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Table of Contents
Watersports is a group of sports played or practiced on or in water, as swimming, water polo, or surfing. They can either be competitive watersports, individual watersports, or recreational watersports.
See the fact file below for more information on Watersports or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Watersports worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
Early Watersports
- While humans utilized the waters for survival and recreation in the past thousands of years, we have developed recreational activities to enjoy the rivers, seas, and oceans.
- The oldest watersport recorded is diving. From ordinary pearl oyster diving some 4,500 years ago, this activity expanded to different categories, then it was officially introduced in the Olympics in 1904.
- Another early game known in the western hemisphere is the water polo sport. It was first recognized at Crystal Palace London, on September 15, 1873.
- Other earlier water sports include:
- Swimming (became an Olympic sport in 1896)
- Sailing (became an Olympic sport in 1904)
- Water Motorsports (became an Olympic sport in 1908)
- Canoeing (Summer Olympic sport beginning 1936)
- Rowing (started in Romania as hobby in 1864)
- Wakeboarding (developed mid-1890s)
Tips When Choosing a Watersport
- When we say watersports, it can be individual or team activity that involves physical exertion, prowess, and technical skills.
- They have a set of goals, rules, and regulations and can be related to competition or hobby.
- The majority of the watersports are technical and require equipment, so unless someone is an expert, engaging in any of the sports always needs a company, or professional.
- When choosing a watersport, it is important that you’re really into the sport so that you won’t easily lose interest. To be good at it, you’ll most likely be investing a lot of time, effort, and even money in it.
- Aside from fitness, the right body shape and size, as well as your skills, are also crucial for playing the sport of your choice.
Popular Watersports
- SWIMMING: Individual and Team
- Disciplines: swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, open water swimming, and high diving
- KAYAKING: Individual and Team
- Disciplines: surf kayaking, white water kayaking, marathon kayaking, freestyle kayaking, polo kayaking, slalom/race kayaking, extreme slalom kayaking, marathon kayaking, ocean race kayaking, and sprint kayaking
- SNORKELING: Individual
- Disciplines: plain snorkeling, full-face mask snorkeling, bog snorkeling
- SURFING: Individual and Team
- Disciplines: tandem surfing, shortboard surfing, longboard surfing, tow-in surfing, big wave surfing, wave skiing, and horse surfing
- SAILING: Individual and Team
- Disciplines: fleet racing, match racing, team racing, offshore/oceanic racing, and speed sailing.
- WATER POLO: Team
- Disciplines: water polo
- CANOEING: Individual and Team;
- Disciplines: slalom canoeing, flatwater canoeing, and sprint canoeing
- WAKEBOARDING: Individual
- Disciplines: wakeboarding, cable wakeboarding, wakesurfing, and wakeskating
- ROWING: Individual and Team
- Disciplines: sweep rowing and sculling
- WINDSURFING: Individual
- Disciplines: freestyle windsurfing, slalom windsurfing, wave windsurfing, speed windsurfing, foil windsurfing, super x windsurfing, and indoor windsurfing
- DIVING: Individual and Team;
- Disciplines: diving, synchronized diving, and cliff/high diving
- RAFTING: Individual and Team;
- Disciplines: sprint rafting, head-to-head rafting, slalom rafting, and downriver rafting
- SPEARFISHING: Individual
- Disciplines: speargun spearfishing and sling/polespear spearfishing
- KITEBOARDING: Individual;
- Disciplines: wave kitesurfing, strapless kitesurfing, freestyle kiteboarding, speed kiteboarding, big air kiteboarding, slalom/boardercross kiteboarding, course race kiteboarding, foil kiteboarding, snow kiteboarding, kite buggying, and land kiteboarding
- PADDLEBOARDING: Individual
- Disciplines: paddleboard racing technical and paddleboard racing distance
- FREEDIVING: Individual
- Disciplines: constant weight, constant weight without fins, free immersion, variable weight, no limits, dynamic with fins, dynamic without fins, static apnea, speed endurance apnea, jump blue, and skandalopetra
- WATERSKIING: Individual
- Disciplines: speed water skiing, trick water skiing, show water skiing, slalom water skiing, jump water skiing, barefoot water skiing, and wake skiing
- SKIMBOARDING: Individual;
- Disciplines: wave skimboarding and flatland skimboarding
- CANYONING: Individual
- KNEEBOARDING: Individual
- Disciplines: wave kneeboarding and wake-style kneeboarding
- BODYSURFING: Individual
- Disciplines: bodysurfing and handplane surfing
- STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING: Individual;
- Disciplines: SUP surfing, SUP racing technical, SUP racing distance, SUP sprint race
- FLOWBOARDING: Individual;
- Disciplines: stand-up riding and bodyboarding
- FINSWIMMING: Individual;
- Disciplines: swimming pool finswimming and long-distance finswimming
Motor Watersports
- The above-listed watersports are human or sail-powered physical activities.
- There are watersports that also use motor power such as Boating, Boat Racing, Flyboarding, Jet Skiing, and Yachting.
Water Sports Record Holders
- Best athletes emerge in all kinds of watersports that is why Guinness World Records compiled the best performers in each field. Let’s look at some of the record-holders.
- The longest journey swimming of 5,268 km (3273.38 miles) was achieved by Martin Strel (Slovenia) who swam the entire length of the Amazon River.
- Danish freediver Stig Severinsen made a record for swimming with fins in just one breath, making it 202 meters (662 ft 8.7 in) underwater.
- The deepest scuba dive in seawater was achieved by Ahmed Gabr (Egypt) dived to a depth of 332.35 m (1,090 ft 4.5 in) in the Red Sea of Dahab, Egypt.
- The longest open water wave surfed by a man was achieved by Gary Saavedra surfing on the Panama Canal in Panama City with a surf distance of 43.1 mi (66.47 km).
Watersports Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Watersports across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about Watersports which can either be competitive, individual, or recreational.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Watersports Facts
- Water Safety First!
- Ready for any Water
- Watersport Evaluation
- My Watersport
- Portrait of an Athlete
- Competitive or Recreational
- Do you Want to Try?
- Best Watersport Photos
- The Duke
- Watersport Promotion
Link/cite this page
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Link will appear as Watersports Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, October 28, 2021
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.