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Do you know how to swim?

Yes (I am male)
3
50%
Yes (I am female)
No votes
0%
No (I am male)
2
33%
No (I am female)
1
17%
User avatar
By abuali
#16562
(bismillah)

(salam)

Swimming Course for Gents
Image

COURSE:
6 SESSIONS - BEGINNER LEVEL

START DATE:
SUNDAY, 25 MARCH 2012

DEADLINE:
23 MARCH, LIMITED SPACES

REGISTER:
swim [at] ask [dot] or [dot] tz

[at] = @
[dot] = .


COURSE FEES:
TZS 60,000

FOR:
GENTS
User avatar
By abuali
#16563
Some questions were received. Find below the responses.

FAQ's

1. What day?
Sundays

2. What time?
10 am - 12 noon

3. Where?
Oysterbay area

4. Who is going to coach is?
The most senior coach of Tanzania Swim Coaches Association who is also a member of American Swimming Coaches Association. He brings along decades of swimming coaching experience

More questions?

Post here or send an email to the email address in the poster above.
User avatar
By abuali
#16605
Alhamdulilah, we have completed 2 successful courses for gents.

Find below a write-up of the learning experience of one of the swimming student's who attended the course:
Learning swimming—Reflection

‘Learn how to swim’. Those were the words my parents repeated to me for years on end and I every time tried to escape by making excuses. I managed to avoid getting into the pool, still knowing deep within that one day I would have to learn it. Perhaps this was all due to my latent fear of the water, fear of drowning. This was all before I heard about the swimming classes. This was one more opportunity for me to face my fear. It was now or never. I actually forced myself into signing up for the classes.

As the hours drew near, my fear grew more and I wished I had never signed up for the classes. The mere sight of the pool on my first session set my heart thumping and worse still I had to get into the water, feeling utterly cold and helpless. My muscles were tensed up and I tried my best to keep my head out of the water. For the first session I had to practice paddling my legs by holding onto the rails at the side of the pool.

By the end of the first session I was disappointed and tired. I was never going to learn this. I knew that all of my sessions were going to be a waste. I kept on questioning how people could float on the water. Now, this seems like a ridiculous question to me since I find it hard not to float, rather than float.

By the second session, however, my muscles had unimaginably loosened up and I wasn’t afraid to get into the water. I felt calmer than I did on my first session. This time I ventured to dip my head into the water and I realised that it wasn’t difficult at all. One more thing I realised was that each time I tried to immerse myself completely into the water, the water pushed me up. I remembered my coach’s earlier words that any human being would float by nature; the water doesn’t want you to drown. As a result, I spread my body over the water, put my head into the water and felt the water pushing me up and before I knew it I was floating.

It was a moment of unimaginable joy and disbelief. I couldn’t believe that I was floating. I never thought that floating could be this easy. I remembered some more words from the coach, ‘if you loosen up and let yourself relax on the water, you are going to float, it’s just the fear that prevents you from doing so’. It was a moment of triumph as I had partially overcome my fear and learnt to enjoy the water rather than fearing it. Now that I could float, learning the swimming strokes would be easier. From this session onwards I had developed such an interest for swimming that I couldn’t wait for the next session to come so that I could get into the pool again.

Through the activity I learnt that lung power and muscular power are two important things for swimming. I had learnt some land exercises which would enable me to build my muscles for swimming in the water and there were also breathing exercises to build my lung power. When I first started classes, I couldn’t hold my breath in the water at all, but as I continued I was able to hold my breath for longer and longer, reaching up to 16 seconds.

After I started the classes I feel more fit and healthier. My daily chores now leave me less tired and I feel that I have become stronger. The breathing exercises have also been a big help. I feel that I have been taking in air like I had never done before. I feel more alert and energetic and also feel that I can focus more on my studies and I am able to learn and understand things more easily.

After a couple of sessions my fear of the deep remained. However, on one occasion I decided to overcome this fear and go into the deep end. I practiced my floating and whistling under water. For a moment I lost control of my breathing and the water came in, rushing into my lungs. Panic started and I lost all sense of where I was. I kept on thrashing on the water, forgetting that I just needed to extend my hands to hold the rail and come out of the water. This was a near drowning experience for me. Luckily my tutor was there to get me out of the water.

In this way I realised the importance of controlling my breath in the water, and also keeping calm. It was in this way that I realised what my tutor meant by saying ‘you need to think in order not to sink’. In my panic I had forgotten that I could swim and that I just needed to extend my hands to catch the rail and come out. I learnt that it’s important to keep calm while you swim.

This experience put me off from going into the deep for some time. I was afraid. However, continual practice in the shallow end helped me build my confidence once again. Having become better at my strokes and whistling under water I gathered up the courage to venture once again into the deep. By swimming in the deep, I regained my confidence once again and realised how fun and soothing swimming can be when you are calm.

Overcoming my fear and floating was half the challenge and learning the new strokes and techniques of swimming was the other half of the challenge. Coordinating you leg and hand movements together with breathing is important for swimming and I still face a challenge in doing so. However, with continual practice I believe that I am becoming better at it.

Throughout the activity I ensured that I attended the sessions regularly by adjusting my time table to ensure that I accommodated some time for swimming classes. This was because regular attendance is very important for learning a sport such as swimming.

I am glad to have learnt something new that would not only make me more fit and healthy but is also an important skill in survival situations. Although I am still far from swimming in the sea, I believe that I have gained a very good useful skill and with further practice I would be able to swim in the sea as well.

I actually never imagined that I was going to learn swimming but now that I have done so I wonder why I didn’t try it earlier. My greatest challenge in this activity has been to overcome my fear. I still can’t say that I have totally overcome my fear but as I spend more time practising I will be able to gradually build up my confidence.

The activity doesn’t end here. I can’t say that I have learnt swimming completely. I will still need to continue practising in order to master the different strokes and improve on my breathing.
User avatar
By abuali
#16636
Salaam

Inshallah, we shall start swimming sessions for beginners and intermediate learners immediately after mahe ramadhan.

To register, post here or follow the instructions in the first post.

Posted with TouchBB on my iPhone
User avatar
By abuali
#16877
(bismillah)
(salam)

Inshallah, we are starting a new swimming session for those who wish to learn how to swim or those who wish to refine their swimming skills. The course is for gents.



To join, we need you to fill a consent form [pdf, 18kb]

We also require one passport sized photo.

We start this sunday inshallah. If you wish to join, contact us as soon as possible

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