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Swim in History and in Greek Epic Poems Essay

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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 …show more content…

As the one arm advances to begin the stroke and the shoulder rises, the head should turn to get a breath. However, once the head is spun, it must only be enough to leave the water and then take as many breaths required. Once the head returns to the water, the swimmer should begin to breathe out of their nose and mouth. If the head is lifted out of the water when the swimmer is getting the breath of air and not turned just enough to only get a breath, it will slow the swimmer down. When the breathing portion of the freestyle is finished, repeat to the other side with the other arm stroke. Once all of these things are applied in the pool, the swimmer is using the proper body mechanics for the front crawl stroke.
Another stroke in swimming is the backstroke. This is very similar to the past stroke discussed, the front crawl, but it has different aspects that are stressed more. The leg kick for the backstroke includes the flutter kick with changing order, slightly bent knees, relaxed feet and ankles, but it doesn’t put importance on the down-kick. The backstroke puts prominence on the up-kick for a driving force in the needed direction. As for the arm stroke, the arms are in an alternating windmill pattern as they rotate and pass the swimmer’s face. Like the freestyle, the hands are cupped, but the thumb leaves the water first. As the hands are pushing the water, the hands create the “S” pattern too. Although the backstroke needs the swimmer on their

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