Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta!: Swimming not a sport?

“Sorry Mam. Swimming is not a sport!” My jaw dropped incredulously in response to the PE coach’s words. “Are you kidding?” I exclaimed! “It’s an Olympic sport and by the way Texas has some of the most competitive swimming programs in the nation!” He answered, “Sorry mam, not my rule. Take it up with the Athletic Director. We don’t count swimming as a sport.”
This wasn’t the first time I had heard this opinion from someone who could likely not make it one lap across the pool, much less do the intense miles of swimming workout, strength training, and psychological preparation required for competitive swimming — hours of daily workouts practiced here in the Valley and around the world by thousands of swimmers. And after all, the schools have teams and we have some local swimmers on those teams who have made it to state and national level competitions, and have received college scholarships for swimming. How could it not be considered a sport?
Unfortunately, we clearly have a local bias toward certain “sports,” and unfortunately they are not the ones that most people are able to continue across their lifespan. They are fun and entertaining sports for sure, but they are also the activities folks will more likely watch on TV from their couch than continue to play after middle school or high school.
Apart from the competitive world of swimming (remember Michael Phelps? The most decorated American Olympian of all times!), swimming is a lifelong sport that one can compete in or leisurely enjoy, but either way will condition the body better than most activities — including the cardiovascular system, and most major muscle groups. Swimming also boasts the lowest rate of injury of any vigorous sport.
I decided to talk with a local swimming advocate, Monica Rosales, Director of Brownsville Independent School District’s impressive Marguerite E. Clark Natatorium. “Swimming is a lifelong sport. At age 40 Brownsville’s Trey Martinez recently traveled to Bermuda to compete in the world’s longest open water swim. He swam a 10k in the Round the Sound Open Water Swimming Competition. The oldest participant swimming (a shorter distance) was 79 years old!”
In Brownsville there have been some positive steps taken to promote the fine sport of swimming. Swimming, like other lifelong sports such as cycling, tennis, running, dance, kayaking, etc., is a physical activity that can be practiced for the rest of your life. It is a sport that warrants investment because it is not limited to one gender or one body type, yet can be taken up a notch for those wanting to be more competitive. If you’ve never been to a swim meet, I suggest you go to one. You’ll never hear louder cheering or see more fierce competition, or crowd, coach and parent support than at a swim meet.
Ms. Rosales is proud of the top notch Natatorium and the water safety course incorporated into 2nd grade curriculum in Brownsville. She also talked about her recent attendance at a Diversity Summit at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. “Representatives from all over the nation were present to discuss how we can increase the number of children in swimming, targeting swimmers with disabilities and minorities. People in attendance were just flabbergasted that the Brownsville Independent School District supported such a tremendous investment in their own community. It made me quite proud to be from this community. Yet I recognize we could do a lot more to support lifelong sports like swimming.”
For example, our school physical education curriculum and athletic departments could rethink the way budgets and priorities are set, focusing on reaching the most kids, as opposed to emphasizing just a few sports that are exclusive to one gender or size.
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommends that children be engaged in at least 60 minutes of age-appropriate physical activity on all or most days of the week. “School physical education programs (can) provide a context for regular and structured physical activity (Fairclough and Stratton, 2005).” Implementing various opportunities for physical activity in school promotes the idea of healthy living for children which can bring about long-term changes in activity levels into adulthood as well as improve academic achievement.”
Local competitive swimmer and middle-schooler, Maya Imperial, has been swimming since she was a toddler and on a club swim team (the Great Whites) since she was 9 years old. She is a quiet, diminutive girl who transforms into a true athlete in the pool “I love to swim and dream of getting a college swimming scholarship and making the Olympic team. It is a lot of work but I feel so much better after my workout. Sometimes I have a bad day at school, or am mad at my little brother, but after going to swim practice for an hour or two, I come home in a better mood and ready to focus on my homework.”
It is crucial that we engage all students in options for lifelong physical activity. Clearly, the status quo in physical education and school athletics is not working to keep our population healthy and active, as obesity rates and associated chronic diseases continue to skyrocket, among kids and into adulthood. So let’s not fall into the “we’ve always done it this way” trap. Start the New Year by trying a new lifelong physical activity, and support the programs that promote them in the schools and community, because Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! Your Health Matters!