Chapter #1 Swimming in History:

 

This chapter outlines the rise of competitive swimming, it's interesting but not essential knowledge for teaching swimming.

 

Note that Captain Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel a distance of 21.26 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes, used the BREASTSTROKE.

 

The current record holder is Penny Dean. Females generally are dominating this swimming event. Trivia: there is an around Manhattan swim also. The winners take somewhere from 7.5 hours to 10 hours to complete the race.

 

Seal Beach rough water swim, 1M, 3M and 10M division. 10M times are below 3 hours. 1M is around 20 minutes.

 

Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow

 

Contributions "Waterproofing America"

 

A pioneer in water safety, he presented a plan to the Red Cross in 1912.

Plan adopted in 1914 which resulted in the formation of the Red Cross Life Saving Corps (forerunner of the present day Red Cross Water Safety Courses).

 

Note how after the introduction of water safety courses the drowning rate decreased.

 

10.4 per 100,000 in 1914

5.2 per 100,000 in 1947

1.9 per 100,000 in 1990

 

(There always seems to be a demand for Lifeguards!!!)

 

Development of Modern Strokes

 

Introduced in Modern Olympics Athens 1896

 

Front Crawl

Origins of the modern Crawl go back to the Solomon Islands (Pacific)

also known as the Australian Crawl (1902).

Introduction of body roll after the 1956 Melbourne Games.

 

Note how Breaststroke and Butterfly had common origins, it's only the introduction of rules that lead to a differentiation between the strokes.

 

Butterfly only legalized in the late 50s

 

Swimmers Setting Records: The US dominates this area of athletics

 

Research and Training Techniques

 

From trial and error to the Flume.

 

First underwater filming completed in 1928.

Japanese studied world class athletes prior to 1932 and consequently dominated the LA Olympics in 1932.

 

Conditioning introduced into the sport in 1956. Swimmers probably train at least as much as any other types of athletes.

 

Dr. James Counsilman "The science of swimming" World Renowned Researcher.

 

Diving

 

Local Hero Pat McCormick (1952 & 1956)

Greg Louganis (1984 & 1988)

 

Now we have Water Polo: Synchronized Swimming: Huge Recreational Parks

 

Underwater Hockey etc.,

 

Being able to swim opens up a huge number of recreational activities.

Especially here in Long Beach the opportunities to exercise and recreate on the water are endless.

 

 

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URL: http://www.csulb.edu/~emyrw/T3/lessons/historyswim.html

Last updated: 3/2/98