The Sports Best Suited to Ladies: Tennis and Swimming

Sports are considered among the most beneficial exercises for bodily and mental health, thanks to the gathering together of individuals that accompanies them, in an atmosphere of merriment and pleasure, and thanks also to the competition that accompanies them, which whets the spirit and heightens the zest for play.

Perhaps the sports best suited to ladies are tennis and swimming. Tennis is counted among the most beneficial of sports, for it is played in the open air and the sun, and it can be played in every season of the year — though damp weather works against it, since it ruins the rackets and the balls, and perhaps the playing court as well. It can be played vigorously or lightly, according to the player's wish and strength. It is reckoned among the strengtheners of the body in general, because its movements include the exercise of every motion and every limb — though the left arm is used less than the right; yet in any case it obtains more exercise than would appear at first sight. Tennis benefits the legs more than anything else, but the rest of the muscles also obtain a goodly share of exercise from it. Tennis finds particular favor with ladies, because it requires gracefulness more than it requires strength — besides which it calls for freedom of dress and low heels on the shoes.

Swimming, likewise, is counted among the best sports for the body in general, for it combines the benefits of exercise, deep breathing, the cold bath, the sun, and the open air. The exercise of swimming includes every muscle and every organ of the body, so it makes for proportionate growth in all its parts, besides gracefulness of figure and uprightness of carriage. Swimming is considered among the sports best suited to ladies because of what nature has endowed them with: development of the legs, suppleness, grace, and the sense of balance and harmony — and also because nature has given them more fat than it has given man, thereby making them better able to endure the cold. Hence victory in swimming has been written for ladies, even over the long distances that require great powers of endurance.

Every girl and every lady may rightly let her thoughts and inclinations turn in summer toward the shores of seas and rivers, her desire growing keener and stronger for the struggle with the white crests of the waves — that struggle which leads to the building of the muscles and the refreshing, strengthening, and invigorating of the body. Then she lies down on the shore to rest and embraces the hot sands; her youth is renewed, her mind is cleared, and her resolve is strengthened.

In the summer season a person feels a pressing need to look for something to refresh mind and body, in obedience to a natural instinct within, and finds this thing in water, which refreshes the body the moment it touches the flesh. The force of this natural instinct shows itself more plainly and clearly during the swelter and heat, when we long to plunge our bodies into the depths of the cold water after exposing them bare to the warm rays of the sun. Man's love of water is rooted deep in his soul and his nature. This may go back to our belief in the necessity of water and its importance for the cleanliness of our bodies; and there is another side to this matter — that two-thirds of our bodies are made of water.

There is no room for doubt that the sea bath is more beneficial and more profitable than the ordinary bath. Many who gain nothing from the ordinary bath gain much from the salt sea bath. This can be explained by the salts dissolved in seawater, which stimulate the surface of the skin. Then, too, the moving of the body's muscles during swimming has a sure effect on the general health.

There are rules that must be observed in the sea bath. The first is that the body should be immersed in the water the moment one enters it, by diving beneath its surface, so that the distribution of the reaction over the surface of the body and skin may be full and complete. After that it is well for you, while in the water, to perform some movements calculated to increase the circulation of the blood. If you know how to swim, you will find no difficulty in keeping your body warm even if the sun is not shining.

It is well known that the athletic girl of strong build can stay in the water without coming to harm for a longer time than the girl of weak build who has never practiced sport before. But it is not right in any case to bathe immediately after eating. As for the length of time to stay in the water, it varies with age, sex, and strength; but one must not remain in the water to the point of shivering.

The girl of strong build has no need to put on her clothes upon leaving the water. If the weather is hot, she may throw herself down bare and relaxed upon the sands of the shore, exposing her body to the warm rays of the shining sun, leaving to them and to the pure air full liberty to work their beneficial work in stimulating and strengthening the skin.

The sun bath has wondrous properties and natural healing powers beyond price. But we must warn our lady reader against the danger of overdoing the sun bath on the seashore. For if the sun's rays are a strong and effective agent for our benefit, they can be a ruinous, destructive agent if we misuse them. If you remain under the sun's rays longer than a certain limit, their heat will sap your strength. The best times for the sun bath are the early hours of the morning, before its heat reaches the height of its power. Let your guide be the tanning of your skin — its gradual coloring. And it is well to accustom the extremities of the body to the rays first — the arms and the feet are exposed to the sun before the whole body is exposed at once.