Swimming does not get as much of an attention as other sports, despite the fact that it has a huge number of advantages. Some would say "The swimmers are not promoted well on the billboards" and others demonstrate "lack of knowledge about how hard this sport can get". Moreover, a lot of controversy has been affiliated about its genre, which they say closely matches with game rather than sport. However, swimming is officially a sport and is the most popular sport at least for Aussies. In this article, i would like to put forward some arguments and would like to see if you can prove me otherwise for "Swimming is the best sport".
- Prehistoric (since water and humans existed):
"Swimming" is one of the most natural sports, which can be evident from the ancient practices and records that trace back to Stone age (10,000 years ago) in the form of paintings and drawings. I have embedded one of those Babylonian drawings here, which was crafted on red stone and was retrieved from the "cave of swimmers", wadi sura (Egypt). To our amaze, the sports even received tribute from our beloved "Leonardo da Vinci" who against, modern era beliefs presented a sketch named as 'Life-belt sketch'. The sport mainly got attention in the late 18th century when, Captain Webb crossed the English channel (between England and France), which was stretched to about 34 Kms and took him about 22 hours. I wouldn't go in olympic details of the sports, so lets get to the fun learning straight away...
2. For all sizes, age and genders:
Baseball bat is too heavy for you yet? or Your muscles are aging and you can't knock a man out of the ring?
Never mind, This is one of those sports which is not bound to age or gender. A new born as young as 1 year can start his first step in the pool. The upper age limit has been stretched to as late as 92, where Mr Willard is breaking records of sports or of our laziness. The sport is not only popular among kids or men, but a great deal of females are pouring in their interest in this lovely sport. You can check the authenticity of the statement by looking at the stats of 2008 Beijing Olympics, where 1026 swimmers took part with 455 being the female members comprising about 45% of the numbers. Apart from stats, can you imagine any summer without getting a dip or two?
3. No special gears/weather requirements:
Haven't received the skateboard you ordered yet? or Is it -5 degrees with snow in the field? or Still waiting for your friends to finish their homework?
Again, just check in to the nearest swimming pool (indoor/outdoor) or the end of land and you would find yourself at the mesmerizing view of blue waters ready to hug you in. This is one of those sports that you can do consistently without any external forces stopping you from getting some adrenaline rushing in your veins. Plus, you can always do it as a single player and to add some fun, challenge someone and get some water chokes. Nonetheless, you can always look for some additional gadgets to improvise..
4. Sports without injuries:
Yes, i agree someone can drown, so can be hit by a car. But, talking about injuries in sports, swimming is one of those which would not deliver you a cramp nor would it lead to something which may make you stay in bed for long. Well, from the list of top 10 sports with maximum injuries even bowling could cause an average of 764 injuries/year. So, we could comfortably say that swimming is one of the least injury gifting sports.
It simply takes your body off from the obedience to gravity and brings you to a new kind of resistance called 'water resistance'. When your muscles are fighting against the higher density medium, and with the application of "Archimedes law", you would just be left singing "Eureka, eureka". But, you can always find a santa clause sending you some of these here and there:
4. "Health" (Oh this is a big one):
Almost, every second of us is looking for a shortcut to get that model look and shirt-less showoff. But, with the growing advertisement of double quarter pound burgers and a 26 spoon sugar of black soda water, it gets hard to lift yourself up from sofa. The look of the ground seems horrifying and you end up just putting the marks on the calendar. Your drawer is filled with your 1000s of dollars of new Adidas sports clothing, which you put on to run in your fantasy marathon. Apparently, for others not the sports but the necessary shower following the sweaty sports is the kill deal. You can forget about all this by.. Yes, you know by now, what i am gonna say. But, for just a quick pump up. A 130 pound person can burn upto 8000 calories a day by just swimming for an hour or two. Of course, it depends on the swimming style you are following, but you can never deny the beauty and intensity of the "Butterfly stroke". Burn some of that, and whenever you would listen to this, you would feel...
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