Dave the Brave

"I cannot, I cannot!"

This was what David said repeatedly when the boys started taking swim lessons. Swimming is an essential life skill - that's our firm belief - and that is the motivation for signing the boys up for swim lessons with Coach G at Parbury. Coach G, we must say, is a great guy. He is always encouraging but firm.

The first couple of lessons focused on gaining water confidence. Coach made the boys go underwater to fetch little crab, penguin, octopus, etc. In spite of David's refrain, we observed gradual improvement over time. He became incrementally more confident. And he caught onto the technique pretty quickly, and could move well in the water. That was in June.

Fast forward to end August. The boys could now swim without floats and noodles. And they could swim the length of the pool at Parbury. Needless to say, we were really pleased.

Then we went swimming at Laguna. The lap pool is 25 m length-wise and 3 m deep. David did one lap with the float. And the next swim he surprised even me. He swam all the way down the middle of the lap pool. Swimming beside him was his proud father. He appeared so small with 3 m of water beneath him. And yes, he swam all the way unaided.

Then David asked to go down the red slide. The boys had previously done that with me, but it was really fast toward the end, and a little scary. The first time that day, we did the slide together. The second time, David came down alone.

I could see a tinge of fear on his face as he turned the corner accelerating into the splash. But I caught him as he entered the pool and congratulated him for being Dave the Brave.

"You did it, you did it!"




David has been hounding his brother to do the same since that day.

PS: Ethan accomplished a lap unaided about 2 weeks later.