Tips For Swimming At Beaches
We’ve always talked about how unpredictable and dangerous the open waters can be. Here are some tips from the County of Los Angeles that will allow an individual to remain safe when swimming in the waters at beaches.
http://www.yovenice.com/2012/04/04/beach-safety-tips-fact-sheet-2012/
Firstly, always ensure that you are not swimming alone. In other words, it will be better to have strangers around compared to noone at all.
It is also important to stay in areas where a lifeguard is situated. When there aren’t any lifeguards at all, it will be at your own risk should you decide to venture out and swim. Hence, if you do not feel comfortable with that, it will be a wiser choice to stay on dry land. Let’s not forget that swimming when there are waves is a much different experience compared to swimming in the public swimming complexes. If there are lifeguards on duty, always follow their instructions as this is their expertise. If they make an announcement for everyone to evacuate the water due to harsh weather conditions, do listen and follow. Their number one priority is always your safety.
Do not dive head first especially in shallow waters. In Singapore, the water at the beaches aren’t crystal clear. Therefore, you won’t be able to see and gauge the actual depth of the water. So, always remember to go in feet first to prevent any accidents from occurring.
When there is a warning sign or red flag, take note of it and don’t go beyond it. It is usually such stubbornness of people can lead them to drown. If there are no such signs available, always keep a distance of a 100 feet (30.48m) from piers, jetties and rocks as permanent rip currents often exist alongside such structures.
Always be on the lookout for inshore holes. They are very dangerous especially towards non-swimmers and young children because they can sweep them into deep waters in a split of a second. Inshore holes can also often turn into channels that can cause rip currents.
A rip current is something that can pull you away from the shoreline. In this scenario, always remain calm and maintain your composure. It is pointless swimming against the current because it is like a treadmill which cannot be switched off. The only way to overcome it is by stepping to the side of it and swimming at an angle away from it and towards the shore. If you’re still unable to overcome it, do not panic, just continue to float and tread water till you are out of the current. If you’re still face with difficulty, try waving and yelling for help.
Happy Fish Swim School recommends all Singaporeans to attend the SwimSafer Open Water module to better equip themselves with knowledge and skills when swimming in beaches. Through this course, you’ll learn more about the open waters and how to navigate and survive in it. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!
Read MoreFREE Swimming Lessons in Auckland
Well, we have seen articles on various countries offering swimming lessons to their citizens. Now, New Zealand is also playing their role by offering free swimming lessons to nearly 40,000 children in Auckland. In all, they are putting aside a total of $500,000 into funding these swimming lessons for parents who are unable to afford them.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/free-swimming-lessons-some-auckland-children-4811284
In New Zealand, many children are missing out on the opportunity to learn swimming as their schools cannot afford to keep their pools open. In fact, only an astounding 20% of 12-year-olds have basic swimming skills. This figure is extremely low if you were to compare that with Singapore. Sport Auckland’s chief executive, Daniel Gerrard stated that groups of children will have eight to ten lessons a year over a four-year period, summing up to a total of up to 40 lessons. He also mentioned that Water Safety NZ has acknowledged it needs professionals teaching the children how to develop their swimming skills. Just like in Singapore, the Singapore Sports Council only allows certified swimming instructors to conduct swimming lessons around Singapore. These instructors will have to go through several courses before they are deemed certified. This is to maintain the safety, quality and professionalism in lessons to prevent any accidents from occurring.
“These guys make a living out of getting kids wet and getting them moving through the water. They’ll be able to get the kids that are afraid of the water and actually work purely on a confidence angle. Children who are able to move through the water already will have their swimming abilities developed further.” Gerrard said. This is the responsibility of swimming instructors, even those in Singapore. The first and main priority is to build up the water confidence of beginners. Once they feel more confident and comfortable in the water, instructors will then begin to prepare them for the strokes.
Although there aren’t any free swimming lessons offered in Singapore, they still do come at a more than reasonable price. By simply investing approximately $70 a month, you’ll be able to obtain knowledge and skills on swimming. The best part is that you’ll be able to keep that with you for the rest of your life. Furthermore, such a skill can always come in handy when face with a drowning situation. By having such skills, you could potentially save your life or that of another. For more information on available classes, check out Happy Fish Swim School. We offer swimming lessons for all! As long as you have the heart and passion to learn, we will be more than happy to assist you!
