{"id":212018,"date":"2016-07-11T11:49:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T18:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=212018"},"modified":"2016-07-11T11:49:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T18:49:20","slug":"learn-more-about-jane-katz-and-the-transformative-effects-of-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/learn-more-about-jane-katz-and-the-transformative-effects-of-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn More About Dr. Jane Katz And The Transformative Effects of Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

For more than 50 years,\u00a0Dr. Jane Katz<\/strong> has been teaching swimming and the positive impact that aquatic exercise can have on body and mind. This is not a “theoretical” subject for her. \u00a0She has been through various physical and emotional traumas in her life and swimming has always helped pull her through.<\/p>\n

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It began back in 1961. when she was training for the Maccabiah Games and while riding as a passenger on a motorcycle one day in New York City when she was struck by a car that ran a red light. She suffered fractured ribs and was told that she was very lucky to have avoided a spine injury. One doctor advised her to never swim again! But she knew that she had to get back in the water to be truly healed. \u00a0In fact, she made it to the Maccabiah’s and swam the 100 meter butterfly in 1:15.8, which was a personal triumph in so many ways. But, most of all, it was just great for her to be back in the water doing what she loved.<\/p>\n

In the late 1970’s she had an accident that made the 1961 incident seem like a scratch. She was riding in a car in upstate New York, near Albany, when they were rammed by a drunk driver. She suffered a Colles fracture of her left wrist and a broken leg. In those days, there really weren’t any waterproof casts and so, initially, she was going crazy not being able to swim. Finally, it just got to be too much so she carefully wrapped her casts with plastic shopping bags and taped them as securely as she could and off to the pool she went.<\/p>\n

There wasn’t much swimming she could do in the pool given the condition she was in, so she began doing gentle water exercises daily in the 50 meter pool at Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx, NY, near Bronx Community College (the former NYU campus), where she was teaching at the time.<\/p>\n

Over the 12 weeks that her casts were on she gradually increased her water workouts. This was a very difficult time for her both physically and emotionally, but a silver lining emerged that enabled her to turn lemons into lemonade. Doing those many weeks of water exercises led her to publish her first book, the W.E.T. (Water Exercise Techniques) Workout\u00ae. She was inspired to write the book as a result of the progress she felt herself making in the pool… even under the trying circumstances of having two casts wrapped in plastic shopping bags!<\/p>\n

By the time the next spring rolled around, she was able to compete in the Short Course U.S. Master’s Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, the former home of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She was able to win the 1,650-yard event, which was an emotional and physical thrill under the circumstances. But even more priceless to her was the fact that she now had the ability to move about freely and without pain. It’s the kind of thing\u00a0 people can’t fully appreciate unless they’ve had an extended period where they are confined by a serious injury. And she owed her recovery — physical, emotional and spiritual – to being able to get into the water, whether be a small pool, large pool… or even a hot tub!<\/p>\n

Over the years she has had several medical procedures in addition to the aforementioned accidents, leaving her feeling challenged at times. But the magical properties of water would wash away the blues and make her feel free and ageless– far younger than her 73 years.<\/p>\n

There’s something about being weightless in the water that transforms one into a youthful mermaid.<\/p>\n

 
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