Swimmer's Daily

  • During the past 31 years, the Provincetown Swim for Life has become a major summer event.

    “It’s ingrained in the community,” says organizer Jay Critchley.

    But there’s a new player in the area, great white sharks, whose numbers are increasing steadily in the summer. And now, their presence has forced a change in the event, even though no white sharks have been spotted in Provincetown Harbor.

    “It’s been writing on the wall,” Critchley said. “It’s a serious concern. It’s not a major risk but the result would be a major catastrophe.”

    See CBS Boston

  • Up Close with Olympian World Record Holder, Stephanie Rice

    14 Quick Questions and intimate talk with 3 x Gold Medalist and 5 x World Record holder Stephanie Rice.

    She will inspire us to live healthy, positive lives and reflect with a mindful stretch.

  • Awesome experiences at my first long course Worlds in Gwangju, South Korea. Go behind the scenes in to the village, and competition venues. At the end of the edit I sit down and recap my experience and what I take away from the trip. Thanks for watching, see you soon.

  • Louisville launched a study nine months ago to examine the potential of adding a new indoor aquatic center.

    Officials said the city had “maxed out capacity” with existing options and wanted to look into luring regional and national meets.

    But an entirely different conversation has played out in the months since — dominated by an ill-fated tax hike proposal to fill the city’s looming budget hole and a spending plan with $25.5 million in cuts.

    Instead of talking about building a new aquatic center, city officials discussed keeping outdoor pools closed for the summer, further depleting a city that’s already described as “pool poor.” (Three of four stayed dry and one other opened for a portion of the summer, funded in large part by one councilwoman’s discretionary fund.)

    Now, though, city officials say they’re poised to renew discussions about the study and are ready to have a larger discussion about pools and other recreational offerings, like slides or play features.

    Read Courier Journal

     

  • Everyone knows about urine-indicator dye, despite the fact that it has 100 percent never existed

    If you pee in the pool, it’ll go blue! There’s a special dye in there, designed to detect urine, and it’ll billow around you in a big, embarrassing, pissy cloud, and everyone will know you’ve done it, and you’ll be hounded out of town as a known pool-piddler.

    Everybody knows that, right?

    Except it isn’t true. It doesn’t even stand up to any scrutiny as an idea — what chemical specifically detects wee-wee? Would something that would react that dramatically to a dribble of micturition be safe to swim in? And if it happened, and someone was suddenly surrounded by a cerulean aura of widdly-woo, what would the protocol be for lifeguards, pool staff and fellow swimmers? If a pool had to be evacuated every time someone leaked in it, nobody would have ever completed a length. Plus, what would happen next — would they pour in an anti-piss substance that returned it to normal? Would they drain the pool and refill it with untainted water? (Answer: Highlyunlikely).

    Despite being clearly nonsense, it still persists as an idea. “I’ve heard many people suggest that there’s a chemical that will react with urine to turn a certain color,” says environmental engineer Ernest R. “Chip” Blatchley III of Purdue University, who has spent a lot of his career studying the chemistry of swimming pools, and has become the media’s go-to figure when discussing people relieving themselves in the shallow end. “But as far as I can tell, it’s a myth. I’m not aware of any chemical that’s added to pools for this purpose.”

    “I think everyone who works in the pool trade has been asked about it,” agrees Sue Pace of H2O Swimming Pools Ltd. “But unfortunately, it’s a complete myth.”

    Read MEL

    https://youtu.be/DbkNt48cvsg

  • Most spectators of competitive swimming know about the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle in events such as the summer Olympics.

    But it’s not likely they know exactly what goes into a stroke or how swimmers adjust their style to make their way to the winners podium.

    A University of Pittsburgh research team has developed a new device, called Impulse, which measures force production to aid coaches and athletes in determining better ways to improve performance and prevent injury. And they’re starting with students on Pitt’s Swimming and Diving team.

    “There have been methods of measuring stroke parameters which have improved stroke mechanics in swimmers, but given a relationship between muscular strength and performance, there is a definite need to measure force production in water,” said Impulse researcher Elizabeth Nagle, associate professor in Pitt’s Department of Health and Physical Activity within the School of Education. “Determining force production could lead coaches to develop better methods to assess, monitor and develop training regimens for their swimmers that may contribute to faster swimming performances.”

    At a demonstration at the Joe C. Trees pool in January, swim team members were tested using the Impulse system, which consists of a swim belt attached to a non-elastic tether linked to a force sensor anchored to a pole or starting block. The force sensor wirelessly transmits data in real time to a tablet or cell phone.

    When the researchers were ready to record, Marc Christian, assistant coach for Pitt Swimming and Diving, gave his student team members the go-ahead signal.

    The students swam as if they were in a competitive freestyle meet, racing in place while the Impulse device tracked their movements and relayed information via Bluetooth to computers nearby.

    “We want to help athletes understand how they’re moving through water,” said Christian. “Analyzing strokes in swimmers is a bit of a black box because you’re relying on eyesight and not hard data.”

    Read Pittwire

  • Kaitlin Sandeno talks about winning the silver medal in the 400 IM at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

  • One diver that has been around for a long time, is Mexico’s Rommel Pacheco, he took part in his 8th FINA World Championships!