It is 5 weeks since I have began learning swimming with Mary Donahue. I have no access to a pool to practice what I learn during the class. So, part of my living room carpet area is dedicated for my scissor kicks and mock freestyle swimming! My son has also left me a snorkel so I can practice and accompany him on a future offshore trip to see marine life!

While I reflect back on each class I notice that there is a really good structure to Mary’s teaching methodology.  It is hard to get the kind of success I see in this class without a really good teacher.  Mary also has fabulous teaching assistants. A big Thanks to all the teaching assistants Hector, Michelle, Patrick, Vivenne, (I am missing a few names)  for their continued encouragement and support! They are so full of energy and enthusiasm to teach us novices, swimming skills.

Today’s milestone was to  jump feet first into the 5 feet deep side of the pool. Mary demonstrated how to perform this skill and talked about the consequences of doing it the wrong way.

It was intimidating at first, but I did it. In fact, we all did it. There is so much support from Mary, the aides and from my classmates.  With this first taste of success, we all made a beeline to jump into the pool. I had my share of landing on my knee and my butt (none of them being serious) but with continued feedback from the aides and my swimming partner Melanie, I started getting better at it. Learning is so much easier in such an environment. While I stared at my pink nail polish and focused before jumping into the pool, Mary continued to push us and take our new-found-skill to the next level. Jump in, float, do the corkscrew, breathe, swim! I did my first free-style lap across the pool, sans my flipping over on my back to breathe!

The chlorine in the pool bothered me a little today. I hope to bring swimming glasses next time. Cannot wait to be back in the pool next week. Dang…. it is Memorial Day weekend and there is no lesson. OK, the Saturday after. Till then, I will practice in my living room!