“I tried to run out. I saw his air bubbles, and he never came back up,” said Tara Pledger, one of the witness. A total of six people rushed to the aid of the girls. However, the 17 year old boy was left underwater for about ten to fifteen minutes before one of the ladies eventually pulled him out of the water. ”They put him on a stretcher. When they walked him down, they had him on an IV, so there is hope,” said Pledger.

The issue here is that there were numerous ”No Swimming” signs along the shoreline. Furthermore, there wasn’t any lifeguard on duty. However, there were still many people who risk their life and head out on their own. Even the locals living in the area agreed that such individuals are taking a risk when they head out for a swim, especially for those who ventured far out. ”I’ve had some friends of mine who’ve drowned out here. It’s smooth right now. You see the surface. It’s smooth. Underneath, you have an undercurrent, and the water can be rugged in some parts of this lake. It creates pockets that can suck you in,” said Mac Whitfield.

Despite the warning signs, many people still ignore them. This shouldn’t be the case as they were placed there for a reason and we shouldn’t by any means take them lightly. This is also one of the main cause of drownings around the world. People tend to ignore the warnings and risk their life for an “adventure” without thinking about the consequences. In this case, the 17 year old boy’s rash decision has caused his family to be in a state of shock and despair. It has also cause a financial burden to his family as the cost for life support doesn’t come cheap. At the end of the day, we have to realise that decisions like this can not only affect us, but our love ones too. Hence, we ultimately have to think about whether it’s worth that risk.

At Happy Fish Swim School, we strongly recommend swimmers to obey the warning signs and try to avoid swimming when there isn’t a life guard around especially in the open waters. They differ greatly from that of the public swimming complex and one simply shouldn’t take the risk. Instead, we would recommend you to arm yourself with Open Water Skills to better prevent any tragedies from occurring.

However, Phelps who won a record eight gold medals at the previous games has yet to discover his form recently. At last year’s world championships, Ryan Lochte, his U.S. teammate managed to outperform Phelps. During the competition, Lochte ended up beating Phelps twice head-to-head and winning four individual golds as compared to Phelps’ two. Despite that, it has only helped the 27 year old to be more determined. “He was just like kind of rolling over me. It wasn’t fun to be on that end, and it was something that was very motivating for me.”

So far, he has a total of sixteen Olympic medals under his belt and just require three more to become the Olympian with the most amount of medals. “Sometimes, I guess, you see records and you say you want to get there and you can use it as motivation. In a way, it’s kind of cool that there is a possibility to rewrite history,” Phelps said. The current record holder is Larisa Latynina, a Russian gymnast who managed to accumulate 18 medals over four Olympics, ending in 1964.

As the build up to the London Olympics gets more intense, we can only wait to figure out who will come up on top. Will it be Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte? Perhaps, it might even be someone else whom we did not expect. However, the main question is whether Michael Phelps will be able to break Larisa Latynina’s record. We’ll only be able to find out in just about 74 days.

At Happy Fish Swim School, we offer Competitive Swimming Training as well for the more advanced students. If you have an interest in taking part in competitions and shining in them, be sure to come take a look! Aside from that, we still do offer many other Types of Swimming Lessons. There is always a suitable class for everyone, so why not find yours today?

The Southern Nevada Chapter of the International Code Council (located in the United States), from the Clark County Building Department, has given the Department of Athletics & Leisure Services a permit to provide free swimming lessons for children aged 4 years old and below. This project was initiated in the hopes of reducing the number of drowning cases from occurring in South Nevada. In the past 2 years, there had been a total of thirty such drowning incidents.

The first fifty toddlers aged four and below to sign up will get to enjoy the opportunity to experience one lesson totally free of charge. In fact, there will be three separate class types based on Level 1, Level 2 and a “mommy and me” type class. These classes will be conducted from June 11 all the way to June 15 from Monday to Friday. For those toddlers participating in either the Level 1 or Level 2 class, their parents have been told to stay within the swimming area. This is to allow them to keep a look out for their child and at the same time, provide assistance to them should they require it. As for the mommy and me class, the mother would have to be physically in the cool with the child. This is usually for those younger toddlers around 2 years old. The reason for the mother to be in the pool is to allow them to feel more confident. At the same time, the child will feel much more comfortable and secure when they are aware that their mother is close by. This will allow them to focus on the swimming coach’s instructions rather than them trying to look out for where their mother is.

