∿Just Keep Swimming∿
Since I was eight years old my love for swim has continuously grown. Swimming has been a part of my life whether it be a sunny day at the beach, a fun day at the pool, early morning practices or late night meets with the amazing high school team. Like most sports, swimming is something everyone can enjoy, but it's not just a leisure activity. I'm here to explain the competitive side of swimming and some of the different techniques that are essential to competitive swimming and how I have learned to perfect them throughout the years.
Your dive can determine your entire race. It's the thing that determines the amount of lead you get from the second the buzzer goes off. It requires precision, speed, and elegance in order for you to start your race perfectly. Each precise movement of you on the block till your body is submerged in the water can determine whether or not you are in the race or if you've been disqualified. The dive is the first essential part to a race in competitive swimming and it is extremely important to have developed it as a skill in this sport.
There are several kinds of forward starts. Each form of start has it's own benefits that can improve your dive. In the book Developing Swimmers by Michael Brooks he describes the different types of starts. He says "Generally, tract starts give swimmers more stability on the block, and both of the leaning back track starts allow the swimmer to use the arms to pull against the block for momentum. They also create more impulse, or greater time of forms applied against the block. . . it is quick and powerful" (Brooks 106).
Once you have the position of the start down, there are three parts to perform the dive. First, be cool, and focused as you step onto the block and wait. Next, place your feet in the correct position with your front toes curled on the front around the block with your back foot about one foot behind the front foot. As soon as you hear "take your mark", grab the front of the block with your hands and lean back until your weight is toward the back foot and you feel a stretch throughout your body. Once the sound of the buzzer goes off, you explode, catapulting yourself forward off the block (Brooks 107).
My dive throughout the years has improved immensely, but I am always willing to learn new ways to improve it even more, allowing me to perform it faster, and more elegant so it's the most beneficial it can be to me for my races. With the help of this book, I was able to understand the smallest details that contribute to a perfect dive and learn the technique that is needed.
Do you think that a dive in swimming can ever fully be perfected? Why or why not?
Brooks, Michael. Developing Swimmers. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2011. Print.
