First Plunge Novice Swim Meet

It is quite surprising to see myself in the water, I am more of a runner than a swimmer. It happened accidentally when my son backed-off from his summer swimming class, that opened the opportunity to replace him in the program. I was hesitant first since most of the participants were minors but the school have a program for adults as well.

A Runner In The Water.

It was the first time for this experienced runner to be in the water, scientifically. I am a totally novice swimmer. Although I have been swimming since the time I can remember, I am more of a do-it-yourself swimmer, a non-technical, non-scientific individual. I learned on my own. I just used to do the "langoy-aso", until I knew the freestyle and backstroke as I grew up. And as I progressed in this swimming program, I learned the butterfly and breast strokes, the proper breathing, coordination and other techniques.

Why Me?

One day at the pool, a teacher invited me to join their competition. It is an annual challenge where all of their school branches' select swimmers are competing, all of them novices. Why me, I only just had five days (or five hours) of swimming lessons, besides, I am just here to know the basics. "But you have the technical knowledge and good skills as a swimmer", he said, with an assurance that they will train me for the competition. The last three days of my program were done at the non-stop swimming lane (lapping pool) of the venue instead; I am on training mode.

Medal Haul.

On the day of the competition, I was with the enlisted young talents, but was surprised that there were number of adult swimmers like me who are competing as well. The coaches entered me in the four individual events; the butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke and the freestyle, including four relay events. And the rest was history, I won two individual golds, a silver, and a bronze in a 25 meter novice distance. Our relay team won two golds and two silvers. Oh boy, the event was tiring, considering that my body was not used to something like this. The swim was a continuous cycle, event after event, heat after heat, wherein the finals were on a timed basis. The fastest swimmer in each event in each heat wins the gold. Overall it was a fun-filled activity, a different experience on my part.

After arriving home I was proud to present my winnings to my son, and wished it was him who joined. Maybe next year, God willing.

P.S. In the evening, our coach send me a message that our team emerged as the over-all champion from the 31 teams that competed that day and send me an invite to compete again on the next day, but I declined. I still have a 21km race to complete the following morning.

Photos below are some action shots from the competition and the awarding.

More photos here and here.