Pools | Sports Coach

Is there any way to treat allergies manifesting from swimming pool water?

Some swimmers are not very tolerant of the chemicals in the pool water and they suffer from frequent allergies and rashes on their body. This adverse effect forces them to stop swimming for a while until they repeat these attempts to acclimatize to pool water again and again.

Allergies or rashes can lead to loss of interest in swimming and people might try running or perform other aerobic exercises to maintain their health and fitness levels.

However, there might be an easy solution to these problems if swimming is absolutely essential for aerobic exercise, since many patients suffering from arthritis, spinal injuries, knee and ankle injuries cannot run or walk without pain and need swimming as a low impact exercise to remain fit and healthy.

The first thing to do is to visit the family doctor and ask them for advise. They might be able to prescribe certain anti-allergy medications or anti-histamines for itching and rashes. Those swimmers who have not found any solutions through their primary care doctors can visit a dermatologist or immunologist to seek additional solutions or advise on the future course of action.

Apart from these steps, allergy or rash prone swimmers can try different swimming pools to see if they can tolerate chemical cocktails in some pools better than the others. In addition, swimmers can also wear full body swim suits and put on goggles, ear plugs and train themselves not to ingest even the least bit of water. This can be done by proper training in breathing techniques which ensure no pool water will be ingested while swimming.

Swimmers can also ask their doctors if there are any food supplements they can consume or avoid certain kinds of foods or drinks which might help boost their immune system against such adverse reaction to pool water.

Filed Under: Pools, Swimming Tagged With: swimming, Swimming pool, Water

Las Vegas Pools

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It might be hard to believe that someone would actually travel all the way to Las Vegas to hop into a pool when there are hundreds of local pools and spas in your local area. After all, Las Vegas is often known as the casino capital of the world and many people head there just to play the casino poker tables and share their experience with others. However, Las Vegas is becoming popular for its elaborate resort style pools.

These pools that are located at some of the most well known hotels and casinos have some of the most extreme pool layouts. This is evidenced by the Mandalay Beach’s pool layout. Mandalay Beach isn’t just a pool—it is a beach experience. It has over 11 acres of poolside that resembles a beach with palm trees and a sandy ground. There are several pools including a general pool, kiddy pool and an over 21 pool. Mandalay Beach also has a lazy river raft ride that allows visitors to soak up the rays as if they were floating down a lazy river.

Mandalay Beach isn’t the only extreme pool available throughout the Vegas area. The Palms Place Hotel and Casino offers a more secluded version of swimming. The Palms Place has a wide open pool area that is open up to the general public. However, at the far end of the pool is a pool enclave that allows swimmers to swim through a secluded grotto that feels mysterious and magical. The Palms Place also has a wonderful waterfall that falls into the pool. While not all Vegas pools are as elaborate as the Mandalay Beach or Palms Place Hotel, they do give your local pool a run for its money. No matter what hotel you choose, you will have plenty of lounge chairs to lie around in, palm trees to set the mood and sunrays to soak up.

Filed Under: Pools

The Strokes of Breathing

When your coach tells you to do a particular number of strokes in between breaths, you might wonder at the purpose of it all at first. Now, while the best way to do things is to just do as your coach tells you to and ask your questions later on, sometimes it will help you if you keep a particular intention in your mind while you are working out. In this case, you are working to strengthen your lungs, so that you do not have to breathe as often while you are swimming for a purpose (such as winning a medal for it). But you are also working to strengthen your mind, so that you do not panic while you are under the water for a few seconds.

A significant part of the swimming process is naturally going to be physical. People who are not in good physical condition are not going to do very well when it comes time to swim in races. They are going to be the first ones to crap out, tire out, and have to breathe on almost every stroke. They may even be the people who have to pause half way through a race, just to catch their breath. Fortunately, this almost never happens in competitive swimming, but you probably get the point.

What a lot of people do not realize is that there is also a significant mental aspect to swimming effectively. Far too often, a person whose lungs would be perfectly fine to stay under a few seconds longer will chicken out when it comes time to do so, unless they are used to taking several strokes between their breaths. If you are used to just doing two or three stroke breathing, when it comes time to do something as simple as a flip turn, you are most likely going to end up emerging faster, breathing more frequently… and it may end up costing you the race.

Filed Under: Pools, Swimming Tagged With: Stroke, swimming

Fitting Through the eye of a Needle

It has been said that when you want to get your swimming skills to the next level, you have got to be able to get long enough and lean enough that you can fit through the eye of a needle. While you could never actually fit through a needle’s eye in the literal sense, you do need to get as long and lean as you possibly can. After all, being more lean will allow you to move through the water more efficiently. And the longer you can get, the more effectively you will be able to stroke your way through the water. Between these two goals, you will be able to accomplish incredible things in any race, or even in a situation where your life may very well depend on swimming quickly and efficiently.

