The Benefits of Swimming

Summertime has arrived, which means it is officially swim season! Swimming not only provides endless fun in the sun for the entire family, but there are many benefits that come along with it. Henderson County High School’s Head Swim Coach, Abby Hamptom, has provided a list of 10 reasons why everyone should take up swimming.

PROVIDES SAFETY

Swimming is a lifesaving skill. Knowing how to swim could save your life or someone else's life. According to statistics from the CDC, approximately 4,000 drownings per year in the U.S. (11 a day). Near fatal drownings total 8,000 (22 per day). Henderson’s unique location on the Ohio River affords residents access to boating and other water sports. Knowing how to swim should be a requirement not an afterthought.

Swimming improves endurance, strength, and flexibility, providing a full body workout that builds cardio endurance while toning your muscles. The water allows for low impact on the joints while providing resistance to increase bone density. It is the ultimate sport for those needing rehabilitation from injuries as well as off season conditioning. (Football, Baseball and Cross-Country). Swimming lowers blood sugar and blood pressure, and is great for those with asthma and helps improve lung capacity.

GREAT FOR ALL AGES

Unlike most sports, swimming can be learned at any age; as early as 6 months for life saving skills such as floating on your back and as late as 90 years old, swimming competitively. Providing a positive experience with exposure to water will improve the likelihood of a child’s affinity to water. Babies should be taught to backfloat before learning to crawl. I recommend all children know swimming basics by kindergarten age. Competitive swim teams begin as early as 5. Depending upon skill level, children can compete as early as age

3. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association allows 7th graders to begin competing on high school swim teams. From personal experience, both the Henderson YMCA and high school teams work with new swimmers to develop strong swimming skills, especially if the student is willing to learn and work hard. Group and private lessons are available through the YMCA and independent instructors like myself.

GREAT FOR ALL ABILITY LEVELS

You don’t need to be an Olympic swimmer to reap the benefits of the sport. I've given lessons to toddlers, just getting them used to the water, and to USS and high school swimmers wanting to improve their times or learn another swim event. My greatest accomplishment was working with disabled individuals in Charleston in a program called Adaptive Aquatics. Each student had different abilities and needs

TEACHES IMPORTANT LIFE SKILLS

Swimming competitively teaches time management, dedication, discipline, and teamwork. Any talented swimmer has worked tirelessly in the water, sometimes twice a day in both the pool and on dry land. Becoming a good swimmer is not for the faint of heart. Pool availability dictates your schedule. Students work around class times, and adults have busy work schedules. Missing one day of swim practice is equivalent to missing two if not more. Ask any swimmer; it's hard to get back to baseline after an illness, injury or break. When covid hit, Olympic swimmer Lilly King used a lake in Indiana to maintain her training schedule. Other Olympians either rented private pools or made their own.

REDUCES STRESS

I can honestly say in all my years of swimming, coaching, and instructing, I have never left the pool in a bad mood. Swimming provides a mental break from the day. When you are swimming laps, especially in a competitive nature, there is no room for events outside of the pool to clutter your mind. Your focus shifts to concentrating on swimming efficiently. The water also gives you a massage as you power through it. Some swimmers use this time to meditate or even pray. We all know exercising releases endorphins, swimming lets us exercise without the sweaty feeling. The harder you exercise the more massage you get.

PROMOTES TEAMWORK

When swimming competitively, teammates often become close friends. Although it is mostly an individual sport, individuals must work together to complete sets and push one another in practice. Teammates may have to swim an event they prefer in order to gain points to enable the team to win

the meet. This year, the Henderson County Swim Team did this frequently, resulting in an undefeated dual meet record. Children develop social skills, building relationships with peers and coaches while sharing space and waiting between events. Before the age of cell phones, kids at swim meets played card games and board games, actually socializing. During practice, there are no phones. Children actually have to talk to one another, unable to hide behind their phones.

TEACHES GOAL ORIENTATION

All swimmers have goals, whether to master a stroke or skill, complete a certain distance or achieve a certain time. Swimmers push their bodies harder to reach those goals, leading to a sense of accomplishment. When introducing a hard set at practice, the team may balk in the beginning but by the end of the completed set, swimmers are beaming with pride, having accomplished something the average person could not fathom. This skill carries over to school and careers.

MAKES YOU SMARTER AND IS A MENTAL HEALTH BOOST

Another benefit of swimming is sharpened focus and concentration, ensuring we do not get distracted from our tasks. Many people know Micheal Phelps has ADHD. His mom put him in swimming to burn off extra energy. Studies suggest an increased attention span in children, as aerobic exercise helps develop the hippocampus, our brain’s learning and memory system. Swimming regularly allows more oxygen to flow to our brains, thus boosting our memory capacity. I see this all the time when I coach or give a swim lesson. There is so much to remember to swim efficiently; you have to be firing on all cylinders. This increased attention span, sharpened focus and memory capacity has positive effects on dryland in the school and work setting.

In addition to its mood boosting benefits, swimming can decrease anxiety and increase your body’s capacity for highquality sleep, which in turn helps reduce stress. Growing up, my siblings and I never needed to be told to go to bed.

BOOSTS SELF-CONFIDENCE

With all its health benefits it's no wonder swimming boosts self-confidence. Even at a young age, mastering a skill such as blowing bubbles or going under water causes a child to hold their head a little higher. For older children, positive physical improvements (and being a swimmer in general) make them walk a little taller. Even though we do not have a lot of fans at meets, swimmers know what it takes to be good and how hard they work to compete at that level. HF