Swimming, whether competitively or just for pleasure or fitness, gets a lot of attention on this website, and rightly so, since it’s what most people come to the pool to do. But swimming isn’t the only game in town. If you’re looking for something different to add to your routine this autumn, see if your local pool offers (or can connect you with) any of the following activities.
Diving. Springboard or platform diving will help you build strength, flexibility and body awareness while perfecting some slick acrobatic moves.
Synchronized diving. Once you’ve mastered diving alone, add the challenge of diving in perfect synchronicity with a team member. Not easy.
Triathlon. Yes, triathlon still involves plain old swimming, but you get to ride your bike and run afterward!
Modern pentathlon. If you want maximum variety in your sports, the modern version of the pentathlon features fencing, a 200-metre freestyle swim, show jumping, and a final combined event of pistol shooting and cross-country running.
Rescue swimming. This isn’t really a sport in itself, but if your pool offers a rescue swimming course it’s a good opportunity to learn some techniques to help a swimmer in difficulty. You just never know.
Synchronized swimming. Some people may mock…