Read MoreNo lifeguards, No Swimming Pool.
St. John the Baptist Parish Council members are eager to open the parish pool for the summer, but Parish President Natalie Robottom said that they were still in the midst of hiring lifeguards for their swimming pool.
“You can’t open a public swimming pool without lifeguards and St. John the Baptist Parish is looking for them.” Parish President Natalie Robottom said to the Parish Council. The full article can be found HERE.
This goes the same for the public swimming complexes in Singapore. At any one time when the pool is open to the public, there has to be more than one lifeguard available to keep a look out. Furthermore, all the lifeguards in Singapore are required to go through a life saving course and attain the necessary certificate before pursuing a career as a lifeguard. In other words, all the lifeguards that you see in the public swimming complex are certified. This helps in building a sense of confidence in the safety of swimmers as they will know that there is always someone who is well prepared should any accidents occur.
Unfortunately, there are not many people who choose this occupation as their career. The reason is normally because it is a tedious job that requires one to be alert at all times. Let’s not forget that it can get pretty mundane at times. Therefore, not all the condominiums and hotels in Singapore have ready lifeguards at the swimming pool. Instead, they will normally replace them with a security guard. However, let’s keep in mind that these are two very different occupations. A lifeguard doesn’t necessarily have the skills of a security guard and likewise. In other words, a security guard isn’t a certified life guard. Some might not even be able to swim. Therefore, if you do decide to swim in a pool where there are no certified life guards, it will be at your own risk. This can be dangerous especially if you’re still new to swimming.
Happy Fish Swim School strongly recommends beginners to swim in a pool where there is supervision by a lifeguard. Alternatively, they can choose to take up swimming lessons from a certified instructor. All the swimming instructors in Singapore are certified with a life saving certificate and also an applicable teaching certificate. Hence, if you still prefer to have classes conducted at your own condominium pool, try hiring a certified instructor to assist in your learning.
For those of you keen in a career as a lifeguard, check out the Lifesaving course offered by Happy Fish Swim School. You’ll never know when you can make use of such skills. In fact, you could potentially be a life saver! Even if this isn’t a career choice for you, such a skill can always come in handy!
Read MoreSwimming in Summer
This may be unknown to some, but during the school holidays in Singapore, the public swimming complexes tend to have more swimming lessons going on. This is because swimming has become a compulsory skill in Singapore. Parents have also been educated on the significance of learning to swim. Therefore, they are more accepting nowadays.
However, before taking steps to sign your child up for a swimming class, there are certain precautions that you as a parent should observe. Firstly, select on a good swimming pool. In other words, bring your child to survey the nearest pools around your area to see which is more acceptable. The things that you should take note of are how congested the pool is at your preferred timing for the lessons and the cleanliness of the complex
Secondly, pay attention to the attentiveness of the life guards. In Singapore, it is a must for all life guards and swimming instructors to be certified with a life saving certificate. Hence, you won’t have to worry about them not being qualified. Normally, there will be around two to three life guards on duty and they will be situated at different pools.
Thirdly, for the instructor wise, it is recommended to have your child join a class with no more than 10 students. This will allow the instructor to divide his attention equally and sufficiently among all the students.
Fourthly, as a parent, you have to be responsible for the safety of your child too. Therefore, we will recommend you to be around and not simply drop your child of and head elsewhere. This is not just for safety reasons, but also a form of encouragement for your child.
Next, try arriving 15 minutes before the lessons. This is to allow time for your child to change to their attire and also warm up. Warm ups and stretching are typically between 5 to 10 minutes to prepare their body for the lesson ahead.
Finally, when it comes to meals, allow at least 2 hours of digestion before the swim. However, if your child requires something light, you can try giving them fruit juice or milk at least half an hour before the lesson. After the lesson, your child has to replenish his/her energy. This can come in the form of fruit juices and fruits such as bananas.
Through this article, Happy Fish Swim School hopes to assist parents in the things to look out for before signing their child up for swimming lessons. Although the June holidays are still 3 months away, our School Holiday Intensive Swimming Lessons are already open for registrations. If you do sign up before the end of March, you’ll get to enjoy the early bird promotion. If you’re keen, make sure that you sign up fast as slots are usually fully taken before June! Make this coming June holidays a fruitful one for your child!
