Team News

Our First Swim meet will be 

Please sign Up on Team Unify, deadline is Monday 18.

Don’t miss these two special events:

1- Coaches Presentation on April 30^th at 11:00 AM.

Microsoft Meets

What Officials are looking at during a swim meet! Coach Brent

Pre – Race Preparation. Coach Ben

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

2- Nutrition

Mark your calendars for Sunday May 1st from 7:15pm - 8:15pm CST.  We have an awesome opportunity to sit down and chat with Erica Beine of Beine Wellness Building about nutrition and recovery and how she works with swimmers to help them perform better.  Think gym training but for your nutrition!

She She has worked with Caeleb Dressel, Catie DeLoof (both US Olympians) along with 13 other Tokyo Olympians and many other National Team members have been working with Erica, President & Owner at Beine Wellness Building, LLC on Nutrition and Recovery. Erica and her team have worked with over 30 Olympians in total as well as numerous collegiate and high school athletes, several on local club teams here even!
Erica is going to talk to us and show us how she works with swimmers to individualize nutrition and recovery for athletes. This is a totally unique approach using your genetics and DNA to create a personalized nutrition program to help you eat, supplement and recover better! No one else in the world is doing this with swimming athletes.
Below is the link to sign up for the zoom call and below that are some additional resources to learn more about what Beine Wellness Building does.

https://www.honeybook.com/widget/beine_wellness_building_169033/cf_id/60ed04be19f7dd481b8f3c48
 Thank you!

Homework

5 Mental Benefits of Swimming

By Suzie Ryan, Swimming World Intern

For many of us, the pool is a place for us to escape the chaos of the world. It’s just you, the water and your teammates. When we dive into the water and take that first stroke, our problems instantly fade away as the water washes over our skin. Swimming is much more than a sport for many of us. We are often still drawn to the water long after we hang up our togs competitively because it is a great stress reliever, mood booster and helps us start our day with a clear mind. 

Here are five ways swimming benefits mental health. 

1. Boosts Blood Flow & Helps Mental Capacity 

Research has shown that immersing yourself in water during exercise helps increase blood flow to the brain. This increased blood flow can help improve memory, mood, cognitive function, concentration and help reverse brain damage caused by everyday stress through hippocampal neurogenesis, which is the creation of new neurons in the brain. In other words, swimming regularly helps improve one’s mental state and combats mental illnesses and stress associated illnesses.

2. Helps Regulate Breathing 

When swimming, you have to hold your breath. By swimming regularly, you have the ability to regulate your breathing which can guide you through stressful, panicked and anxious periods of life. When we are put in stressful situations, we can start to breath shallower and more rapid which can lead to hyperventilation. 

Swimming gives us an easy breathing technique to use out of the water when we encounter stressful situations and allows us to get air into our lungs, which can help with preventing hyperventilation and panic attacks. Using the breath technique we use in the water on land can help us instantly relax and lower blood pressure, which can help benefit our mental and physical well-being.

3. Swimming Releases Endorphins 

As with any form of exercise, when we swim, our brain is prompted to release feel-good chemicals into our system called endorphins. These endorphins can help our body deal with pain and stress not only in that moment but also in the hours following. Research has found that endorphins not only benefit some physical well-being but also has positive effects on our mental health by allowing our body to respond to everyday stress in a much more positive way.

4. Creates a ‘Blue Mind’ 

Have you ever heard of ‘Blue Mind’? Well, neither had I until I heard it in a passing conversation with a friend and decided to do some more research on it. Basically, the term ‘Blue Mind’ suggests that being in or around water will create calm and peace within one’s body and set your mind and body free. 

Studies suggest that because our body is made up of 70% water, our brains immediately feel at peace and have a positive response when we are in water. This means that  

swimming can help increase the neurochemicals in our brain to make us happier, healthier and lowering our stress and anxiety.

5. Induces a State of Relaxation 

While hard, long main sets in training and long race days may not be relaxing, swimming can actually induce a state of relaxation. Have you ever felt that feeling in the warmdown pool after a race where you just forget about everything and can only feel the water rushing over you with each stroke? That’s a state of relaxation. 

Focusing on the task at hand can help take your mind off all your worries and helps induce a state of relaxation which, in turn, helps reduce stress levels within our body.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.