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.