The longer you get, the further out you are going to be able to reach. In a swimming stroke, your primary source of momentum is going to come out of your ability to reach out as far as you can, and push your way through the water. You use up the most energy when you are actually pushing the water, so you are going to end up getting the most bang for your buck through pushing your arms forward (generally through the air) and getting your body moving toward the finish.

In the case of being lean, this is nothing more than being aquadynamically sound. Naturally, the thinner you are, the more effectively water is going to travel over you. If you are blocking water flow, the way a child’s block would do, you are going to have a very hard time pushing yourself through the water. But if you are allowing water to flow over you like a wing, you are going to soar past the competition and fly straight onto the podium. Okay, you won’t literally do that, but you just might feel like it while you’re going along.

Filed Under: Pools, Sports Tagged With: Eye of a needle, Water

Raising Money to Keep Community Sports Teams Afloat

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If you are coaching a community team then the likelihood is that you are often faced with the issue of how the team’s needs are funded. While in some areas it may be appropriate to ask team members or their parents to pay a fee or subscription to take part in practice sessions and games, in other areas team sports need to be provided free of charge at the point of play as a community resource. This is because there are recognizable benefits to being involved in team sports for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this situation an alternative method of raising money to pay for equipment, uniforms, venue hire, team travel and additional expenses will need to be found.

Community fundraisers are a great way to raise awareness of the needs of your team. Some good ideas include getting the team to carry out errands such as washing cars or weeding gardens in return for a donation to their team kitty.
Alternatively, you may wish to stage an event such as a “bring and buy” sale where visitors donate goods from cakes to bric-a-brac to be sold to raise money for the team, as well as being encouraged to browse and purchase other items for sale.

Or, if you are feeling ambitions, why not put on a fun evening for friends and family of team members as well as others in your community. Ideas for events include a fun casino night where visitor make a donation to play at poker tables and roulette wheels in an effort to win non-monetary chips with a small prize being awarded to those with the highest number of chips at the end of the evening. Or maybe a sporting exhibition where team members can show off their skills in other entertainments, with monies being raised from the sales of tickets.

Filed Under: Games, Pools Tagged With: Donation, Sport, Team sport

Home Pools for Competitive Swimming

If you want to become a competitive swimmer but would rather do it from the comfort of your own home, you will first need to decide whether you want to get an indoor pool or an outdoor pool. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one, so make sure you research each kind before you make your final decision. Changing your mind could be costly.

An indoor pool can generally be easier to clean, since you aren’t having to pull leaves and dead bugs out of your pool. An indoor pool also allows you to use it year-round in case the mood strikes you.

However, by having an indoor pool, you won’t really be able to lay out in the sun. Many times the beauty of having a pool is sitting outside poolside, so that you can enjoy the outdoors while getting some sun on your body. An indoor pool also has a strong smell of chlorine, since it really doesn’t have a place to vent the fumes.

The pros of an outdoor pool is that it allows you to have outdoor pool parties. No one really enjoys having a party indoors when it is so nice and sunny outside. Having an outdoor pool can greatly improve your social activity.

However, an outdoor pool is generally hard to clean because of all the outdoor items that can fall inside the pool. You may also have unwanted visitors that show up just because they saw that you had a pool. Also, an outdoor pool can only generally be used in the warmer months, so that limits the use you can give it.

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you research the possible options you have. Just because your friends all have the same kind of pools, doesn’t mean that kind will be right for you. Make informed decisions before you buy.

Filed Under: Pools, Swimming

Pools and Gambling

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Tired of the freezing winter weather and playing online casino games in the confines of your office and home? If you are looking for a combination of warm weather, beautiful pools and unlimited gambling, there is no place other than Vegas which can offer you this.

Vegas may be the only city in the world where you can find world class pools and an interesting mixture of people from all around the world. When it comes to gambling, no one can beat Sin City. Las Vegas sees more gambling transactions in a month than a small country sees in a complete year. A trip to Vegas isn’t suggested for the entire family, but you and your better half can have the time of your life here. There are loads of options when it comes to pools and casinos. Pools are fast becoming, or rather have becom,e daytime clubs in Vegas. This pool culture started a few years back and has spread in the entire city of Vegas.

Pools such as REHAB in Hard Rock hotel, Wet Republic at the MGM Grand resort, AZURE pool at The Palazzo, Encore Beach Club at Wynn, Tao Beach at The Venetian, Bare Pool Lounge at The Mirage, and Liquid at Aria, are just some of the most popular pools in Vegas. It was REHAB at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino six years ago where this trend started.

For suggestions for casinos, you just can’t rate one above the other here. Each casino has something unique and different users will have different tastes. But some of the best casinos according to various unbiased users would be the Bellagio, Flamingo, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace, Rio, MGM Grand Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Paris, Monte Carlo, Venetian, New York and many more. So leave online casino games for a while and head out to the Sin City to double your fun.

Filed Under: Games, Pools, Sports Tagged With: Gambling, Las Vegas Nevada, Mirage