my little fOOtsteps: April 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013

Swimming LessOn...

I managed tO cOnquer the pOOl tOday!! MOmmy was sO prOud Of me.

"I wondered if you all remember the little girl that I mentioned previously in March who stood out as my youngest student to clear Stage 1 test. Today, the little girl, Kaley, attained another marvelous achievement. At the tender age of 3 years 10 months plus, she managed to swim a whole full lap of 50m without aid and stopping using the frontcrawl. The requirement for Stage 2 test is actually swimming for 25m. I will usually tell the students to carry on swimming unless given instructions from me to come in to the wall. As she still swam quite well by the 25m mark and did not seem winded, I did not give instructions for her to come in and was curious to see what is her limits. She continued swimming and completed the whole lap of 50m. The parents sitting at the spectator stand were amazed at her progress and she received loud applause and cheering from them when she walked back. She became shy, tried to cling on to my leg and hide behind me. LOL.

Now, most kids will need many more lessons before they can swim 50m after passing stage 1 test which only required a 10m swim. This is her 3rd lesson after the test. The most important difference is in her mindset and others. Nike's slogan best describe her mindset - Just do it! She will try to carry out the instructions given. Most kids would be less confident and cling on to the wall a few times before being able to swim 25m. By being willing to try and not self create a mental barrier, she is able to achieve great success.

Her progress was not all smooth sailing too. There were also times when she choked water and did not swim properly. She has her fair shares of scolding when she misbehaved. Most importantly, she did not give up, continue trying and stayed positive. (Not that she has a choice given by the teacher even if she wanted to :P) In order to overcome our fears, we have to face them. Avoiding them only lead to postponement and allow us to temporarily hide from reality. Only when we face them, we have a chance to conquer them and move on.

There are a number of other students with inspirational progress. I hope to share them with you all some days.

Well done Kaley! I am very curious to see what else you can do....."