I had my first taste of jumping from a diving board into a 15 feet pool! Yeah!

Fifteen minutes into the class, while we floated around in the shallow pool, scissor-kicking and stuff, Mary surprised us by saying that we were going to be moving to the West side pool and jumping from the diving boards! There was obviously apprehension and sounds of nervousness around the pool. After all we have been trying to learn swimming only for 6 weeks! Are we ready for the deep pool? What if?

There were at least 10 trained lifeguards-cum-swimming assistants in the west-pool when we …

India is an ancient country. The Mohenjodaro remains, dating back to 3250 BC to 2750 BC, when the Indus Valley civilization was in full glory seem to indicate that swimming was an important game. There is strong evidence of the presence of the “Great Bath” which is similar to the present day swimming pools. The medieval empires also had swimming pools indicating that swimming was common.

A significant part of the Indian population (almost 80%) live in smaller towns and villages. Both as a general activity and sporting event, swimming is not as popular in India as one would expect it …

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 …

You must be wondering what Soldier, Monkey and Airplane has to do with swimming! I wondered too!

Well, this is the unorthodox way to propel forwards when floating on the back!  Think of standing like a soldier, arms straight like in attention. Then run your hands along the body, with fingers up to the armpit to look like a monkey. Then extend the arms across like an airplane. Lo and behold, I found myself gliding through the water and moving backward! What a wonderful feeling it is! While looking up at the grey sky, I repeated the instructions “soldier, monkey, airplane, …

I was, as usual, anxiously waiting for my third swimming lesson at De Anza College pool.

Mary began the class by having us watch a short video on beach safety. The video was informative, giving details of rip currents and the basic rules to follow if ever caught in one of them.  The video was followed by a short hands-on demo on handling an unconscious person.  The single biggest issue when a person is unconscious is the tongue sliding back and blocking the airway. The first thing that is done is to hold the chin and tilt the head backwards. This …