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So You Want To Be A Swimmer

by Brianna Broady

41 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-1990; ISBN 1-4120-7079-1; US$18.95, C$21.79, EUR15.57, £10.90

If you and your parents want a snapshot of what it takes to join a swim team or begin a competitive swim career, this is the book you want to read.

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About the Book

About the Author

Excerpts

Catalogue Information

About the Book

The book begins with an overview of swimming as a competitive sport. It explains to the eager readers all of the basics, including keeping timecards and when to begin swimming. I then guide the reader through the training and practice process, giving tips on when to start swimming and what types of exercises to do on which days.

After reviewing times to begin laps, I move on to help readers choose the best apparel and equipment to use. I show the different types of swimsuits for boys and girls and other pieces of equipment that can be vital to young swimmers. I even give personal recommendations on what brand and type of goggles to use. After coaxing the worried reader through his or her first swim meet, I then give tips on what type of foods to eat and which to avoid. I show the differences between simple and complex carbohydrates, while also reminding the reader to stay hydrated both at practice and at meets. My book also includes a list of Ten Commandments for parents of athletic children to follow so that the athletes can stay focused on what is really important at meets and throughout their swimming career.

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About the Author

I have been swimming for seven years at Valencia High School for the Swim Team of Placentia ( S.T.O.P.). I am beginning my eighth year and I still enjoy the sport. It takes a lot of dedication to enjoy the sport, because if you want to be really good, you have to attend a majority of the practices and most of the swim meets. Even though swimming requires a lot of hard work, time and effort - I still love it.

I started the sport of swimming when I was about five because I needed to keep busy so I wouldn't be bored all the time. I chose swimming because, one day, we were driving around looking for something to do, and then we saw the swim team street banner and went to the pool deck and got some paperwork. Next thing I knew, I was swimming for S.T.O.P.

Like many sports, I started in the beginner's group and worked my way up - all the way up to the senior group where I am now. I have competed in the Junior Olympics several times and have swam in many relays, which are my favorite races to compete in. Be sure to check out the great starter pages in Appendices A through D I included in the back of the book to help get you on your way to a great swimming start.

I hope you enjoy my book about swimming on a swim team. Hopefully, it will help you understand swimming more and help you see how fun it can be to swim.

I chose to write this book on becoming a competitive swimmer because I swim and I thought it would be easier to understand from a swimmer's point of view. But, what really got me started was that my Grandpa asked me if I wanted to do math or writing for something to do during the summer. I hung with math for awhile but it got sort of boring. So I began to write about swimming as a type of creative writing sort of thing. Next thing you know, the word spread and pretty soon it became the project of the year for me. My teacher, Mrs. Silvani, hoped to get it published before the end of my 8th grade school year. That is basically my story.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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