Read MoreMaths Teacher Apply His Swimming Experience
Todd Rackowitz is a maths teacher from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. So what’s his secret and technique behind teaching? He applied certain practices that he had obtained from teaching swimming lessons during his summers in high school to guide at-risk students when he first started out his teaching career at a dropout prevention school. In other words, these students were intimidated by math and not because they hated it. The full article can be found HERE.
http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/
His first practice is to let students be the experts. When he taught swimming to young toddlers aged 4 and 5 years old, he would spend the one hour lesson sitting with them in the baby pool, splashing, playing and talking with them. It might sound like a total waste of time and money especially for parents. However, during this process, Todd encourages these toddlers to blow bubbles and hold their breath under water. These are essential basic techniques to get them prepared for more advanced skills in the future. He never forced them to do things that they were not ready to do. This is the same approach he took when teaching maths. He based his lessons on the pace of his students, preventing them from getting stressed out.
Secondly, he would give his students a tour of the deep end of the Olympic size swimming pool via a ring-buoy ride. Once again, he would only take those to the deeper end if they wanted. The conversations with them will continue, but it will start leaning more towards learning how to swim. He would use the same method in the classroom when teaching maths. He believes that it is more productive to deepen students’ trust by introducing them to future topics and what will be expected of them.
Finally, he will always support them until they’re ready to let go. In swimming, he would start by teaching them to kick, pull and float. However, he would hold onto them till they are capable of floating on their on. When he’s in the classroom, he would scaffold the lesson so that his students have some support to begin with. Once they are more accustomed to it, he will slowly remove it away. Through this, he was able to help many students overcome their fear of swimming and maths.
Happy Fish Swim School believes that starting your child out at an early stage will provide them with an advantage in swimming. Hence, we have come up with special classes catered just towards Toddlers. These lessons will help in building up your child’s confidence not just in the water, but in his/her character too. So do check out what we have to offer and we sure hope your child gets to join in the fun with us!
Read MoreWinners Never Quit & Quitters Never Win
This phase can clearly represent Ian Thorpe’s attitude towards swimming. Although the five-time Olympic gold champion missed out on his opportunity to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics following his return, he stated that he didn’t have any regrets about making a comeback to the sport that he’s most passionate about. In fact, his performance in the 100m freestyle at the national swimming trials in Adelaide was his best yet since his comeback. Unfortunately, his timing wasn’t good enough to match up to some of the younger and upcoming prospects.
“I’m still swimming. When I started this I wanted to get back in the pool, I wanted to race and I wanted to go to the Olympics. I still want to do all of those things. I’ve missed out on a huge goal … but the desire is still there.” Thorpe said.
Leigh Nugent, the Australian head coach for swimming had suggested to Thorpe about continuing with his dream and trying out for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Although Thorpe is already approaching his 30s this year and will be 34 by the next games, he isn’t ruling out this option just yet.
“It’s tough. It’s hard coming to this competition and really failing in what I set out to do. I’m disappointed that I really haven’t been able to race in a way that’s reflective of the hard work that I’ve done. I’m glad I was willing to put myself out there.”
Although his timing for the 100m freestyle had improved from that of last month and since he started out, it still wasn’t fast enough. His timing of 50.35 seconds was also not close to his personal best of 48.52, which he had set in the Athens 2004 Olympics. If he was able to match up to that timing, he would have been able to earn a spot in the team’s relay. As for now, it seems that he will carry on with swimming and look to next year’s world championships in Barcelona and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Read the full article HERE.
Making a comeback in any form of sport is never easy. Firstly, it isn’t easy to return after 5 years, considering that there are many younger prospects. Secondly, it can be quite pressurising as everyone will be watching and expecting you to perform at your prime. So why do athletes still do it? It’s not for the money or fame, it’s simply because of passion. This goes the same for Ian Thorpe, who is so passionate about swimming that even after he failed to make the London 2012 Olympics, he still wanted to carry on and make preparations for future competitions. This is a true representation of how a winner never quits.
Happy Fish Swim School believes that winners never quit too! For all those who are keen in Competitive Swimming Training, do check out on what we have to offer. Remember, with the right attitude and mindset, you can go a long way! Never underestimate your own abilities. Even if you fail, don’t give up! Pick yourself up just like how Ian Thorpe did and continue pursuing your dreams.
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