By: Giselle General
In December 2023, so about a year ago, I decided to finally work on something that eluded me since I was a kid. The ability to actually finally stay afloat and tread on the deep end of the swimming pool. I figured that there’s no better place to do this than the place where I used a swimming facility for the first time over a decade ago, the YMCA on the west end.
I grew up in a mountain village in rural Philippines, where swimming pools are nonexistent. The hot spring resorts in the nearby mountains are not the optimal place to learn how to swim properly as they are designed for large groups that go there to socialize and splash around on waist (or chest) deep water. When I moved to the city, the school I attended didn’t have a pool despite it being a private school – only the more expensive ones had them.
When I moved to Canada at 16, I never heard any invitations to check the pool at my high school, so whether our school even had a swimming team or the related facilities will forever be a mystery to me.
Back in 2011 at age 20 out of my own initiative I finally went to the YMCA on the west end. I forked up the monthly fee despite being a part time student with seemingly endless expenses from my schooling, home expenses, my brother’s upcoming immigration to Canada and shopping for all the supplies he needed, and things that a young adult would like to get every now and then.
It was awkward at first. I observed other people who used the floating belt and how they swam on the pool within the confines of the plastic ropes. My hands, feet or shoulders kept hitting the plastic rope, I can hardly breathe, and I gasped loudly in relief once I reached the end of the lane. I tried to go twice a week in the summer before my shift at work started at 1 PM. But that summer flew by fast. As soon as my teen brother arrived in Canada that fall and I got admitted to to co-op placement program for my business degree in university, the swimming routine went adrift.
Fast forward to the next attempt at the pool in 2014, when I got an office job in downtown Edmonton. The downtown YMCA was only two blocks from my office and I managed to stick to my gym membership for about six months before I fell out of habit again. The workout rooms and the group exercise classes gave me a strange dilemma, and only after a few tries in the pool, I opted to do exercises that don’t require me to smell like chlorine even after taking a shower.
I haven’t thought of swimming again for many years until 2023. I noticed that my back and shoulders were hurting more often, and going for a massage once a month didn’t seem to be enough. I also found out that my new job then didn’t cover the cost of massage therapy. I needed a cheaper way to get the movement that my shoulders and back needed that stretching, dancing and pilates fail to help.
It occurred to me that my Saturday afternoons were free while the husband was away with the drinking and running group. I figured, might as well work on a fitness goal for myself too!
Since it’s been such a long time since I was last in a pool, I booked one private lesson to assess my skill level – or should I say, lack of skill. I just need to know whether I can be on the deep end while wearing a flotation belt without panicking or feeling ashamed. That was the best $45 and half-hour session I’ve spent for myself that year. The lifeguard instructor confirmed I can rotate my arms and flip my feet just fine and watched closely my awkward attempt to do the “egg-beater technique” to tread water on the deep end. “Now, all you need is practice”, he said. That I sure can do.
That became my routine. Saturday afternoons, as soon as the husband drives off, I got ready to take the bus to the YMCA. Two walls of the swimming room had clocks. I eyed on the clock’s hand rotating as I swam back and forth with the floater belt acting like an armour of courage. On my third visit, I waited until the open space with the deep end was free of the lane-swimmers, take off the floater belt and twirl my arms, legs and feet. When the water reached my chin, I’d grab onto the edge of the pool for a moment, and then let go for another try.
With more visits in the pool, I gained more seconds treading water on the deep end. 15 seconds, then 25, then 30, then 45, and then a full minute before needing to grab onto the pool’s edge. Then a minute, and then a minute an a half. The hands of the clock making a full rotation acted like my cheerleaders, beckoning me push just a little harder. The day came when I went onto the swimming lane with no floater belt, from the shallow to the deep end for a minute and swam back, and did that over and over for a half hour. By March, I finally reached the milestone of being a mildly-functional swimmer.
There was actually a swimming facility closer to my home. I eagerly watched the city’s webpage on recreational facilities for the pool’s re-opening. I got annoyed when the opening got delayed three times. I admit I was also losing motivation to take the 25 minute bus ride to the other pool and back. When the neighbourhood pool finally did open, it was exactly the next level of learning I needed. It’s only a fifteen-minute walk to my house and because of that I can shower at home afterwards. Literally no excuses this time.
The smell and feel of the poolwater was somehow different. A bit gentler and I loved it. The change rooms and locker spaces were much bigger too. When the entire pool is configured for lane swimming only, there are six lanes that has room for one swimmer going in both directions so it is effectively 12 lanes. On the days when I go and it is open swim time, the pool is divided into the shallow, middle and deep sections. It was another great way for me to hang out in the deep end for as long as I need to, as long as I get out of the way of those using the water slide, diving board, and rope.
Whenever I go to the pool, I make sure that I stay in the lanes clearly labelled as “slow”, so I stay out of the way from those who were zipping through the lanes at what looks like to be five times my speed. I still bump the plastic floating dividers sometimes. But at least I don’t panic and need to be pulled out by the lifeguards. As I watch other swimmers with the floating belt swimming on the lane next to me, I try to subtly beam positive vibes and prayers to them, hoping that they too will reach the milestone of feeling more skilled in the water.
Just like any habit that is supposed to be healthy, around late summer I started to fall out of habit again. This time around, my body tells me when I really needed it – no excuses. After only a half-hour swim, my shoulders and back feel much more relaxed and nimble. And at $8 per trip to the pool, it’s definitely much cheaper than massage therapy. It’s not just exercise – it’s therapy, it’s pain management. For the drop-in rate, I got a discount because of the family membership fee I purchased for the neighbourhood’s community league, which is surely a bonus.
Also since the summer I joined my husband a bit more regularly when he goes to our very unique running-and-drinking group. A 45-minute brisk walk is a good addition to my fitness routine, if I choose to ignore the snacks and alcohol that we consume at the end of route. And as always, for doing errands that are close by, I walk for up to 30 minutes one way instead of taking the bus or waiting for a car ride. The true definition of a 15 minute neighborhood that makes certain fitness activities more achievable for me.
My goal is to one day to be a more public space to test how I deal with the deep waters then. I’m thinking the WaterPark that is pretty close. Or if I get invited to a social event in someone’s backyard pool or a lake that works for me too. I’m just thrilled that I won’t need to piggyback off my husband like when we were at the hot springs in Iceland in 2018 or at the local WaterPark in 2019. To be able to carry my own weight, or at least, my body afloat in the deep end, is an empowering feeling I didn’t realized I needed until I achieved it.
FilipinaYEG 