Most people think swimming isn't a “official” sport. That’s where those people are wrong. Swimming is a real sport! Thousands of boys and girl swim as a sport. Swimming is a competitive sport just like any other sport.

Swimming consists of four strokes. Freestyle, Breast stroke, Backstroke, and Butterfly. Each kid who swims has a favorite or which one they’re best at. Freestyle is like regular swimming. Head in the water, arms stuck out ahead of you, and kicking your feet. Breast stroke is like swimming like a frog. While bobbing your head in and out of the water. Backstroke is just floating on your back. You also have to kick your legs and move your arms. It’s like freestyle on your back. Butterfly is just what it sounds like, you look like a butterfly. You swing your arms in a butterfly like motion and do a dolphin kick after each arm movement.

Thousands of boys and girls go to swim practice at least once day a week. I can think of about five hundred kids in Stockton. Four summer swim teams (teams that only swim in the summer) I know have about one hundred kids on their team. There are many swim teams; The Spanos Park East Ducks, Lincoln 1&5 Llightnings, Stonewood Stingrays, and Brookside Mallards and others. Every year, we have a annual city meet. A city meet is a huge swim meet where all teams from the city come to compete. Last year there was a possibility that the city meet would not happen due to budget cuts. With helps from all parents, we got to keep it by volunteering. Some kids think swimming is the only sport they can do because swimming can be done by all people. There are no try outs and NOBODY gets cut.

Swimming is just as competitive as any other sport. This sport is not just competition against people, it’s against yourself, too. Sure you race against other people, but you are also trying to beat your time. It is fun when you win a race and get a big blue ribbon, but all that matters is beating your time. That gives the swimmer, who beat their time, confidence that they can do it again and rise right to the top. When you’re in the water, it feels like you are floating on air. It is so calm in the water, you feel like you are the only person there. So what if you get last place; you still get a ribbon and it was fun to do.

Swimming is a sport. Just look at all the kids that do it. You never get turned down and even if you lose, you still get a prize. So next time you think swimming isn’t a sport, remember all the kids it means so much to.