Tag Archives: swimming

Competitive Sports Blog

In an article from the Aspen Institute, it stated that“just over 21 million youth between the ages of 6 to 17 play team sports on a regular basis, with another 5 million engaging on an occasional basis….”  Many of these children enjoy the sport that they participate in, however like most things in this world there are risks, and sometimes we ask are those risks worth it? In 2012 about 1.35 million children sustained sports related injuries.  Is all the pain , boredom, and so much more really what your child deserves all for a sport that in some cases they might not be able to do again?  In addition, the cost of the medical bill can be outrageous.  For example “sprains and strains, fractures, contusions, abrasions and concussions top the list of sports-related ER diagnoses for kids ages 6 to 19 — at a cost of more than $935 million each year…”  Not to mention the long-term effect that these injuries could potentially have.  For example, every year “high school athletes suffer 2 million injures, 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations each year” .  To conclude, parents must ask themselves is the harm really worth the pay off?


I have been a competitive swimmer my entire life and more recently a runner for both the Dodd Cross Country Team as well as Track Team.  However, after recently developing both a shoulder injury which took about 2 and half months to recover due to overuse , and more recently a concussion due to hitting heads with a fellow swimmer; it has forced me to reconsider my decisions as an athlete.  I believe that staying healthy is a wonderful thing that every person young or old should take part in.  Nonetheless there are incredible risks that come along with doing something so often and so intense.  For example, my friend who is a synchronized swimmer had to endure a concussion last year, as well and missed about a months worth of school.  This raises the question what comes first school or sports?  For me the definite answer is school, because that is what I grew up knowing to be the correct decision.  Yet, for some the answer may not be as clear.  I believe that with the right attitude and support from your family, friends, and yourself taking part in a competitive sport is do able but not for everyone.  In fact, my family and I have made the decision to cut back on swimming we made the decision to stop swimming and take on running as my full-time sport due to swim impairing my school work.  In addition competitive sports put strain on families; I go to swimming 4 days a week from 6 pm or 6:30 pm to 8:35 pm our pool is 30 minutes – 45 minutes away on most days I leave my house at 5:30 pm or 6 pm and get home at 9:10 pm. Between, homework and extracurricular activities family time is hard to come by.  To conclude, I believe that everybody should become or stay active, nevertheless there should be boundaries to ensure that nobody gets hurt, school work gets done, and that the athlete spends time with family friends that is my opinion on competitive sports.  What’s your opinion on competitive sports?

~Emmy

Swimming: The Forgotten Sport

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein. Only swimmers would truly understand this. Every single day, we drag ourselves to the freezing pool where we swim back and forth for hours and hours upon end, hoping for success all the while. Depending on the day of the week, we’ll pull ourselves out of the water, change, and head home. On other days, we’ll stay to lift weights, run, and complete physically demanding exercises. We do all of this after a two hour long, hard core swim practice. The next day, we do it all over again. But, there is a method to our madness. The old saying, practice makes perfect, applies to swimmers more than any other athlete in the world. We bust our bottoms day in and day out, following the same routine, staring at the same black line on the bottom of the pool, and completing the same sets over and over again. As crazy as it may seem, this cycle makes us better. Our practices may be ruthless and torturous, but they pay off in the long run. In competition, we sometimes achieve times we never thought possible for ourselves, but no one, other than family and close friends, is there to watch us. We may work this hard, but we’re the only ones who know it. The rest of the world is convinced that swimming is not a sport, and even if they think it is a sport, they’ll most likely believe that it’s strictly a wimp sport.

