By Hannah Hickman
Kaitlyn Montgomery fondly recalls her time participating in swim team as a youth. For Kaitlyn and other young swimmers, it is much more than just a sport.
“At school, I was just kind of a loser, I was Kaitlyn the quiet person, the person no one was really friends with, or no one talked to. But at swim I was a hard worker, and I was fast, and people looked up to me and they thought I was so cool, and they were like ‘Oh my God, that girl is so talented.’ I felt like I could be more of myself because I was more comfortable with the person I was in the pool. I developed a different identity through swimming, but I feel like it was the identity that was me.”
This is the case for many others who participate in the sport. In 2018, 417,000 children between the ages of 6-12 participated regularly in swim teams. This provides them with lessons, health benefits, and friendships that they will keep for the rest of their lives. Swimming teaches children how to be a good sport, teammate, and leader.
Health Benefits
Children today are spending more time in front of screens and less time being active. A study by Athletic Business shows that about 20% of children are largely sedentary, with over 27 hours per week of screen time. 88% of the children who participated in sports reported that their physical health improved. Participation in youth sports is also associated with a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cigarette smoking. Swimming is a low-impact sport that builds endurance, strength, and cardiovascular fitness while utilizing almost every major muscle group. It can burn up to 715 calories per hour. According to Swim England, swimming also lowers the risk of early death by 28 percent.
With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many children at home, the need for physical activity has only grown.
“It used to be a lot easier because it was like a full routine we did and now I have to exercise on my own and it’s my strength of will, not me actually having to go, so it’s a lot harder,” admits Jack Banatoski, a 13-year-old who has been swimming for 8 years. The team atmosphere, as well as having a coach present, provides motivation for many swimmers.
For those with asthma, swimming is an ideal exercise. The moisture from the water replaces the moisture expelled while athletes are breathing hard during a workout. When swimming, the body is technically weightless, taking the stress off of swimmers’ lungs.
Swimming also improves mental health. Hubbard Swim School explains that exercise like swimming releases serotonin which improves people’s mood. It also nurtures the growth of new brain cells.
Academic Benefits
Coach Kassie Pritchard knows that for many children, swimming is an outlet for their energy. “A lot of teachers and parents are seeing with COVID how kids are lacking that ability to release all that energy. They’re doing a lot worse in school and having shorter attention spans.”
In a study by Active Kids, children who participate in sports between ages 6-12 had 40 percent higher test scores than those who did not, as well as being 15 percent more likely to attend college.
For Banatoski, swimming has improved his ability to concentrate. “When we’re in the middle of a meet and when we’re doing sprints or something it’s taught me to be super focused on what I’m doing, so it helps if I’m taking a test.”
Montgomery also did better in school due to her participation in swim team. The sport inspired her to excellence both in and out of the pool. “I liked winning in swimming, so it made me want to like winning in school.”
Social Benefits
Sophie Banatoski, Jack’s 9-year-old sister, has also been swimming since she was 5. When asked whether it was easier to make friends in school or in swimming, she said swimming. “To me, it’s just easier to physically walk up to them and say ‘Hi, how are you?’ than in school when we’re working or in recess, I can’t just do it on the spot like that.” Swimming requires children to spend a lot of time in close proximity, in the same lane, learning all about one another. Often, the friendships formed on a team are the ones that stay for life.
“You see a lot of our swimmers who were like the shyest little things have become these really big social butterflies just because of the support and friendships that they’ve built,” says Pritchard.
Besides building friendships, young swimmers also have the opportunity to have good role models like coaches and older swimmers they can look up to. Pritchard has always strived to make sure that each of her swimmers knows that they are special to her. “If you give me pictures of every single one of them, I could tell you all of their names.”
Life Lessons
Swimming is a sport that teaches children many valuable lessons that will stay with them throughout their life.
Leadership is just one of those qualities. Swimmers have the opportunity to lead a lane, be a team captain, lead activities, and be supportive of their teammates. They also have good examples of leadership in coaches and older swimmers.
Swimmers also learn how to interact with each other and be a good teammate. Swimming is a unique sport because you compete as an individual but train as a team. “Because swimming is such a tough sport mentally you really have to learn to lean on each other,” says Montgomery. In relays, swimmers also have to use teamwork. Because it is an individual sport though, swimming teaches you to focus on your own swimming and work ethic and not on what others are doing.
Good sportsmanship is an essential value instilled through swimming. “There will often be a lot of trash talk and people will eventually say things that will get to you. The best thing that I learned from that is to just walk away from that. If you don’t do anything to them then it gets to them more than you actually saying anything. It’s hard doing that, but it often works out better.”
Goal setting is another example. Swimmers learn how to set goals and reach them, or if they do not, how to improve so that they can better themselves and keep working towards their goals. “Swimming has taught me that I’m capable of more than I think,” says Montgomery. But swimming is not all about reaching goals in the pool. If she could go back, Montgomery would tell herself, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re not a failure if you don’t turn out to be an Olympian.”
Sophie has a similar mindset. “Even if we don’t win a ribbon or something, if you did your best and that’s the best you can do, I think you still have done really good.”
For Kaitlyn, Jack, Sophie, and Coach Kassie, the benefits of participating in swim team as a youth extend far beyond what one can achieve in the pool.
Hannah Hickman 