Ascension : Kids Klub
Submitted by The Islander (Sarah Coverdale) 06.04.2006 (Article Archived on 20.04.2006)

I know that people of all ages love swimming, even the little ones at Ladybirds soon gain confidence

Kids Klub

Good luck to all the boys and girls from Two Boats school who will be taking part in the swimming gala on Friday.  I know that people of all ages love swimming, even the little ones at Ladybirds soon gain confidence – basically who doesn’t like splashing in the bath or water so for those who haven’t tried it just think…     If you like water, then you'll love swimming!

Swimming is when you move through water without touching the bottom - and there's all sorts of ways that you can, called strokes.

Many people learn to swim quite easily, with perhaps some help from their family, but others might need to take lessons.

Being able to swim can be a life-saver. It's also a good way to keep healthy, and more than that, it's really fun!

You don't really need a lot of equipment to start swimming - just a pair of swimming trunks or swimsuit.

Watching the swimmers at the Commonwealth Games you might have noticed the professional swimmers have special body suits which are designed to help them cut seconds off their manoeuvres, but you don't need these for ordinary swimming!  Top swimmers wear special hats to make them swim faster by keeping them more streamlined through the water.

You may want to try out goggles if you find that the water aggravates your eyes.

The most common styles for swim are known as strokes.  When you get to competitive level, swimmers race against each other using the same stroke so that it's fair or there's a freestyle competition where you can choose the way you swim.

If you're just learning then you may not swim in a particular style until you get more confident in the water.

Here's a few of the most popular strokes.

• Breaststroke: On your front with legs kicking out like frogs and arms under the water going straight forward simultaneously, then out in a large semicircle.

• Front crawl: On your front with legs kicking up and down through the water, stretching one arm at a time forward and then slicing through the water without splashing. Your face is in the water and you turn it to the side when you need to take a breath

• Butterfly: This is quite a hard stroke as you need to synchronise your arms, legs and body. Your arms go out of the water in quite a big arc, you kick your legs while your head is down. Your arms go over the water and when they are near your thighs again, take your head out and breathe. It's best to watch someone else doing this stroke properly before trying it.