I’m here to inform you that it’s not, and that swimmers are tired of being ignored. We train for one of the most physically demanding sports on Earth, and when people tell me that swimming is easy, I do not let them get away with it. I tell them to join me at a practice, as I want to see how long they’d actually last. I predict around fifteen minutes, thirty at the most, but people still don’t get it. I dare you to go to a high school football game, and then a high school swim meet. At the football game, the whole town will be there. Kids who aren’t even in high school yet will be there. Parents, friends, adults, children, and anyone who has some spare time will show up. The game will be on the front page of the newspaper the next day, and everyone will be talking about the outcome. On the other hand, nobody even pays attention to the swim meets. The only people who show up are family. Maybe if a friend is extremely bored, they’ll come, and eighth graders who plan on swimming in high school may make an appearance as well. Other than that, the pool deck is empty. We as swimmers don’t get enough credit, but we’re going to start standing up for ourselves. We’re going to be so great that people can’t help but be intrigued by us. After all our lifestyle is much harder than a football player’s. We don’t get time-outs, or substitutions in the middle of a race. We have to dig deep down and find the energy to keep moving, which is more work than a football player will ever have to do. Swimming is the real sport here, and should be recognized. Next time you see a swim meet on your high school’s sport calendar, I suggest you attend it. Who knows what could happen? You could end up loving it, and writing about it, and going to every single event held by that team. You could even be the person to finally make swimming famous. I suggest that everyone gives this a try, because you might just end up changing the swimming world forever.

~Haley

 

Swimming

Swimming.  To most people if they heard the word “swimming” they would think a fun day at the beach.  But swimming is more than a pastime, in fact swimming it is a sport. Swimming was first introduced to the Olympics in 1896 but has only been available to women since 1912.  Since then America has been one of the top countries to compete in Olympic swimming coming out on top for years.  Especially in 2008 when Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals and being the first to do so.  Another historical event was when Michael Phelps became the “Most Decorated Olympian of All Time.”  That just goes to show that swimming is one of the toughest sports there is today.

 

Swimming has been a passion of mine since the age of 4.  However most people consider swimming just doing laps in a pool.  But its not!  In fact swimming is probably one of the most challenging sports there is.  For starters lots of people don’t even know how to swim, let alone properly.  Secondly swimming takes endurance, speed, and skill.  During a swim practice theres no stopping.  The amount of rest that you get is determined on how fast you swim the yards and get through the set.  That is why swimming is a sport and a hard one at that .

~Emily

Phelps Makes History

As we all know, after the 2012 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps retired from his swimming career. All his fans, including myself, were disappointed hearing this decision of his, but we keep in mind everything that he achieved. After completing  in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics, Phelps earned himself 22-medals, 18 gold, making him the most decorated Olympian of all times. He also broke and made many records such as the 400- meter individual medley, 200- meter butterfly, and 200- meter individual medley. As a result of all his hard work, he earned many awards such as the Swimming World Magazine World Swimmer of the Year Award in  2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012; and FINA Swimmer of the Year in 2012. “If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do,” Phelps once said. Aside from swimming Michael continues with his charities, promoting swimming and healthy living.

I think it’s good that Phelps continues a modest life, and goes around the US talking about his experience as an Olympian.  By doing this he puts his popularity aside and he talks to the public as a normal person. Even though he’s so famous, he’s very humble. I also think it’s amazing how he entered the Olympics at the age of 15 and still accomplished so much. When someone like Phelps comes along, it gives the public an example of what someone can do when they put their mind to it. “ I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it. I think your mind really controls everything.”

~Saumya

Not 1 or 2 But 103!

You may think that it is hard to run a few miles or go to a sports practice for a couple hours, but think about this; swimming 103 miles with only stopping briefly for food breaks. Well, 64-year-old endurance swimmer Diana Nyad did just that. But she didn’t do it with just one try. It took five attempts to swim all the way from Cuba to the Florida Keys and she did it without any shark cage or other protection. Diana’s first try was in 1987 and she was only 28 years old, but she didn’t make it all the way. After that she decided to take a break and no one thought she would swim a route like that again. But, in 2011 she was 60 and decided it was time to try again. Sadly she did not make it because of a shoulder injury but that wasn’t going to stop her. She got back in the water a month later but got stung by a jellyfish and couldn’t continue. For her fourth try in 2012, she almost made it but couldn’t go on when she got attacked by another jellyfish and a bad storm passed by. Diana clearly didn’t give up because on Saturday, September 1st, Diana started her journey for the 5th time and she finished it in 52 hours and 54 minutes. She had a bad sunburn and was a little dazed but she didn’t stop, and the support from her team of 35 members really helped.