Although the free lesson is only for one time and last for half an hour, toddlers will definitely be able to learn and take away something from it. However, one lesson alone will definitely not be able to cramp everything in and ensure that these toddlers do not drown. It will more likely be an introductory lesson to showcase the importance of picking up swimming skills, which many people underestimate.

At Happy Fish Swim School, we agree with the initiative of trying to reduce the number of drowning cases by organising free swimming lessons. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer FREE lessons. However, we do have swimming classes that are specially catered for Young Toddlers aged between 2 to 4 years old. If you think about it, the price is definitely worth every cent as your child will be able to take away with them a lifelong skill. Furthermore, it is a skill which could potentially save their life or that of someone else. So check us out to learn more about the available classes!

http://news.stv.tv/north/98603-lifeboat-crew-rescue-five-swimmers-in-trouble-during-charity-event/

These five rugby players were participating in the event in order to raise fund for a fellow team mate who had lost his legs after he was being knocked down by a police van on the A841 on the Isle of Arran just last month. The event started out at Peterhead marina and was suppose to end at Lido Beach. In all, there were twenty men who took part in this fundraiser. However, when five of them were seem to have troubles in the water, the Peterhead RNLI lifeboat took off and went to their rescue. Four of the five rugby players were managed to be pulled up by the Peterhead sea cadets into the life boats. The remaining player was taken to the safety of the marina, where he was treated by two off-duty nurses. The nurses contacted the coastguard for assistance to get the player to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive. He was taken to the hospital and found to be suffering from over exposure to the cold. Thankfully, all five players were eventually alright. Their courage and efforts didn’t go to waste though as the charity event managed to raise more than £23,000 for their fellow team mate. The efforts of these twenty individuals are truly commendable. At the same time, we have to realise that even some of the fit athletes have problems when it comes to swimming. Why is this so?

Firstly, these are rugby players and not swimmers. However, that doesn’t make it less risky for a swimmer to engage in such an event. The training and practices we engage into at our public swimming complex is far from similar from that of the open waters. Many people tend to overlook the fact that open waters are unpredictable due to waves and strong current. This would probably explain the reason for the five players who faced trouble when they were trying to make their way from the marina to Lido Beach. Although they had extremely good intentions in raising funds for their team mate, they fail to realise the danger that they could have actually gotten themselves into.

Honestly, it isn’t easy to get yourself prepared for such swims. You’ll definitely require more than basic swimming skills to begin with. However, you should be armed with survival skills as well just in case any incident like that were to occur. At Happy Fish Swim School, we concur that survival skills are essential. Hence, we have included a special program known as the Open Water SwimSafer Course for individuals who have interest in participating in various open water activities. This course provides them with an opportunity to experience the open waters along with a certified instructor.

http://www.espnstar.com/other-sports/news/detail/item795465/Swimming:-Norway-star-Dale-Oen-dead-at-26/

At only 26 years of age, Alexander Dale Oen was a promising swimmer to represent Norway for the upcoming London Olympics 2012. In fact, he was Norway’s best bet to achieve a medal for the London Olympics. During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he managed to bag a silver medal and more recently, in July, he won the 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Shanghai

Unfortunately, the young star will not be able to represent Norway in the London Olympics or for that matter, any other future swimming competitions. He passed away just this week on Monday at a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. According to Per Rune Eknes, the Norwegian swimming federation president, Dale Oen died after apparently suffering from a cardiac arrest. He was found collapsed in his bathroom floor on Monday. He was then taken to the Flagstaff Medical Center and pronounced dead.

This came as a shock to the entire swimming community as nobody had suspected the young prospect to be faced with health issues. None of them would have thought that a swimming champion would suffer from cardiac arrest. Many international athletes sent their condolences on Facebook and Twitter.

Life is fragile and even the ones who seem to be the fittest can have their lives taken away in just a split of a second. The death of Alexander Dale Oen acts as a reminder to everyone that cardiac arrest can occur to anyone without any warning. Such tragedies are hard to predict, but were there ways in which it could have been prevented? That’s also not easy to judge. However, it is recommended that individuals attend a yearly routine checkup to ensure that their body is working normally. These checkups could potentially help to indicate any abnormal behaviour and perhaps, help to prevent such cardiac arrest from occurring.

