Progress and change is inevitable. Information technology has and continues to grow by leaps and bounds – and where all our lives are influenced by it. Naturally there are pros and cons. The smartphones would be here to stay and one can expect them to get more advanced with the times.
Kids today have smartphones both as a toy and essentiality since these are such useful gadgets. It has come to a point that many people become quite dysfunctional without a smartphone. Today’s world is very different from the world their parents grew up in. Good can be gotten out of smartphones - as well as bad. One of the greatest drawbacks is since there is so much happening in the realm of smartphones it can be a major distraction.
As parents we have an obligation to ensure that our kids grow up right. Education is inarguably many parents’ top priority. However, development of our children is not any lesser a priority. A smartphone is a facilitator and is incredibly useful for communication plus relaying information from the Internet. It can also be a corruptor if use is not regulated since it can be a distractor where hours can easily be spent being on it.
We spend a lot of time and money emphasizing on education and good grades that besides attending regular school, most kids also attend tuition classes after school. Then of course, there’s always time for smartphones where they could be playing cyber games, browsing the Internet, watching videos or in social media.
However, should we set our priorities right we can have sports in the agenda as well. Physicality is also a top priority since we want our kids to develop well and grow up to be strong and healthy adults. Take swimming sports for example where kids training in competitive swimming also go to school, attend additional tuition classes and still have time for smartphones.
Swimming sport has multiple advantages. It develops character and competitive spiritedness while inculcating discipline. These qualities are much welcomed in a child’s development. More to this, there are always good opportunities when it comes to scholarships should they perform well in swimming. Private schools and institutions of higher learning rightfully place emphasis on sportiness rather than exclusively academic achievements. The employment market also recognises sporting achievements to be an asset to employability.
In swimming there are multiple events and multiple strokes. Take freestyle events as an example where you have the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m. These days, open water swimming has also gained tremendous popularity and especially so when it became an Olympic event. There are 4 strokes in swimming competitions namely: freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke. Moreover there are the 200m and 400m individual – medley events where all 4 strokes are swum in one event.
What this translates too is that a swimmer has more than one way to come out tops and winning multiple medals is rather common. In the Beijing Olympics of 2008, American Michael Phelps won a total of 8 gold medals. 40 years earlier at the Mexico City Olympics of 1968, American swimmer Mark Spitz won a total of 7 golds. That stupendous record held sway till Phelps came along and many expect that this record-breaking accolade will stay on for quite some time.
There are many competitions being held throughout the year. There are also the school and club circuits. School circuits start from state-level on to national-level which is the MSSM and onto international level such as ASEAN School Games. For college and university students the Universiade or World University Games is a global affair. As for club-level, there are the state age-groups, national age groups and ASEAN age groups. Then there are the international circuits such as the SEA Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Olympics, besides many other circuits.
Swimming offers many other benefits concerning health which even includes mitigating asthma Moreover, they would have better stamina and grow broad and strong. Many schools have swimming programs offered through school swimming clubs. Then there are many private clubs where training is offered. All states have them and they come under the purview of state swimming associations.
