Tuesday 26 November 2019

My Experiences in the Pool


It was my long-time dream to learn swimming as I always thought it to be one of those few most necessary lifeskills that one should master in one’s life. Last month (9th Oct., 2019, to be precise), I joined Swami Vivekanand Swimming Pool, near Pedak Road which is run by RMC. This is a three-month course. It has been great fun all along to put the body in the water for one full hour. It is something like playing golf; you enjoy it even if you don’t know how to play it. We have four coaches here: Siddharth sir, Vikram sir, Nachiket sir and Anand sir.
On the first day my coach, Nachiket sir, told me to just walk to and fro the width of the pool (21 metres) to make myself comfortable in the water and have some experience of underwater gravity. The depth at this end of the pool was merely 4 to 5 ft. Then there was bubble practice in which I was asked to take in deep breath, submerge myself completely into the pool water and breathe out the air in bubbles. During these two days I had already started practicing freestyle. On the fourth day, once we were through bubbling, floating, kicking, and diving, Siddharth sir explained us how to move hands in freestyle and why it was necessary to move them correctly. He gave the example of the oars of the boat (He used the nice Hindi word “patvar”). The oars propel the boat furthure by forcing the water backward.
This analogy of body as a boat and hands as oars worked with me and I did propel my body boat with my hand oars. Initially it gave a bit of confidence. But that confidence didn’t last long as one problem cropped up that bogged me down for more than two weeks and that was related to breathing and movement of the head. I was able to swim 10 to 15 metres but the bad thing was that I used to keep my head completely down under the water and hold my breath so at the end of 15 metres, my lungs became completely devoid of oxygen and carbon dioxide built up in them made me feel out-of-breath. I was somehow unable to take breathe during the swim. I saw some videos on youtube for whatever guidance I could have to get rid of this problem by learning a proper way to breathe. If someone asked me about the most difficult thing to master in swimming, I would say it is breathing while swimming. Most elite swimmers swim by keeping their face looking straight down, at the bottom of the pool and only turn their face to breathe. I tried to do the same, but what was easy to watch in the videos was difficult to do in practice. It is like a kid who learns how to ride a bicycle; if he focuses on governor, he forgets to pedal and if he focuses on the pedals, he forgets the governor. What to do? I saw others, my batch fellows, swaying their face both ways while swimming. But I was following the videos and the elite swimmers who never did that. At last I asked the coach, Vikram sir, who advised me to do the same as other biginners like me were doing: turn face sideways constantly while swimming so that my face remaind outside the water and I am able to breathe and swim longer distance.
I tried to do that but still movement of the neck was not satisfactory to the coaches. I thought maybe at 40, my neck and shoulder muscles have become too stiff to move correctly. However I continued the practice. But after a few days I felt I had reached a plateau where I was making no progress. I was getting frustrated as others were making progress. I was contemplating chucking up. I thought I have learned as much as I could. During these days, our coaches annonced the test and we were to swim entire length of the pool (i.e. 50m). I was not able to swim the width of the pool (21m) and here I was supposed to swim 50m! The middle of the pool had the depth of 8 to 9 ft. and the very thought that I would give up during that part made me more distraught. On that day I swam near the side of the pool and I finished the entire length with four stops. No doubt, it was a bad performance. However our coaches, observing us outside the water, shouted four suggestions to me during the test which proved quite useful later:
1.                             “Your legs are not working properly. Use your legs and kick properly.”
2.                             “Keep your body completely horizontal near the surface.”   
3.                              “Turn your head properly. Let your one ear and cheek submerge in the water when you move your hand and try to look towards the sky. That way you will be able to breath more freely ”    
4.                              “Don’t keep your body so stiff. Allow it to relax. Remember your position when you learned to float. Once you relax your body, you just have to move your hands and legs.”   
After the test I had a long discussion with my coach, Siddharth sir, on my problem and he repeated his advice with demonstration of head and neck movements. I thought maybe I should stop comparing myself with others who moved ahead of me and be happy as long as I am learning something on a daily basis that enhances my swimming style. I realised I should do more practice with correct guidance. I started practice again; this time with more fervour. And one day I felt that I could swim more than 15 metres because I was able to breathe in once or twice! There was no out-of-breath distress at the end. The following day, I swam 20 metres before I gave up and I felt that now I was able to move my head both the sides and breathe in while swimming. That very day I swam entire width of the pool (21 m i.e. 68 feet) at one go and all along I had been breathing, turning the head both the sides. I must admit it was a nice feeling.
This is an account of my one-and-a-half month swimming experience. Long ago I watched a movie named “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in which an old lady, around 50 or 60, fulfilled her dream to swim across English Channel (32 kms). Many people have done it. Recently I read about Sarah Thomas, 37 year old American lady, who swam across English Channel four times in a row in 54 hours. I hope I will be able to swim at least 100m before my three months come to an end.