Swim in History and in Greek Epic Poems

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Swimming is an activity that’s been around for a long time. Some of its first forms have been in ancient caves that have illustrations of people swimming. Some others include in the Greek epic poems “The Illiad” and “The Odyssey.” During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, swimming began to be a structured activity and later on in history became a popular sport. In 1896, it was a portion of the Olympics in Athens, Greece and it continues to be part of the summer Olympics. Currently, swimming is the second most popular exercise in the United States with millions of people partaking in it.
Swimming is composed of many different strokes, one of them being the front crawl, also known as the freestyle. This stroke is very simple and good for swimmers that are just starting. The leg kick requires a simple flutter kick while the legs are going in an interchanging order. The knees are a little bent with the feet and ankles loosened. In order to have a good forward momentum, the swimmer should highlight the down-kick more. While using the changing windmill motion between right and left arm, the hands should be cupped with relaxed wrists and hands. Another key fact for the arm stroke is the pulling arms underwater should be in an “S” pattern and the arms must pull the water with equal power and arm reach. This will guarantee the swimmer that they’re going in a straight line. For the body positioning, the freestyle requires the swimmer to twist on the long-axis, from the head down to the toe, of the body. Therefore the front crawl is known as a long-axis stroke. One important thing to remember with long-axis strokes is the swimmer must have the hips and legs aligned and so they don’t sink. Another important fact is to r...

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Lepinksi, Cokie. "Master Breaststroke." U.S. Masters Swimming. United States Masters Swimming, 2014. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. .
"Pool Locations." Clarence Swimming. TeamUnify, 2014. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. .
"Swimming Drills." Mountain View Masters Swim & Social Club. Mountain View Masters, 2014. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. .
Warrenton Masters Swim Team. Masters Swim Team, 2007. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. .
Weil, Richard. "Swimming." Ed. William C. Sheil. MedicineNet.com. MedicineNet, 2013. Web. 31 Dec. 2013. .

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