It has been my goal to get an Adult Technique SwimFit group off the ground, a place to train your technique, swim mindfully focussing on improvements, amongst a group of swimmers with the same improvement minded goals; to swim more effectively. Not just with effort and heart beats and wondering why your not seeing the improvements your efforts deserve.
After leaving Bancroft’s as Head of Swimming after 12 years in July 2023, I just needed a little breathing space and some renewed energy to get the group off the ground and we started at Bancroft’s School in January 2025
Lucy joined the group in the Spring and has kindly shared her experience. Lucy didn’t just give me one version of her experience of joining the group , but several rather funny anecdotes, they were all so good to read, I’ve cut, copied and pasted to give you a flavour of them all!
They include;
- The overly poetic ‘War and Peace Version’
- The sanitised version
- The slightly more personalised version
- The very succinct version
Here’s Lucy….
Joining a new group is always daunting and your first time is very similar to a first day at school or work. Despite checking repeatedly that you fit the ‘minimum swimming criteria’, it doesn’t matter how confident you think you are, there will always be that little voice in your head saying, “What if I’m the worst/slowest/have the crappest technique?”
Everyone remembers that one screeching swimming teacher at school who never smiled and focused on the club swimmers in the deep end while you were drowning in your pyjamas in the shallow end desperately trying to pick up that bastard brick from the bottom of the pool to get your first swimming badge.
Imagine my joy when, at the first session, I was met with a coach who couldn’t be more opposite. The pool was cold but the reception was incredibly warm. Susan coaches with enthusiasm, positivity, empathy and, most importantly, a smile.
I have had so much fun at the Thursday night’s swimming sessions, the whole group is so positive. It doesn’t matter if you’re fast, slow, have been swimming since you could walk or are fairly new to it all, Susan will break down new techniques so you can build on what you already have regardless of your starting point.
In 4 weeks my breathing technique is better, my arm technique is better and my leg technique is better.
Everyone gets the chance to improve at their own pace with lots of positive encouragement from Susan and the understanding that no one gets it right the first time
They say that people won’t remember what you said or did but how you make them feel and yes, I’ve forgotten half the coaching points Susan told me, but she’s made me feellike an Olympian in the water.
Nothing feels as good as that second when something you’ve been practising ‘clicks’ and you feel like you are gliding effortlessly through the water for a couple of strokes.
That feeling is worth the cost of the session alone. Even though, as soon as you realise you’re ’really doing it!’ you completely forget your breathing, take in a load of water and end up coughing your lungs up at the end of the pool.
Now all I’ve got to do is put it all together and they’ll be no stopping me!
I have had to accept that I don’t look like the Olympians I’ve been watching on YouTube who might have been practising for a little bit longer than me, but sometimes everything ‘clicks’, and it’s feels great so that’s enough!
Am I zooming along in the fast lane of the local pool leaving everyone in my wake? Not yet. But the other day I beat a bloke in the middle lane who was using fins and that made me feel really good.
Questions is…,Why are you reading this experience from someone you don’t actually know? Why aren’t you just signing up for one of Susan’s courses?