimming style. The muscles in the arms used are the pectorals, biceps, triceps and deltoids. In the legs are the gluteals, quads, hamstrings and calves. Breaststroke is known as the slowest moving stroke, but it is more difficult to learn because it requires comparable endurance and tremendous leg strength. This stroke is swam second is a team medley relay. Flip turns for Breaststroke is different from Backstroke and Freestyle, but is congruent to Butterfly turns. The main concept is to touch the wall with both hands and swing back push off the wall on your side. It is very crucial to touch the wall with both hands or you can get disqualified. ====

==== Butterfly is forward breathing and swum on the chest. It depends on great arm and leg strength to lift the head up to breathe. This stroke is swum on the stomach with dolphin kicking, lifting hips up, and swinging arms forward. Butterfly is the most energy-consuming stroke because it takes up much energy from the legs and arms. The torso, hips abdominal, back muscles lumbar, hip and gluteal muscles are strengthened and lengthened from this stroke. Butterfly is a more difficult stroke to learn because it requires great technique and strong muscles. In a team medley relay, Butterfly is swum third. The flip turn is related to the Breaststroke turn. ====

==== The most common swimming stroke is Freestyle. It includes swimming on the stomach, arms moving forward to push and pull underwater, torso and shoulders rotating, and flutter kicking. Freestyle strengthens and lengthens quadriceps, triceps, biceps, deltoids, abdominals, gluteals, ribcage intercostals, chest pectorals, calf, foot muscle, and hip stabilizers. It is considered the fastest moving stroke. Freestyle is swum last in a team medley relay. The Freestyle flip turn is to do a flip and push off the wall with the force from your legs. ====