Swimming is the only sport in which all the muscles are used at once. It is also known for its positive effects on the circulatory system, respiratory system and nervous system. Swimming differentiates itself from other types of sports in many ways; here are a few of them: It is a perfect match for human nature, it affects physical development positively, it supports and strengthens the muscular system together with the backbone, and it can be practiced nearly by every age group. Children can start swimming as an active sport, beginning from the age of 6.
Swimming as a professional sport is practiced in pools with 50m width and generally with 8 lanes. It can be done personally or as a team, and only the arm strokes together with leg and feet movements are allowed. Professional swimmers participating in competitions swim by using one of the four major styles, which are freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, or in case of the individual medley they use a combination of all four. They may swim different distances according to the event; the most common ones are 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 meters.
To become a successful swimmer, 3 hours training time is needed every day, which is divided into morning and afternoon sessions with enough recovery time in between. Swimmers, who aim for very high achievements needs 16 hours of training in the pool and 6 hours training outside the pool every week.
Swimming Styles
Freestyle Swimming: The swimmer uses her/his arm strokes and leg motions to make the 3 stepped sweeping motion. In this style the swimmer’s speed is directly proportional to the speed of the arm strokes.
Backstroke Swimming: The swimmer swims backwards and uses her/ his arms to create a backwards momentum. While swimming this way, there are some actions beneficial to increase the speed: Keeping the waist on the surface of the water in a flat position parallel to the water, keeping the tip of the toes stretched while moving the feet, facing the palms of the hands outwards while using the arms to backstroke.
Breaststroke Swimming: The swimmer moves forward by drawing circles with the feet and arms. The hands draw circles with lifting, extending and recovering motions, and the legs accompany them again by drawing circles. This is the slowest swimming style.
Butterfly Stroke Swimming: Swimmer moves forward by moving the arms, legs and hips in complete harmony. Because this style demands high muscle power, it is not recommended for the starters, women and old people.
Swimming at MSSK
Thanks to our swimming classes that are very popular in our summer school, children are having a cool and enjoyable summer while building long lasting friendships. The participants, who demonstrate their skills in swimming, are professionally motivated by our coaches to go further in this sport branch, and they take additional technical swimming lessons.
The club does not request any fees for the children that can swim 200 meters under 4 minutes. This level of swimming can be reached generally after practicing swimming for two years.
Swimming demands and develops discipline. In order to reach the essential fitness level, the athletes practice for 6 days in a week for about 18 hours in total.
Our swimmers participated in local events that are organized by Manisa Governorship, Provincial Directorate of Sports, City Representative Authority on Swimming, and achieved important degrees in these competitions.
The last major event that our swimmers participated in was the first stage of “Anatolia Stars League”, Aegean region events, held on December 27-28, 20014 and coorganized by two important sports authorities in Turkey: General Directorate of Youth and Sports, Swimming Federation of Turkey.
Approximately 168 athletes and trainers participated in the event from seven Aegean cities; Izmir, Manisa, Denizli, Kutahya, Eskisehir, Aydin and Mugla. Our club is represented by our athletes Azra Alkan, Aknur Kesici, Beyza Öz, Efe Üstündağ, Öykü Üstündağ, Arda Aturgil and Alp Sel.
Our swimmers got very good results in the competition, but the most significant one belonged to Efe Üstündağ, who finished the Butterfly Stroke race in the second place to become the second best swimmer in his category in the Aegean region.
About the swimmers who train in our club;
Swimming and Nutrition
While swimming athletes lose enormous amount of energy, therefore, they must be very careful about their dietary habits and nutrition. The coaches of MSSK regularly attend seminars in this field to monitor and direct our athletes accordingly. Furthermore, our Club’s doctor Ender İşbir provides professional support to the athletes about the issues like weight control and food regimen.
