Shark Tales

Swimming is a great way to relax, exercise and improve lung function for people of all ages. Though heavily tanned from the activities of this week, I feel fit and in good spirits. This post shall serve me as a reminder for when I am being a lazy, unfit couch slob, procrastinating and wasting away precious oxygen.

Truth is, pools are dirty places where people from different backgrounds share a water medium along with germs, various body fluids, hairs and chlorine. The trick is to try not to swallow the pool water. Apparently, urine indicator dye - which supposedly turns dark blue when it comes in contact with pee - is an urban myth! I read it on the net but I wasn't daring enough to confirm my suspicions in situ. I think it's a great piece of false information to spread around, especially to kids until they can comprehend the concept of being considerate.

Monday: Rude Awakening

After receiving confirmation of the swim test for Wednesday, I went for a swim at Bishan Swimming Complex. No details as to what was going to be tested was given, asking didn't help either. Little did I know that I was really out of practice and could hardly swim 25m in the 'freestyle stroke'. 

From the top: Free Style, Breast Stroke, Back Stroke, Butterfly Stroke

Tuesday: Unlearning and Relearning

To get familiar with the pool where the actual test was to be held, I went to the Queenstown Swimming Complex. A little internet research gave me the idea that being able to manage one lap, i.e. 50m was a safe bet. Watching a few videos on YouTube, I realised what I thought was my 'freestyle stroke' all these long years was not the actual technique. That was a shocker. I didn't know anything about exhaling underwater. I used to do the inhale plus exhale while I surfaced but that was always tough and most of the time, I swallowed water too. To counter this, I had learnt to prolong holding my breath underwater. Needless to say, I never got too far in one stretch. I didn't have any proper formal training and most of my unorthodox 'shustyle' moves came about interpreting what I thought others did and while swimming in the river every other day back home. I was also a little skeptical, thinking technique didn't matter much, as long as I was able to float and knew enough to survive from a drowning situation plus I wasn't going to participate in any competitions. Well, I was wrong. Determined to build stamina, I learned as much tips from the video and decided to practice the following morning.

That day concluded with finally watching Brave!! The movie was even better than I imagined and the minute details in the animations...WOW, I was totally immersed in that fantasy! Merida and I would have made great friends.

Wednesday: Only Practice Makes Perfect

Early morning on the day of the test, I went to the Clementi Swimming Complex, which I assumed was nearer to my place. After getting bad directions from a couple of people, I made it there very frustrated and tired after about an hour of walking from the MRT. That day, I worked on brushing up my freestyle technique - learning to blow bubbles underwater to exhale, streamline the body, wave the legs without bending knees and mastering gasping for a breath by turning the head to a side above the waterline. During this time, I also noticed that most people here did the breast stroke, which I never tried before. It was a slow swim, but seemed far less energy-consuming compared to the mad waving and flapping of the freestyle, which burnt out the body very quickly. When comparing freestyle to a fast paced 100m sprint, the breast stroke seemed like a slow and steady marathon. 

In the afternoon, I got a call. The test was postponed to Friday due to problems with the pool booking. Hallelujah! I could not have asked for a better turn of events. Two more days to practice. I headed to the Bukit Batok Swimming Complex for my evening swim practice session. 

Thursday: A Guiding Star 

Early morning hours at the pool are the most peaceful and relaxing. There are far fewer people around and most of them are the senior citizens. I contemplated on getting a private lesson from an experienced coach to learn the breast stroke - by now, I knew that was the only way I was going manage one full lap. I called so many of them and apart from them all having an expensive standard flat rate ($1 per minute), most were not willing to teach on such short notice. Finally, I found a willing lady coach who agreed to give me a lesson that evening.

Another trip to the same pool in the evening for a swimming lesson. My new coach taught me the breast stroke, treading water (a technique to stay without drowning) and helped to improve my freestyle and diving techniques. A coach can really do wonders and give encouragement - we all need it sometimes. They can point out small things which can make a big difference in the techniques. She asked me to look at the pool floor while underwater than keep my head up facing forwards, stretch the arms to glide and streamline the body and finally how to turn the head properly to inhale -  all which helped improve speed and conserve energy. She left me when the hour was up, with a fair knowledge of the breast stroke, but more practice was required. I had to discourage her from giving me another lesson, considering it was expensive.

Friday: Judgement Day

More homework on YouTube on breast stroke techniques, and I was up by 6am, ready for my morning swim! Treading water required a lot of practice and I could not master that. Over the years, I already had developed my own 'possum technique' for staying afloat for long periods of time by floating face upwards like a dead body. I didn't see how the conventional technique was any better when mine required only a fraction of energy to move the arms and legs. 

Half hour into the swim, it started raining cats and dogs and we were called off the pool. I stayed another one and a half hours until the rain subsided, watching the rain fall hard on the pool as I enjoyed a hot cup of tea from a vending machine. Ah, life's simple pleasures. I also made two aunty-friends. One of them who cleaned the facility took a liking towards me. She told me most of her life story and pried about my background too. Her three children were educated and off working in good places and she was keeping busy and making her own income by working at the facility for a few days of the week. She did complain that the pay wasn't so great but it was better than nothing. She also mentioned she had one son at home who was not married and she found a crafty line of conversation to check if I can cook. That and her interest in my background led me to believe she remotely considered matchmaking. It seems universal that mothers with children of marriageable age have their radars turned on for potential partners for their children and like to take matters in to their own hands. 

That morning, I finally made my first 50m goal with the breast stroke! I was overjoyed. 

After a nail-biting hour stuck in peak hour traffic, I made it to the test on time. They made the seven of us do two laps (100m) in any preferred stroke (it was not timed, luckily), a dive, 20 push ups and read out a speech. I made the 100m using every bit of will power I could gather, the dive went well, I collapsed at 10 push-ups (men clearly had an advantage over women when it came to push-ups) and I was asked to be louder while reciting the speech.

Regardless of the outcome, I'm glad I gave it my 100% best. Thanks to that experience, I know two strokes now, the proper way! Moral of that experience is that it is better to learn things in the standardised way for a start and then experiment later. Time tested ways are mostly there with good reason, they are a result of practices and techniques perfected over time to give the best possible output. While the breast stroke won't be that useful in getting the hell away from a water snake or attempting to escape a killer baby shark, it will certainly be useful in swimming long distances, like to a faraway island from a ship wreck (in non-shark infested waters, that is).

Introducing, the song of the week - "We are one, tonight, and we are breathing (swallowing) the same air (water)....".