Swimming is a pretty incredible sport that contributes to children’s development in many different ways. Read on to learn about six ways this sport benefits children!
Enhances Water Safety
Equipping your child with swimming skills is a good way to ensure their safety. Reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that drowning is a major cause of death in children less than five years. To combat this, learning to swim is essential for kids.
Lessons can teach everything from fundamentals like floating and treading water to advanced skills like helping someone in danger. Being a part of a swim team can help reinforce those skills and water safety. All these skills your child will learn will mold them into a strong, efficient swimmer. And that means you can have peace of mind when you’re around water with your children.
Great for Physical Health and Wellness
Swimming is an excellent way to keep kids healthy and active. And it can be done all year long!
It can be a great sport for many as it’s primarily impact-free, significantly reducing the risk of injury. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help build muscle. The water resistance swimmers overcome, especially at a young age, helps boost muscle development. Swimming also involves many muscle groups you don’t engage when out of the water. The endurance and muscle strength kids gain from swimming will come in handy if they try out for other spots, like track and field, soccer, or football.
Even more, swimming improves cardiovascular health. The movements involved require coordination of the lungs and heat to supply adequate oxygen and nutrients to the different muscle groups. This keeps the heart and lungs healthy and in good shape, something that will benefit kids in the long run.
Improves Mental Function and Wellness
This sport also can improve kids’ mental function and wellness. Swimming boosts a child’s mental development by enhancing the brain parts associated with learning, coordination, and memory. Your kids learning abilities improve as they learn and master freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly swimming techniques. This mental development can lead them to do better in school.
Don’t forget about the mental wellness benefits as well! Due to the natural buoyancy of water, swimming is often times more relaxing than other forms of exercise. It can also promote stress relief and mood improvement, big benefits that can boost the health of children.
Builds Confidence
It isn’t uncommon for kids to be fearful of the water when swimming for the first time. After the first couple of trips to the pool, kids will overcome their fears and learn how to swim. After learning how to swim, the feeling of accomplishment will build confidence and self-esteem in children.
This isn’t only beneficial when they’re in the water. The self-esteem kids gain from swimming can help them develop a positive attitude towards sports and other activities. This confidence can also become helpful for them in social situations when they communicate with peers or other adults.
Improves Social Skills
Swimming provides a fun and non-traditional opportunity for kids to interact with their peers. Lessons and teams are often in group settings, so by being in these groups, children get to practice early on interacting positively with other children and adults. They’ll learn to make friends, share supplies, and play with other kids. They’ll also learn how to be a part of a team and experience the feeling of cheering and celebrating teammates’ accomplishments.
As an added bonus, since parents take part in lessons for children, it’s a great way to get in some one-on-one time and increase family bonding.
Enhances Sleep and Appetite
If you’ve got pickier eaters or reluctant sleepers, swimming can aid in changing the tides. Swimming is hard work, so your child will likely build up an appetite. This can be great to help pickier eaters get some different foods in to nourish their bodies. It also generally encourages children to get the nutrition they need to grow. Swimming can also help your child’s sleeping patterns as this activity is sure to tire them out, helping them (especially younger kids) sleep earlier and longer.
Let Summer League Swimming help you become equipped with the tools needed to positively impact your swimmers.
SLS is Here to Help
Swimming is a healthy, fun activity for kids to get involved in! And at SLS, we want to help you provide a safer, fun environment so more children (and adults) can fall in love with the sport.
If you’re planning for your swim team next year, or want to start your own swim league, we are here to make sure you have the tools you need to make the experience the best one ever. No matter if you need background checks, insurance coverage, or coach certifications, we’re here to help. No matter where you are in the United States, let us help you reach your full potential!
