Why is swimming beneficial?
The USA Swimming age group swimming program is America's largest program of guided fitness activity for children. Age group swimming builds a strong foundation for a lifetime of good health, by teaching healthy fitness habits.
Physical Development
Swimming is considered the ideal activity for developing muscular and skeletal growth by many physicians and pediatricians. Why do doctors like it so much?
- Develops high quality aerobic endurance- the most important key to physical fitness. In other sports, an hour of practice may yield as little as 10 minutes of meaningful exercise.
- Proportional muscular development- by using all the body's major muscle groups. No other sport does this as well.
- Enhances children's natural flexibilit- (at a time when they ordinarily begin to lose it) by exercising all of their major joints through a full range of motion.
- Helps develop superior coordination- because swimming requires combinations of complex movements of all parts of the body, enhancing harmonious muscle function, grace, and fluidity of movement.
- A sport that will bring fitness and enjoyment for life- Participants in Master's Swimming programs are still training and racing well into their 80s.
Intellectual & Social Competence
- Participating in a sport with others helps foster new friendships!
- Learning how to swim and improve their strokes engages critical thinking processes.
- As kids learn new techniques, they develop and plan movement sequences.
- Kids improve by exploring new ideas.
- Acomplishing new skills strenghtens kids self-image.
