History of Swimming
History of swimming
One of the most unique characteristics of humans amongst most animals is our ability to adapt to our environment. And because of this ability, our species were able to survive since the beginning through the ice age and although out the internet age. And since time immemorial, we have known that humans already acquired the ability to swim. Although humans were not designed to move in the water, yet somehow we found ways for us to move ourselves from point A to point B in water through swimming.
Early human records show that we mankind already know how to swim. We find ancient sculptures and wall paintings depicting people swimming. We even have recorded instances in the Bible that tell us that people do swim back in those days. But nobody really knows for certain how early humans first learned how to swim.
My theory goes that humans first learned how to swim by observing and copying the swimming movements of animals. Since the dog is man’s best friend, and it is instinctive for dogs to know how to swim, it is very likely that early humans copied the dogs’ swimming movements as their own. Hence in my opinion, the very first swimming stroke was the “doggy paddle”. The doggy paddle seems to be a more natural movement for swimming to humans because as babies we instinctively develop the skill to crawl, just like how dogs walk in all fours.
And later on, our ancestors observed that frogs can swim too! So they tried to duplicate the frogs’ swimming movements hence the first “frog stroke” was born!
As time passed and mankind learned to developed new swimming techniques from these two early swimming strokes, the doggy paddle and the frog stroke.
Now, the international swimming community recognizes 4 official swimming techniques, namely The Crawl, which is often used in “Freestyle” competition; The Backstroke; The Butterfly; and the Breaststroke.
The Crawl is the evolved doggy paddle. Over the period of time, the Crawl techniques have immensely
One of the most unique characteristics of humans amongst most animals is our ability to adapt to our environment. And because of this ability, our species were able to survive since the beginning through the ice age and although out the internet age. And since time immemorial, we have known that humans already acquired the ability to swim. Although humans were not designed to move in the water, yet somehow we found ways for us to move ourselves from point A to point B in water through swimming.
Early human records show that we mankind already know how to swim. We find ancient sculptures and wall paintings depicting people swimming. We even have recorded instances in the Bible that tell us that people do swim back in those days. But nobody really knows for certain how early humans first learned how to swim.
My theory goes that humans first learned how to swim by observing and copying the swimming movements of animals. Since the dog is man’s best friend, and it is instinctive for dogs to know how to swim, it is very likely that early humans copied the dogs’ swimming movements as their own. Hence in my opinion, the very first swimming stroke was the “doggy paddle”. The doggy paddle seems to be a more natural movement for swimming to humans because as babies we instinctively develop the skill to crawl, just like how dogs walk in all fours.
And later on, our ancestors observed that frogs can swim too! So they tried to duplicate the frogs’ swimming movements hence the first “frog stroke” was born!
As time passed and mankind learned to developed new swimming techniques from these two early swimming strokes, the doggy paddle and the frog stroke.
Now, the international swimming community recognizes 4 official swimming techniques, namely The Crawl, which is often used in “Freestyle” competition; The Backstroke; The Butterfly; and the Breaststroke.
The Crawl is the evolved doggy paddle. Over the period of time, the Crawl techniques have immensely