Swimmer's Daily

  • For a swimmer developing strength is important to increase the ability to generate force, support technical development and reduce the risk of injury.

  • South Mecklenburg swimmer Ellie Marquardt, an all-conference swim star is unbeaten in dual meets in her four-year high school career. Marquardt has committed to Princeton. Recorded on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.

  • Greta Andersen’s quest for a second Olympic gold was cut short when she blacked out in the water, but it didn’t define her career.

  • Mcdonald’s latest spot, advertising its £1.99 bacon double cheeseburger, features a girl getting ready for a swimming race and her mum, determined to get the most for her money.

    See Campaign

    https://youtu.be/u5YsN6alCko

  • There’s a new player in the game. FINA has long been the governing body controlling swimming, but has not done enough for professional swimmers.

  • Two years ago, a central California teen began what NPR calls a “Sisyphean task”—hauling hundreds of pounds of golf balls off the ocean floor, only to have them reenter the sea as golfers from five nearby golf courses (including Pebble Beach) hit them right back in.

    Alex Weber was just 16 when she first discovered the shocking sight while free diving. “You couldn’t see the sand,” she says, noting the seafloor was “completely white” from the sheer number of balls.

    And thus began Weber’s self-appointed chore of removing the balls from the water—what Golf.com calls akin to an “Easter egg hunt”—with the help of her dad, a friend, and even a scientist that got wind of her efforts. Their total haul hit the 50,000-ball mark in September, gathered in grueling, cold conditions with sharks nearby and an “aerial barrage” of new balls flying their way during the collection process.

    See WTVR

  • “It’s going to make you feel so good!”

    Katja Pantzar hears her friend call out encouragingly as she stands on a wooden dock in central Helsinki on a cold, dark and snowy winter evening. It’s 14 F (-10 C), but all Pantzar is wearing is a swimsuit, a wool hat and borrowed neoprene gloves and booties. She’s been told she’s about to take a step toward curing all her problems, from aches and pains to feeling down.

    Pantzar is about to take the plunge — a dip into water that is warmer than the air but still just 38 F (about 3 C) and ice-covered. While this might seem like a daredevil stunt or a crazy bet to North Americans and many others around the world, ice swimming, or winter swimming, is not an out-of-the-ordinary sight even here in the capital city’s center.

    Instead, jumping into a hole cut in the ice of the sea or a lake during winter is an everyday activity in Finland — one that’s performed with gusto.

    A Helsinki-based author and journalist, Pantzer believes this unlikely national pastime is one of the reasons why Finland ranks as the happiest country in the world.

    In her book “The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness through the Power of Sisu,” Pantzar credits swimming in the sea almost every day in Finland, all year round, to her overall happiness and well-being.

    Read CNN Travel

    finland ice swimming photo
    Photo by VisitLakeland

    Featured photo by VisitLakeland

  • Cincinnati senior Enna Selmanovic, an accomplished swimmer, injured her back during a workout in 2016 and was medically disqualified several months later. The emotional toll of losing her sport and her identity eclipsed even the severe physical pain of a spine injury. In the ensuing years, Selmanovic has devoted herself to helping other student-athletes address mental health issues and plans to build a career around that endeavor.

  • Before Caroline County opened their very own YMCA about three years ago, swimming was a recreation reserved for neighborhood and backyard pools in the summer.

    Now, with an indoor facility, it’s become a year-round sport for a growing number of Caroline High School teens who have formed the school’s first-ever swim team.

    “I think swimming is really more about self-esteem than it is about athletic ability or anything else like that,” explained Christy Guise-Wright.

    See WTVR