Dubai: If you’re an adult and you don’t know how to swim, it’s not too late for you to learn this essential skill.
This is what Taghred Chandab, an award-winning Australian author, realised when she first hit the pool to actually swim in the water in March — something she had put off for 25 years for various reasons, including hydrophobia.
But Chandab realised she was not alone in her thinking. She had come across many adults, she said, who admitted that they, too, do not know swimming. So on Wednesday, she encouraged some of them to overcome their fears and be taught the basics of swimming for free by instructors from Absolute Swimming Academy – Dubai.
Video by Janice Ponce De Leon, Gulf News
Chandab said learning how to swim is important since there have been a number of reports of drowning incidents in the country — some of which involved adults.
“The importance of adults learning to swim is that if you are in a situation, you can help not just a child or another adult but help yourself,” Chandab said.
And this [learning how to swim] is her way of helping herself, Chandab said. The mother of four embarked on a ‘40 Before 40’ journey where she decided to do 40 challenging and fun things before she turned 40. Learning how to swim is on the list.
“I started my first swimming lesson in March. I booked 20 swimming lessons. By my fifth lesson, I started to swim 25 metres and I couldn’t believe it. I’ve gotten over my phobia,” she said.
Chandab’s fear of swimming started when she almost drowned in a school swimming carnival in Sydney when she was eight. All the non-swimmers in the group were asked to jump into the water and she did. Soon after, she began to sink.
“I could not bring myself up. I could feel myself sinking, I was struggling ... and I was drowning. Then this man dove into the water and pulled me out from under.”
Hitting the pool that unforgettable day in March and finally swimming 25 metres in a 1.8-metre deep pool is a feat Chandab is proud of. So if she can do it, others can do it, too, she said.
“It is liberating and empowering that when you are sitting at a pool side and see a situation, you know what to do.”
During the training, Velimir Stjepanovic, a UAE-based Olympian and two-time European swimming champion, was also present to cheer the group and teach them a few tips and tricks.
“The main thing is for them to let go of their fear because it’s shallow and they’re not in any real danger. So it’s just about being comfortable to put your head under the water, blow bubbles, make sure you can come up and breathe,” Stjepanovic told Gulf News.
Jeftin James, a DJ who participated in the session, said: “I wanna be safe and I want to learn how to swim so I don’t drown when I’m in the water,” he said, adding: “I think I’ll get there in a couple of weeks.”