Personally, I do not swim as my main sport so only swimming a few miles sounds long to me, but swimming 103 miles almost seems impossible. You would have to be very dedicated, prepared, and focused to accomplish something like this, and Diana was. At first, I wondered why anyone would want to swim 103 miles straight without stopping. But then I realized the Diana wanted to accomplish something that others might call impossible. She wanted to get her point across that it is possible and after hard work and many tries, she did it. Also, Diana must  have had to be very brave because she swam without any shark cage or other protection so if anything occurred, she wouldn’t have had the proper equipment to keep her safe. Overall, I think Diana Nyad is a very brave, dedicated, and inspirational woman and is a role model to many.

~Jillian

ITS TIME TO BURST THE BUBBLE!

For a number of years the town pool of Cheshire, Connecticut has been a major issue. The “bubble” as it has been called has gone “POP” twice since the winter of the 2011 snow storm. With swim families all over town unhappy, closing the pool was a upsetting for the girls and boys high school swim team and the Cheshire team the Sea Dogs . In 2010 the Cheshire YMCA  asked to buy the pool from the town to put a facility in so that they could build a permanent structure but the town refused to give up the pool. As Cheshire is Such a big swim community not having a place to swim was a huge problem. There have been many meetings with town council members to see what can be done but they decided to put up another bubble. But as always when the time comes a bubble has to pop. And it did with the two big snow storms we have had in the past two years.

 Over this past summer,  the town has come up with the idea to build a tension rod structure that can hold up to 40 lbs of snow per square foot. This will only cost each household about $2.60 per year,  that’s  the price of one cup of coffee. Last school year the town spent $70,000 out of the education budget to transport the swimmers to different venues for practice. The girl’s swim team had a hard time finding a place to swim because when they tried to use the Cheshire Academy it was always being used, so finding a venue was difficult.  The new idea for the tension rod will probably be our best idea we can get without building a permanent structure. And as many hope that maybe it will be our best bet for the snow. We do live in Connecticut, it does snow. If there is as much snow this year as last let’s hope we don’t have to build something else.

~Gabby

Sync or Swim

Russia Women's Teams Synchronised

Synchronized Swimming is an Olympic sport where swimmers create a routine to music and perform it in full makeup, beautiful suits, knoxed hair and stunning headpieces. This sport was originally called “Water Ballet” and the first competition was in Berlin, Germany in 1891. In the early 1900s  the University of Chicago had a club team which performed at the World’s Fair. An announcer there made a mistake and called it “Synchronized Swimming” and it has been called that ever since. The sport became more popular in 1939 when Esther William became a famous actress who swam in her movies. In the 1940s competitions started  and it officially became a competitive sport.

I think Synchronized Swimming is a beautiful and fun sport to compete in and to watch. It requires strength, stamina, endurance and grace. Swimmers need to hold their breath for long periods of time while performing difficult maneuvers and they are never allowed to touch the bottom of the pool. I think this sport should get more publicity and be available to more swimmers. Today there are only two teams in the whole state of Connecticut but I would like it to be available in every community!

~Audrey

Swimming Injuries?

Usually when you hear of sports injuries you assume that the person plays a contact sport like, hockey, lacrosse, football, or basketball, and not of a competitive swimmer getting hurt. People think that because competitive swimming is a non-contact sport you can’t get injured. Well those people are wrong. Although swimming may not be a contact sport you still are able to get injured in different ways.

