A friend of mine does an impressive number of laps of crawl. I asked her where she learned to do so. At school in the UK I was taught to swim breast stroke. I remember we watched a demo of the arm strokes by the teacher. Then we lay with our waists across the low calf-height benches you have in a gym and moved our arms and legs. This was in preparation for a trip to a public swimming pool.
My athletic friend learned todo the crawl in four lessons from a private swimming instructor. I was surprised to hear she had taken up the crawl because of two sports injuries. She had pain in her back and spine which was aggravated by doing bread stroke. She had knee pain which was aggravated by the leg movement of breast stroke.
Her instructor taught her using hand paddles. The ones sold in Singapore had hand or wrist straps. In Australia she bought a different style which were like large mittens held on by a separate thumb section. She found these quicker to take on and off and they pulled less.
She practised daily (when in a condo with an outdoor swimming pool in Singapore) in between the weekly lessons. If you are on holiday in any country you could take weekly lessons or twice a week lessons or even daily lessons.
She said the cost was about ninety something dollars, about £50 a lesson, for the instructor to come to her venue for a private lesson. She thought it was worthwhile to spend that amount (just under £200 in total) to be able to swim in a way which was not hurting her back or knee and to have a new skill for life.
The instructor gave her a link to videos demonstrating what she should be doing. He also took videos of her to show her what she was doing wrong and so she could judge mistakes and progress for herself.
What might you need or want to buy?
Checklist
1 Swimsuit.
2 Swimming hat
3 Swimming socks
4 Hand paddles for practising and learning
5 Nose clips
6 Ear plugs
7 Goggles
8 Videos on the internet
9 Lessons, group or private
10 Pool or club membership
11 A holiday at a hotel or self-catering complex with a pool where you can have swimming lessons
12 Lessons at a local public or private swimming pool in the holiday season
13 Cheaper midweek membership of a swimming pool 'club' at a city centre hotel
14 Camera, smart phone or a waterproof camera to photograph yourself swimming
What could you and I learn from her?
1 Look at videos on line.
2 Go to free lessons at your club or gym whilst they are on offer, so that if you ever get a sports injury you have another way of swimming.
3 Get an instructor or friend or family member to film you swimming so that you can see how well you are doing compared to yourself previously and compared to the demos on line.
4 If you can afford it take private lessons at your gym, country club, second home or on holiday at place with an indoor or outdoor pool.
5 Looking for entertainment on holiday? Instead of or as well as spending on clothes and outings, spend on lessons which could give you a new skill.
6 Look for the nearest swimming pool to your holiday hotel or condo and enquire about group lessons.
7 Combine with other family members or friends to reduce the cost and have a private lesson.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
My athletic friend learned todo the crawl in four lessons from a private swimming instructor. I was surprised to hear she had taken up the crawl because of two sports injuries. She had pain in her back and spine which was aggravated by doing bread stroke. She had knee pain which was aggravated by the leg movement of breast stroke.
Her instructor taught her using hand paddles. The ones sold in Singapore had hand or wrist straps. In Australia she bought a different style which were like large mittens held on by a separate thumb section. She found these quicker to take on and off and they pulled less.
She practised daily (when in a condo with an outdoor swimming pool in Singapore) in between the weekly lessons. If you are on holiday in any country you could take weekly lessons or twice a week lessons or even daily lessons.
She said the cost was about ninety something dollars, about £50 a lesson, for the instructor to come to her venue for a private lesson. She thought it was worthwhile to spend that amount (just under £200 in total) to be able to swim in a way which was not hurting her back or knee and to have a new skill for life.
The instructor gave her a link to videos demonstrating what she should be doing. He also took videos of her to show her what she was doing wrong and so she could judge mistakes and progress for herself.
What might you need or want to buy?
Checklist
1 Swimsuit.
2 Swimming hat
3 Swimming socks
4 Hand paddles for practising and learning
5 Nose clips
6 Ear plugs
7 Goggles
8 Videos on the internet
9 Lessons, group or private
10 Pool or club membership
11 A holiday at a hotel or self-catering complex with a pool where you can have swimming lessons
12 Lessons at a local public or private swimming pool in the holiday season
13 Cheaper midweek membership of a swimming pool 'club' at a city centre hotel
14 Camera, smart phone or a waterproof camera to photograph yourself swimming
What could you and I learn from her?
1 Look at videos on line.
2 Go to free lessons at your club or gym whilst they are on offer, so that if you ever get a sports injury you have another way of swimming.
3 Get an instructor or friend or family member to film you swimming so that you can see how well you are doing compared to yourself previously and compared to the demos on line.
4 If you can afford it take private lessons at your gym, country club, second home or on holiday at place with an indoor or outdoor pool.
5 Looking for entertainment on holiday? Instead of or as well as spending on clothes and outings, spend on lessons which could give you a new skill.
6 Look for the nearest swimming pool to your holiday hotel or condo and enquire about group lessons.
7 Combine with other family members or friends to reduce the cost and have a private lesson.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment