I have a new gig teaching a class of swim-to survive-students. It is offered by a local school board to third graders in at least some of their schools. The program recently restarted after being stopped during the COVID lockdowns.
Students get three one-hour lessons. There are about 12 kids per instructor. That’s a very high ratio to supervise. My regular learn to swim classes have between five and eight students, depending on the age and skills.
My group all needs lifejackets because none can swim even half a length of the pool. Some of them are afraid to put their faces in the water.
It’s not enough! We live in a country with a lot of lakes and rivers. Even if these kids never leave the city, there are plenty of opportunities to get into trouble in one of our rivers or ponds, or the canal. Many of these kids are newer immigrants, or from low-income families. Private swimming lessons may not be an option for them.
I’m happy I can give these kids the basics of a few survival skills, but what happens if they don’t have access to a lifejacket except during these lessons?
I feel like we are failing these students, as we have failed to provide equitable access and opportunities for water safety and sport so many poor and visible minority kids for generations.
Three children in red lifejackets in a swimming pool. Adobe stock photo.
On Monday I had the privilege of lifeguarding at a women-only swim event in Ottawa. As far as the staff there know, it’s the first one organized at that particular pool, although we were told that a similar space was rented years ago for a privately-run swim.
Why women only? There can be many reasons, but one of the biggest in our multicultural society is that some women are not comfortable being seen by anyone other than their male family members. Other women may be self-conscious about their bodies. And some may simply enjoy sharing space with women.
A 2020 Danish study found that “The participants connected swimming with well-being and self-care and portrayed women-only swimming as a space of belonging, where they felt comfortable and safe and were not only protected from the male but also the ‘white’ gaze that they encountered in other situations, such as when wearing a burkini on the beach.”(Women-only swimming as a space of belonging, December 2020, Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise 14(2)). UK-based The Women’s Journal noted in March 2023 that “female-only swimming sessions can provide a safe and comfortable environment where women can exercise without feeling vulnerable or exposed. This is particularly important for women who have faced harassment or assault”. They also offer a a sense of community and camaraderie to women who may feel isolated or unsupported in other areas of their lives. And finally, they ensure more equal access to fitness and exercise for women who feel uncomfortable in mixed-gender environments.
The swim took some effort to set up: we hung tarps over every window in the facility so that no-one could peer in. At the last minute, we were advised that people could still peek through some cracks, so there was a scramble to tape things more firmly closed, and cover up gaps with garbage bags when we ran out of tarps.
Some of the many tarps put in place for privacy near the pool area.
We worried that not many people would come, but in the end there were some 120 participants for three hours. Not bad at all, considering that people told us they had only heard about the event the day before. But they were happy to come from all over the city of Ottawa.
So who did come? Women of all ages, many with young girls and their friends. I would guess that the majority were originally from North Africa or the Middle East, but there were also women who appeared to be of sub-Saharan or Indian sub-continent descent. There were women in burkinis, in tunics and leggings, in dresses, in bathing suits, wearing hijabs, head scarves, bathing caps, and glorious braids. There were women and girls of all ages from senior citizens to toddlers.
Will it happen again? I hope so. The head lifeguard on duty also runs women-only swimming lessons and mused about whether similar events could be run on a regular basis. Certainly the women who came to swim would welcome it, judging by the feedback we got. Several asked who they should contact to tell them what a wonderful experience it had been and how much they would like to see it repeated. If they do, I’ll be volunteering to lifeguard again.
The pool just before opening. The artificial beach and wave pool is in the foreground, with warm-water wading pools, a lap pool and giant slide in the background.
Just over three months ago I got hired as a part-time lifeguard and swim instructor with the city of Ottawa. At 63, I’m one of the oldest lifeguards in the city. It has been exciting, fun and humbling.
My children are older than almost everyone I work with. I came into the job knowing I would need to put my ego aside because they’re the experts, not me. I think I have mostly succeeded, but I still laugh at myself when I have to call my teenaged supervisor for help. On training nights, when there is a physical fitness component, I’m not above being a little smug when I’m faster or stronger or have better technique than some of them. But most of the time I am listening hard and trying to absorb everything those young people can show me.
The teaching is as satisfying as I had hoped, but more challenging than I expected. I teach five classes of 3-6 year olds, and three of adults. I am building up a repertoire of games and activities, but I still struggle with when to give individual feedback and when to get everyone to do the same drill. This is especially the case for adults, where I can have people fearful of putting their face in the water learning to swim in the same class as folks who are almost ready to tackle swimming a length of the pool.
Lifeguarding is better than I thought it would be. I have a regular morning shift one day a week and I recognize all the regular lane swimmers and aquafit people. The occasional busy public swim is no longer as scary as it was at first. I even did a couple of training shifts at a large pool complex with a wave pool and giant water slide, in preparation for lifeguarding a women-only event next week. I’ll report on that in my next post.
I used to think it would be nice to do some work for a foreign affairs think tank or university when I retired, but I’m really happy I chose to do the goofy fun thing instead. It’s nice to feel like I’m making a difference in a small but tangible way. Former work colleagues who bring their kids to swimming lessons say I look like I’m having a ball. They’re right.
Diane in her red lifeguard pinny, with a view of the pool behind her.
My friend Susan Simmons in British Columbia has a passion for marathon open water swimming and for coaching swimmers with disabilities.
She and her swimmers have done some amazing things over the years, but today marks a new step.
The Spirit Orcas, Canada’s only inclusive Masters “para” swim club, is competing at a Masters Swim Association of British Columbia (MSABC) swim meet in Nanaimo today. Five adult swimmers with intellectual and physical disabilities are set to compete amongst neurotypical and able-bodied swimmers in several events.
The Spirit Orcas, many of whom have their roots in Special Olympics, formed a swim club last year when British Columbia’s only para swim club halted its program. To promote inclusion in sport, the club members opted to take the bold step of registering as a Masters rather than para or “disabled”.
The Spirit Orcas have become well known for their open water achievements, including their relay swims in the Great Bear Rainforest and an 80km staged around Victoria’s peninsula. The swim meet in Nanaimo, however, is their first official competition outside the disability community.
As Susan says “It is only when we compete in the same spaces with each other that we have achieved inclusion”.
Maria, Drew, Melisa and Dixon, all members of the Spirit Orcas, prepare for a relay
Good luck to everyone! I hope you have a great time.
Earlier this year, Amy Appelhans Gubser achieved what many considered impossible: swimming nearly 30 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands—a feat that no man or woman had ever completed before.
Amy faced unimaginable challenges: freezing 43-degree water, shark-infested depths, and hours upon hours of relentless swimming without a wetsuit.
We have written about her here and here. At the time, Sam was outraged by the lazy journalism that focused on her weight and family status, and didn’t even mention her name. I was interested to see how experienced swimmers reported on her feat, and and noted her many swimming achievements before this swim.
Now you can listen to Amy herself, in this podcast where she is interviewed about her swim.
Photo of Amy Appelhans Gubser in the water, wearing a swim cap with goggles and a huge smile.
I still think Amy is pretty darned cool. And I appreciate that the written intro to the podcast made no reference to her weight or her status as a grandmother. It even mentions her name!
You are the people who don’t take advantage of your glide in breast stroke. Who walk in the lane rather than swimming. Who do some sort of head’s down dog-paddle. Or who do very short strokes and over-cross your arms in freestyle. Or who don’t follow every movement in aqua fit class. Or take it easy instead of pushing yourself throughout.
But you show up every single session and do your workout, whatever it may be. Already I recognize and expect to see you when I’m lifeguarding.
If I were you, I would welcome coaching or lessons because improving my strokes and speed are constant goals. But you seem happy to be moving through the water, and that’s the important thing.
You demonstrate discipline I don’t have, just by showing up every day.
Older women smiling and laughing during a water aerobics class. Photo from oldldadygains.com
Earlier this year I wrote about watching my friend Aimee play underwater hockey and mused about giving it a try. The local club has a three-session tryout package so I signed up and went to my first practice last week.
It is really hard work! I spent close to two hours practicing skills with fins and snorkel, and then playing a game. There is definitely speed and skill involved – not that I demonstrated much of either. Most of the others were pre-teens, so strategy was largely non-existent too. But fun? Most definitely lots of that.
I loved that we were all equals in the water. There were adult men larger than me, at least one other woman, and lots of kids who looked to be around 10-13 years old. I tried to be conscious of my flippers so I didn’t accidentally hit one of the kids, but was surprised at how little I needed to think about possible injury due to our relative size differences.
Next time I go, I want to work on passing, figuring out how to watch for players in all directions, and get better at staying close to the bottom and curling around the puck with my body to change directions or protect it from opponents. Oh, and identify who is actually on my team!
I had to redo the fitness test that gave me so much trouble back in June but this time I was with three other people, which helped. They were all much younger and faster, but that spurred me to try and keep up during the sprint. I didn’t, but I did swim fast enough to meet the minimum time. The other tests were all fine.
It feels like a full circle moment, as I will be working at the pool where I returned to swimming in my 40s. At the time, it felt like a big deal to start an activity as an older adult. Now, I’m a much older adult and looking forward to sharing a lifetime’s worth of love for water with new generations.
Diane in a purple jacket and pink shirt, outside the Ottawa swimming pool complex where she will start work this week.
Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, is the subject of a new movie on Disney, called A Young Woman and the Sea.
Gertrude Ederle is has been a hero since I first heard of her. She was just 20 when she made the crossing, smashing the men’s record in the process and setting a time that lasted until 1950. She was also a medal-winning Olympian and holder of multiple world records.
Gertrude Ederle at the end of her swim from France to England in 1926. Photo from the Facebook page A Mighty Girl.
What struck me most about the movie was the other women who were forces in her life: her mother, who insisted that she and her sister learn to swim and worked to pay for their membership in a women’s swim club, her female coach at the club, and the support of her sister throughout. They, along with Ederle herself, fought hard against the sexism of the time.
The movie takes a couple of liberties for dramatic effect, but is reportedly quite true to the biography of the same name. Her coach probably did sabotage her first attempt (though not by making her sick by adding sleeping pills to her tea), and her second attempt took place almost a year after the first, not mere days later.
If you want a feel-good movie to inspire you to swim, I highly recommend this one.
In the ongoing struggle to address my Shoulder issues (which now stretch well down into my hip and thigh), I have a new physiotherapist. My old one was great, but has gone on maternity leave.
My old therapist had given me a whole lot of exercises over our time together. I hate them. They work, and my shoulder is significantly better than it was six months ago, but it would probably be even better if I did them more regularly.
My new physiotherapist says the only good exercises are the ones I’ll actually do. She has given me exactly two, plus using a ball to roll my hip against a wall. One feels very much like doing butterfly stroke, which is perfect. It’s an exercise I can connect with my love of swimming. The other is a leg lift at a slightly different angle than I am used to, so familiar but also a challenge.
Do I do them all every day? No. But I am making a serious effort to do at least some of them every day. They are stinking hard and when I do them all, I go to bed exhausted. Even this limited work is helping enough that I am able to swim more often and I’m gradually able to do longer distances using freestyle.
Top: the peaceful little lake where I swim most often these days. Ignore the time. Strava on my phone is terrible for time but accurate on distance in the water. Bottom: Willow the dog gets a kayak ride. She also understands the value of doing less.