Most swimming injuries are caused from  overuse or repetitive stress injuries. You hear complaints about how someone on your teams shoulders or knees are hurting. This is from swimming the stroke wrong or from a lot of long practices. Its the constant action of pulling with your shoulders that makes the problems. While you’re swimming your shoulders are pulling you along which is a lot of stress on the shoulder. Breaststroke is a cause of  knee injuries because of the awkward looking and uncomfortable kick you do can irritate your knees! Other kicks such as the kicks you do during butterfly and the flutter kick you do during backstroke and freestyle may irritate your knees too. Too many stressful and long  practices can result in these injuries.These injuries could potentially keep you out of the pool.

You would think that since your lighter in the pool, swimming would be easy. But swimmers put constant pressure on their shoulders and knees. Everything they do involves their shoulders and their knees. I know that swim practices are longer than the average sports practice, sometimes I have practice for 2 hours and 45 minutes! Thats a long time to be moving your body around. So as you can see there are swimming injuries even though swimming is not a contact sport!

-Julia Waldron

Money Pit or Fun Activity?


In 2006, when the Cheshire Public Pool, located on 520 South Main Street opened, the public was ecstatic. They would not only be able to have a fun and enjoyable way to cool off on those humid summer days, but they would also be able to take a plunge in the  deep end on the cold frigid days.  The town made it possible for residents to swim in the winter by utilizing a fabricated bubble as the roof rather than one made wood or metal.   Using fabric for the roof made it possible for the Park and Recreation to take it down in the summer and place it back up in the winter.  From the start, this sounded like a very convenient method, but even before the pool had opened, there were many problems with the bubble, causing large financial hardships for the taxpayers of our town.

 I believe that the pools’ bubble is not worth keeping up; it is just a money pit.  Part of the tax money paid by the people of Cheshire goes toward the running and maintaining of the pool. When there are problems with the pools bubble, it cannot operate in the colder months.  Therefore, the residents feel as though they are throwing their hard earned dollars away.  As the pool continues to break down, taxes will continue to rise.  Since keeping the pool open in the winter months relies on the functioning of the bubble, I feel that eliminating the bubble and having a public pool only open in the summer would save the town and it’s residents more money in the future.

Leaving the Cheshire Public Pool only accessible in the summer would allow the town of Cheshire to put the tax money, paid by the townspeople, to better use. Instead, the town could use the tax dollars on more important factors that could strengthen our society and economy as a whole. Putting the tax dollars that went toward keeping the bubble open all year could now go to strengthening the public school system in Cheshire.  This money could also be used to create more sports teams on different levels. For example, Cheshire High School could bring back the junior varsity golf team to allow more students to play.  Lastly, money could go towards buying new technology for the Cheshire Public School Systems.  As you can see, taking down the Cheshire Public Pool bubble once and for all would only assist in more savings.

With all things considered, I feel as though the town of Cheshire shouldn’t keep the public pools’ bubble up.  We could put our tax money towards more important and essential things for the growth of our economy.  In the long run, keeping the bubble up would not be for our benefit.

~Lauren Clements

Misconceptions About Swimming Injuries

Many people think that competitive swimming is not a dangerous sport. It’s not a contact sport like lacrosse, basketball, soccer, football, and hockey. There have been many injuries that result from swimming even though you might not interact with the person next to you.

Some of the main injury’s from swimming are overuse or repetitive stress injuries. Shoulder and knee pain are the common complaint amongst swimmers. This is from swimming the stroke wrong or from long practice sessions. Its the constant over head action that causes a problem with shoulders. The awkward rotation of ones knees during breaststroke and the up and downward kick in various strokes may cause knee injuries. Having a muscular injuries may keep swimmers out of the pool which will decrease the amount of practice time.

Recently the worst injury that was reported at Cheshire High School came from swimming. A swimmer was kicked in the head and suffered a concussion. She has been out  of the water for over 6 months, and during that time she has been out of school and will have to repeat the year. Cheshire High School is now checking every school sport, contact or non-contact for head injuries.

I think that is very smart and that they should have done this from the beginning. Concussions are very common now and extremely dangerous. An injury can result in any sport.

~Danielle Grenon