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In my last lesson (Day 6), we learned to do the backstroke, or in my case, something that resembles that lol! Day 7 and 8 were uneventful, meaning they were just practice sessions of the 3 basic swimming strokes we have learned on previous days. So I'll just skip over those two days and head to Day 9 which is pretty interesting. For those who are still afraid of swimming, I think you can expect your heart to go thumping. Me? I was so used to being afraid that it didn't matter anymore. Either that or my heart has stopped beating that is why I don't feel the thumping anymore. As always, just following instructions.
Just a short background on the pool. The shallow end where I am often found, ranges from 3 feet to 5 feet. The other end is a little over 6 feet and it is where the diving board is. The middle part is around 9 feet. That knowledge made me very wary of going to the middle of the pool where I could easily just disappear from the face of the earth if I go missing and unnoticed for a minute or so. And I never, ever go floating with my body parallel to the length of the pool or I will be sucked into the deepest part.
Anyway, getting on with the lessons, our instructor called all of us and told us to go to the diving end. Of course, as we're all not used to treading or floating vertically in the water, we were all clutching the gutter as we weave our way to that end. We were on a line and I was supposed to be the last one to do the drill. Here's what we had to do:
- Take a deep breath.
- Let go of the gutter and plunge, simultaneously raising arms straight up.
- Once the head is in the water, breathe out slowly.
Simple right? Except that the water is more than 6 feet deep and I am just 5 feet 3 inches. If I sink, there's no way out, or so I thought. Ma'am Bel assured us that we will float back up no matter what happens and with that, she told the first one to go and try it out. Everyone is having the jitters this time, and not just me. After a while, the first one still wouldn't go and try, and the one next to her says she's having leg cramps already. In short, nobody was willing to try it first, and so I volunteered. You read that right, I raised my hand to call attention and told Ma'am Bel I'll try it out. Must be temporary insanity or I just didn't want to let this drag on. After making sure she won't let me drown (to which she just laughed), I took two deep breaths (just to make sure), let go of the gutter while holding up my arms and as I was sinking, thankfully I remembered the exhalation part. Just before my feet touched the floor, I felt my body rising again. I would have done a somersault if I knew how. Whoee! The others were braver to try it out after seeing that I can do it. As they were doing their turn, I did it a couple more times.
The next part is staying afloat in water or what is called treading. Hand movements is very much like the breaststroke while the legs you have to first bend like a sumo wrestler then kick sideways. Hand and leg movements are done simultaneously, with the main objective of remaining in vertical position and the chin, or at least the mouth is above the waterline.
For some reasons, I knew, without doing it yet that I would sink. And I was right. It's either I am not kicking strong enough or my body is still tensed. Inside the water, the more tensed you are, the more you sink. Ma'am Bel was already prodding with her long pole, expecting me to grab it since I was not floating still, after a time. I didn't grab it because I was trying to float, determined to learn this treading once and for all. I heard her tell me to grab hold of the pole and come out, so I did. Did she panic? Lol! I tried several times but to no avail. Am not giving up though. If not that day, then some other time, but I will do it no matter what.
Now, here comes the nerve-wrecking part. She knows some of us cannot do the treading yet. But she doesn't seem to see that as an excuse for what we're about to do next. She called us one by one to walk the wooden plank and dive feet first, float up and do the treading. If we still can't tread and remain afloat, she will pull us out with the pole.
I think I saw several knees shaking, mine included. There were 5 of us that time, and only 3 managed to jump in. The other one was still having "leg cramps" and the other one backed away after shreiking several times lol! When it was my turn, it was probably the only time I suddenly had a fear of heights. It took me a while but I knew I had to do it right then or I will never have the nerve to do it ever. Taking a deep breath, I jumped, feet first, all the while telling myself that it was insane. The extra height from the jump sped up my downward motion and I felt my feet touch the floor gently. Great! I took the opportunity to kick and propel myself upward and try to do the treading. Still sinking hehehe so I had to grab the pole to let myself be pulled to the safety of the gutter.
Almost did it! I still had to learn water treading before I do another diving attempt. All I could say is "Wow!" It was really an exhilarating experience. Never mind that I still sink. I'll learn to float vertically someday. And when I do, I can already do laps along the length of the pool. It's going to take some time for me, but I'll get there through constant practice.
Oh, and remember that classmate who had leg cramps? What she told me warms my heart. She said that she admires my courage, particularly with the dive. That made me smile. If only she knew all the crazy things going on in my head as I was walking that plank and when I actually jumped in. But at least I tried, and that's what matters.
From now, it will be just constant practice and mastery of the basics. When I am really confident with the basic skills, I think my next step would be to enroll in the advance swimming lessons. After that, who knows? I think I am inclined to teach if I have that opportunity.
In this series:
- Learning How to Swim...Finally (or Hopefully)
- Swimming Lessons Day 1: Breathe Then Let Go
- Swimming Lessons Day 2: Treading the Waters
- Swimming Lessons Day 3: Free Styling
- Day 4 and 5: Front Crawl Drill, Breast Stroke and Frog Kick
- Swimming Lessons Day 6: Learning to Back Float
