Aquatic Fitness

• The aim of aquatics is to provide students with the opportunity to develop personally, socially, and physically in a safe and enjoyable environment
• Aquatics helps develop:
  • Confidence in the water
  • Competent and safe swimming stroke performance
  • Competence in basic water safety
  • Life-saving skills
  • The ability to assess hazards related to water activities
  • Awareness of the fitness requirements and value of aquatic activities
  • Cooperation with others

What is Aquatics

• Aquatic fitness is defined as activities performed in the water that promote and enhance physical and mental fitness
• Aquatic fitness is typically performed in a vertical position in shallow or deep water
• Aquatics applications appeal to a wide variety of participants
• Aquatics includes aquatic sports in the Olympics and other international competitions
• These include diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water swimming

Swimming

• Swimming involves self-propulsion through water, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival
• Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movements of the limbs, body, or both
• Humans can hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as a survival response
• Swimming consistently ranks among the top public and recreational activities
• Swimming lessons are compulsory in the educational curriculum in some countries
• Swimming features in local, national, and international competitions, like the Summer Olympics

Aquatics vs Swimming

• Aquatics contains all sport activities in water, like swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming
• Swimming is based on speed in water with different events like freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly

Aquatics in PE

• Aquatics has a unique place in a balanced physical education program
• It provides students with a water-based learning experience and opportunities for physical, psychological, and social development
• Aquatic Education Techniques get children used to being in water and teaches them how to react
• It teaches life skills around the water and how to survive in water in case of an accident

Benefits of Aquatics

• Aquatics provides physical, social, and psychological benefits

Physical Benefits

• Students of all ability levels can develop a range of skills in the water
• Stamina, functional capacity, and local muscular endurance can improve without undue strain on the joints
• Students will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills which can be used throughout their lives

Social Benefits

• Aquatics provides an opportunity to participate in physical activity that can be enjoyed with family and friends
• Aquatics helps develop an awareness of safety in or near the water
• It provides opportunities to share responsibilities and cooperate with others
• People can become involved in competition at appropriate levels
• Aquatics helps people assume different roles and responsibilities like personal safety, co-operation, or the care of others

Psychological Benefits

• Students can experience:
  • An appreciation of personal success
  • An improved self-image and sense of independence
  • An enhanced feeling of well-being
  • An opportunity to experience risk and challenge

Diving

• Diving involves jumping or falling into the water from a platform or springboard, usually performing acrobatics
• It is internationally recognized and a part of the Olympic Games
• Unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime
• It is a popular Olympic sport with spectators
• Divers possess characteristics similar to gymnasts and dancers like strength, flexibility, judgment, and air awareness
• Some professional divers were originally gymnasts or dancers
• Dmitri Sautin holds the record for most Olympic diving medals won, with eight medals between 1992 and 2008

Water Polo

• Water polo involves a competitive team sport played in the water between two teams
• The game consists of four quarters
• Teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball in the opposing team's goal
• The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins

Open Water Swimming

• Open water swimming is a swimming discipline that takes place in outdoor bodies of water like open oceans, lakes, and rivers
• The modern age of open water swimming began on May 3, 1810, when Lord Byron swam several miles to cross the Hellespont from Europe to Asia

Synchronized Swimming

• Synchronized swimming Is referred to by FINA as artistic swimming since 2017
• Synchronized swimming mixes swimming, dance, and gymnastics
• Swimmers perform synchronized routines of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music

Flatwater Racing

• Flatwater racing is also called Canoe Sprint
• Race categories vary by the number of athletes in the boat, the length of the course, and whether the boat is a canoe or kayak
• The ICF recognizes distances for international canoe sprint races of 200m, 500m, and 1000m
• These races occur on straight courses with each boat paddling in its own designated lane

Other Flatwater Races

• Longer marathon races, like the 5000m, usually involve athletes starting in a large pack at a start line
• Races paddle around a set course with marked turning points
• Each race may involve heats, semi-finals, and a final depending on the number of competitors

Snorkelling

• Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a snorkel, and swim fins
• A wetsuit may also be worn
• A snorkel is a device used for breathing air from above the surface when one is underwater
• The snorkel can be separate or integrated into a swimming or diving mask

Surfing

• Surfing involves riding waves in an upright or prone position
• Surfers catch ocean, river, or man-made waves, and glide across the surface until the wave breaks and loses its energy
• Wave riders stand up on surfboards and navigate the water, nearly parallel to the beach, toward the shore
• The four types of surfing waves include:
  • Spilling
  • Plunging
  • Surging
  • Collapsing

Underwater Dolphin Kick

• Underwater dolphin kicking has transformed swimming
• It was previously predominantly used in butterfly
• The motion propels the swimmer forward underwater when diving in and doing turns
• This kick moves swimmers faster than any surface stroke due to less resistance underwater

Paddle Boarding

• Paddle boarding is usually performed in the open ocean
• Its how a person paddles and surfs unbroken swells to cross between islands or journey from one coastal area to another
• Participants are propelled by swimming motions while lying, kneeling, or standing on a paddleboard or surfboard
• Traditional prone or kneeling paddleboarding is also called stand-up paddle surfing

Body Boarding

• Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave toward the shore
• It is also referred to as "Boogieboarding" after the invention of the "Boogie Board" by Tom Morey
• The average bodyboard has a short, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam
• Bodyboarders often use swim fins for additional propulsion and control

Cable Skiing

• Cable skiing is a way to waterski or wakeboard
• The skier's rope is pulled by an electrically-driven cable
• The mechanism consists of two cables running parallel to one another with carriers between them every 80 meters

Sailing

• Sailing includes a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs
• Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof, or among teams

Parasailing

• Parasailing is known as parascending or parakiting
• It is a recreational kiting activity in which a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specifically designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute
• The manned-kite's moving anchor may be a car, truck, or boat

Sailboarding

• Sailboarding or windsurfing is a surface water sport
• It emerged when mid-20th century inventors combined surfing and sailing
• This created a new paradigm in water sports in the early 1970s from the surf culture scene of California

Triathlon

• A triathlon is a multisport race with three continuous and sequential endurance races
• The most common form includes swimming, cycling, and running over various distances

Modern Pentathlon

• The Modern Pentathlon is an Olympic sport with five different events:
  • Fencing (one-touch épée)
  • Freestyle swimming (200m)
  • Equestrian show jumping (15 jumps)
  • Pistol shooting
  • Cross-country running (3200m)

Rafting

• Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities that use an inflatable raft to navigate a body of water
• This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water
• This sport has existed since the 1950s, evolving from individuals paddling 10 feet to 14 feet rafts with double-bladed paddles, or oars to multi-person rafts with single-bladed paddlers and steered by a person at the stern or by using oards

Rowing

• Rowing involves propelling a boat through the water with the use of oars
• In a rowing shell, the rower sits on a seat that moves back and forth
• Moving enables the rower to bend and straighten their legs, increasing the length of each row or "stroke"
• The rower rows using the oars to push the water in front of them, causing them to go backward
• There are two different types of rowing, sweep and sculling
• In sweep rowing, each rower holds one oar with both hands and is in a boat with 2, 4, or 8 other rowers

Sculling

• Sculling involves using oars to propel a boat by moving the oars through the water on both sides of the craft or moving a single oar over the stern
• The oars and the boat are referred to as sculls
• In sculling, each rower has two oars, one in each hand, and may row in a single, double, or quad

Test your knowledge of aquatic fitness, including its benefits, history, and differences from other sports like triathlons and sailboarding. Explore body positioning, workout design, and suitability for individuals with injuries, arthritis, and varying abilities.