Let us also keep in mind that swimming wasn’t the cause of Alexander’s cardiac arrest. In fact, it is what that has been keeping him fit for years. Swimming is still one of the best sports to work out your entire body. Hence, we shouldn’t be afraid of it. Instead, we should embrace it. I’m sure that Alexander Dale Oen would have wanted to inspire others by convincing them to take up swimming. The best way to pay tribute to his death is to take up swimming lessons.

Happy Fish Swim School would like to send our condolences to Alexander Dale Oen, a true champion. RIP.

The incident occurred in Innisfil, Canada in Cook’s Bay on Saturday evening. It involved two Mississauga residents, a man aged 27, and a woman aged 23. They were actually perch fishing when their canoe overturned. Thankfully, both of them had their life jackets on. Somehow they managed to swim safely to shore all the way in Gilford. From this, we can clearly assumed that both of them have some experience and training in swimming. If they had not, the odds of them making it to safety would have been much lower. When the paramedics arrived to the scene to check out of both of them, they decided they both of them didn’t require any further medical attention. Apart from them being extremely cold, everything else was alright. For more information, you can read the article here.

We have always been told of the importance of wearing a life jacket when we are participating in various water activities. This can range from kayaking to water sports to snorkeling and even fishing. However, some of us simply like to take our chances and forego the life jacket. Imagine yourself in a situation like these two adults. Without the aid of a life jacket, making your way to the shore would be a much steeper battle. In fact, you might not be able to make it as well. Therefore, in future whenever you decide to partake in such activities where a life jacket is provided, ensure that you put in on. It can be the sole determinant of life and death.

Apart from having their life jackets on, the two adults had to have some form of coaching in swimming. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to swim all the way back to shore. This is the reason why Singapore has always been emphasizing on the importance of learning to swim. You’ll never know when you may require such an essential skill. Imagine if the duo didn’t have any knowledge of swimming, it would have probably been a tragic ending for them.

At Happy Fish Swim School, we believe that every Singaporean deserves an opportunity to pick up such a skill. Hence, we have formulate different swimming programmes to cater to various students. Remember, swimming is a crucial survival skill, so check out what we have to offer to see which is the most suited for you today!

When asked about how he first started out swimming, the young chap mentioned that it was his family that influenced him to the sport. “I remembered playing in the water at a tender age of 5 years while my sister was training seriously.”

He also gave praise to the coaches in the Singapore Sports School for his progress so far. “I have improved much since I arrived and that is due to the school’s help.”

His remarkable performance can clearly be seen when he overtook the previous record set by Sng Ju Wei way back in 1995 for the 200m freestyle final. His timing of 1:52.75 was more than two seconds faster than Ju Wei’s record of 1:55.14 back in 1995. Furthermore, he was approximately 25m ahead of the next fastest competitor, who was actually his fellow schoolmate. Benedict Boon finished in second place about ten seconds behind him at timing of 2:01.41. Despite an extremely strong and promising performance, the 15 year old was nowhere near his personal best time of 1:50. In fact, he also hold numerous records in Malaysia. However, he is looking to the future and at greater goals.

“I hope to one day take part in the Olympics.” he declared.

Apart from the 200m freestyle event, he managed to come in first place for the 100m freestyle event the very next day. His timing of 51.88s also overtook the previous record of 52.51s held by fellow Sports School student Dzulhaili B Mohd Kamal in 2011. In fact, his timing is even faster than the Singapore’s national record of 52.11s set by Clement Lim in 2011.

We cannot deny that Swimming has become one of the most popular sports in Singapore in the recent years. The truth is that the chances of your child picking up the sport will be higher if the entire family participates in it. At Happy Fish Swim School, we encourage the entire family to participate in swimming together. This will help in family bonding time and at the same time, allow everyone in the family to pick up an essential skill. So wait no further, check out our Family Swimming Lessons and sign up today!

Although these free swimming lessons aren’t offered to everyone, the mayor still encourages all Manilans to take full advantage of the facilities available at the city’s sports complexes. This includes facilities like the swimming pools where the public are allowed to swim for free and more importantly, safely. The mayor also announced that an Olympic-size swimming pool will be also open to the public this summer. The location will be in the city’s Manila Boys’ Town Complex in Parang, Marikina.

So far, we have mentioned quite a number of Western countries offering free swimming lessons to their citizens (both adults and children). Philippines is probably one of the first few Asian countries offering free swimming lessons for their children. This goes to show that they are also starting to view swimming as an essential skill for their youths. This is something that many countries still tend to overlook as they have not been fully educated on the importance of possessing swimming and survival skills. Hence, they usually will take it more lightly, some countries do not even emphasize the need to pick up the skill.

