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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Water sports & recreations > Swimming & diving > General
The author's reasons for writing this book were, first, to provide
readers with some basic hydrodynamic tenants that will help them
understand the reasons for the complex nature of the stroke
mechanics employed by elite, competitive swimmers. The first three
chapters on resistance and propulsion were included for this
purpose. The second purpose was to describe, what the author
believes, is the major propulsive mechanism swimmers use: shoulder
adduction. A third purpose was to comment on some of, the many
"fads" and misconceptions about stroke mechanics that abound in our
sport. His final reasoning behind writing this book was to
speculate on some theories about stroke mechanics he developed over
the years. The efficacy of these theories have yet to be validated
by research, but are worth considering nonetheless. These purposes
were met by the individual chapters on each competitive stroke,
plus a chapter on stroke rates and stroke lengths. This book is not
a continuation of the Swimming Faster series, although it contains
some of the same information. Therefore, the author purposely
changed the title to reflect his purpose in writing it. It contains
descriptions and summaries of the most important research on
swimming hydrodynamics over the last several decades, in his
opinion. The descriptions of stroke mechanics are supported by
photographs of some of the greatest swimmers in the world, both
past and present. They were made from in-competition videos where
one can see how they really swim, as opposed to what they think
they should be doing, which is what one often sees in pool
demonstrations and out-of-competition instructional videos.
'I Found My Tribe is inspiring, humbling and a picture of what love
really looks like' Marian Keyes An invocation to all of us to love
as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an
urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the
natural world and the brightness of life. Ruth's tribe are her
lively children and her filmmaker husband, Simon, who has Motor
Neurone Disease and can only communicate with his eyes. Ruth's
other 'tribe' are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones,
Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold
water, just for kicks. 'The Tragic Wives' Swimming Club', as they
jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges
life puts in their way, not to mention the monster waves rolling
over the horizon. 'Fitzmaurice tells her story in sparkling prose
that is as sinewy as her new sea-strengthened body, and as
admirable and boundless as her spirit', Sunday Times 'Uplifting and
life-affirming' Stylist
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