Swimming

=Swimming= By Marissa S

Swimming on a team is fun and you get to learn lots of new things. You make lots of new friends, and learn to work to your ability. Here are all the strokes:

__Butterfly-__ Butterfly is a strong stroke that takes lots of energy. When you do the butterfly, you move your arms in front of you in a circular motion together. Butterfly requires a kick so called "The dolphin kick" because you are moving your legs up and down like a dolphin would move its tail. Butterfly is a great competing stroke and is also the stroke of Michael Phelps!

__Backstroke-__ Backstroke is one of the more popular strokes. Heres why. Backstroke is a popular stroke because you are laying on your back and you are free to breathe the whole way. Your arms are moving from your sides to your back of you, one by one. Your legs are kicking in an up and down motion one by one also. This is known as the flutter kick. The flutter kick also applies for the freestyle too!

__Breaststroke-__ Breaststroke is not a favorite of many people because it is one of the hardest strokes to do. Your legs kick out, in, than squeeze together while your arms are doing the same motion. The breaststroke is NOT the first stroke you would want to learn because it is so advanced. If you try to start out with it, you won't have any luck, so be careful!

__Freestyle-__ Freestyle is the most popular stroke of all time, because it is easy. Your arms move in front of you while you are on your stomach, and your legs are flutter kicking. Freestyle is the best elementary stroke to learn because it is the easiest. Freestyle and backstroke are the only strokes you need to know to join a team!

__IM-__ IM is a combination of all the four strokes in this exact order, Butterfly, Backstroke, Breastroke, Freestyle. 1 lap of each stroke makes 4 laps, which in swimming we call a 100. 2 laps of each stroke makes 8 laps which we call in swimming a 200. And it goes on. But the odd numbers after 200 you cant do an IM with!

These are the main things you need to know to be successful in swimming!