In that case, what is it about swimming that is actually so useful? Firstly, we need to establish that drowning occurs everywhere in every single country. Furthermore, it can happen to anyone, young or old, at anytime. By possessing swimming skills, you could potentially save yourself or the life of another from such tragedy. Secondly, by learning to swim, you are actually moving forward to leading a healthier lifestyle. Swimming works out the entire body and by swimming even just once a week, you’ll be able to stay fit. Thirdly, let’s just look at the number of water activities out there for you to participate in. By picking up the skill, you’ll be able to feel more comfortable in the water and also pick up new activities that you might not have been able to without learning swimming.

In Singapore, the government views swimming as an essential skill. Hence, they have enforce it to be compulsory for every child to learn it in Primary school. At Happy Fish Swim School, we agree just as much. Let’s not forget that it’s always better to provide your child with a head start. Therefore, we have specially designed a program to cater for Young Toddlers aged 2 to 4. If your child falls into this category, why not check it out and give them a try? They could very well start to experience the joy of swimming way before their peers!

“Qualifying for this year’s Olympics in London is tougher as the slots are reduced. For example in swimming, those who met the ‘B’ time will probably need to be as good as those who met the ‘A’ time in order to go.” she explained. Under revised rules, swimmers who meet the ‘B’ qualifying mark will have to depend on invitations in order to compete in the London Games. In other words, only swimmers who managed to meet the ‘A’ time are guaranteed a spot in the London Olympics. In this case, the only swimmer who has met with the ‘A’ timing so far is Florida-based Joseph Schooling. As for the swim queen of Singapore, Tao Li, who achieved a fifth position during the last Olympics in Beijing, she managed to clock one of the world’s best ’B’ timings (58.78 seconds) in the 100m butterfly event. In fact, her timing isn’t very far off from that of the ‘A’ time for this event, which is 58.70 seconds.

Apart from Joseph Schooling and Tao Li, the other Singaporean athletes who have qualified so far are from other sports. The full article can be found here.

Swimming has been one of the biggest sports in Singapore and our swimmers have been making a huge impact in both the SEA games and Olympic games. Even though we might not have as many swimmers participating in the upcoming London Olympics 2012, we are still going to be behind both Joseph Schooling and Tao Li. Such individuals are role models and inspirations for younger aspiring swimmers.

At Happy Fish Swim School, apart from offering various basic swimming lessons, we also offer more advanced courses. This includes Competitive Swimming Training to groom your child into becoming the next Joseph Schooling or Tao Li. We strongly believe that there is a specific type of swimming lesson catered for every individual, be it beginners or experts, young or old. If you’re more comfortable having your own private classes, it can be arranged too. However, if you prefer socialising with others, you are always welcome to join our group classes. For more information on the available classes, feel free to check out our website! We sure hope to see you at the pool!

However, to his horror, when he looked back, he realised that his brother was panicking. This was also the time when he saw his father rushing to the aid of his brother. It is assumed that their father had some knowledge of swimming. In all, it took about two hours for the search party to recover the bodies from the bottom of the take. Hall County Fire Services Battalion Chief Chad Black mentioned that the bottom dropped off sharply there as it does in places all around the lake.

“Our divers did encounter some trees down at 30-foot depths.” said Chief Chad Black.

This tragic drowning goes to show that the open waters such as those in lakes differ greatly from that of the public swimming complex. In a public swimming complex, there is a gradual change in the depth along with a clear indication or marking. However, in lakes, there are absolutely no indications. Furthermore, such changes in depths aren’t gradual at all. As mentioned by Chief Black, they can dropped off sharply all around the lake. Apart from that, let’s not forget the timing when they were swimming. It was already at 6.30pm in the evening. At this timing, the skies would have already become darker and visibility would be reduced. They won’t be able to get a clear view of how deep the lake is. Hence, this could have been one of the factors contributing to the drowning. It was a heroic act by the father, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to save both his son and himself from drowning.

This tragic incident illustrates to us that drowning can happen to anyone. It also tells us how unpredictable the open waters are even in lakes. At Happy Fish Swim School, we believe that safety should always be the first priority when it comes to swimming. Therefore, apart from teaching our students how to swim, we also emphasize on survival skills in the water. This is to better prepare them should they meet with any problems when swimming. For more information on the lessons available, do check out our website.