History of Swimming

History of Swimming:

Swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times, dated back to 2500BC.  In many civilizations, drawings were found of people swimming. 

(Painted caves in Gilf Kebir, Egypt)

The timeline of how Swimming as a sport was developed is as shown below.(pardon the wordiness)

2500 BC - First Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting swimming.
400 BC - Egyptians and Romans leisurely dived off cliffs.

36 BC - Japanese Emperor Suigiu encouraged swimming.
78 AD - Romans introduced swimming to Britain as a manly social event.
7th Century - Plagues unnerved swimming during the Dark Ages.
14th Century - Medieval knights to master swimming in armour.
15th Century - Church objected to naked bathing on moral grounds.
16th Century - Oxford and Cambridge University banned swimming after fatalities.
         - Swim author Digby claimed humans are better swimmers than fish.
17th Century
          - Japanese Emperor Go-Yoozei ruled that schoolchildren should swim.
         - Medicinal value of natural spa springs discovered in Britain.
18th Century - Sea swimming popularized by George III
19th Century - Germany and Sweden developed acrobatic diving.
1844 - A small race exposed Britain to red Indians 'crawl' style. Crawl soon dwarfed Breaststroke`s popularity.

1845 - First swimming championship debut in Sydney.
1875 - Captain Webb pioneered the English Channel crossing.
1885 - First diving competition, Germany.
1892 - First women's championship, Scotland.
1908 - The Federation Internationale de Natation de Amateur (FINA) formed.
1924 - Johnny Weissmuller set 67 world records, then became 'Tarzan'.
          - Canadian sportswomen premiered sychronised swimming.
1950 - Butterfly born as a Breaststroke loophole.
          - Japanese meticulously suited techniques to their physique.
1986 - Sychronised swimming a Commonwealth Games event.
                                                            --from the web site of the 2002 Commonwealth Games

HERE'S A VIDEO ABOUT THE LASTEST 2012 OLYMPICS WINNER :  MICHAEL PHELPS!

(video taken from youtube . no copyright intended.)
As you can see, Swimming only became a competitive sport in the early 1800s. Today, swimming is one of the main events in the Summer Olympics, and a favored family activity. Pools can be found in billions of cities worldwide, including indoor and outdoor aquatic facilities. They are featured in many hotels and apartment complexes, and are part of most high school and college gym courses. Advances in technology and availability have made swimming a major part of life in many cultures, and permanently changed the athletic world. 
http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=NqjzxBmkvU5ghM:&imgrefurl=http://www.motivationalpictures.com/showproduct.aspx%3Fpid%3D696793&docid=5el6Yef3XlMnLM&imgurl=http://www.motivationalpictures.com/product-images/AMACAARQ-P696793.jpg&w=704&h=1024&ei=adHiUd2TK4TxrQe2yoCoDw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:0,s:0,i:76&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=196&tbnw=129&start=0&ndsp=19&tx=116&ty=87


-florence :D

In this blog , my group would be posting about 5 things: basketball , swimming , jogging , soccer and dance  . we would do our best to motivate you to try out one of these activities , and maybe even pursue other kinds of sports that you would like to try , but may not have the confidence to .

you can do it . Its the first thing that you should tell yourself . you may not be like those who excel at any kind of sports they do , but you are you , and you are going to try something new and have FUN at it !  

my first post would be about basketball : how to play basketball 101 ! :D

<-- thats michael jordan guys .

1.       How to play basketball?

Any beginners have the ability to dribble , pass , shoot . It takes time to learn them to do it well only.

There are three types of passes:

Chest pass , Bounce pass, and the Overhead pass.

CHEST PASS:

Firstly, the goal for this chest pass is to pass the ball from your chest to your teammate’s chest. Catch the ball with a tight grip, one hand on each side of the ball, so no one can hit the ball out of your hand. Next, when you’re ready to pass, take one big step forward and keep your back leg stable to the ground, so the ball will be in control.

BOUNCE PASS:

Similar to the chest pass, but this time you are passing by hitting the ground to your teammates. There should be a small distance , so it will be easier for your teammates to catch the ball. Make sure that when the ball reached your teammates, your teammates catches it when it is reaching his waist not his chest.

OVERHEAD PASS: This time, take the ball over your head, pass it to your teammates at a high point, so that your defender won’t be able to steal your ball, the goal for this pass is to pass the ball to your teammate as fast as possible.

For dribbling, you need confidence and control. Most people think they can’t dribble, you know why? Because, they see people on TV or any matches dribbling and they do not have the confidence to dribble like the pros. This is false! All you need to know is that you need to control your own dribbling. Before you can dribble like a pro, you need to learn the fundamentals.

Firstly, you need to keep your hand on top of the ball always, dribble firmly to the ground and keep your head up and knees bent. with lots and lots of practice , it should feel very natural !

There are two types of dribblings for fundamentals, the crossovers and between the legs.

For the crossover, it is to change direction in ways your defender comes. The key of the crossover is keep low and keep the ball close to your body. You don’t want the ball to be too far away from you as you will lose control of the ball easily.

For the between the legs dribble, it gives more protection from the defender by dribbling between your legs instead of it being in front of your body.

HERE'S ARE VIDEOS FOR YOU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaHTuRppFqk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMl5dnlNdnA   

(disclaimer:not our videos , no copyright intended)

Last but not least, for shooting! It is the most important skill in basketball. Shooting is all about form.

Firstly, it is to have your feet at the shoulder length apart.

Seondly, get your knees bend. Nice and low.

Now we move on to your hands. No matter you’re shooting with your right or left, put your hand at the middle of the ball, grip it with your fingers. When you put your ball up, there are space right under. Now, the hand you don’t shoot with is called your guide hand. Put it on the side of the ball. When you shoot, the guide hand will be off, so it will be a one hand shot at the release. Now when we shoot the ball over your defender, you have to release at high as possible, when you let you want to jump as high as you can. 

(disclaimer:images taken form tumblr and videos from youtube. no copyright intended)

- Ben ~