back to the basics

Jispa has been learning to swim through proper coaching. It is surely a good thing to get the technique right. I have been a largely self taught swimmer. While I used to swim in Dubai where I stayed till the third standard, I forgot how to swim by the time I grew up. The old phrase that you cannot really forget how to swim your whole life is probably correct but that is only if you know how to swim correctly in the first place. I used to do all weird variations of swimming and mine was called underwater. I guess I never did properly learn the free style. It is only now that I am managing to improve my strokes. I learnt it again when V-inu and me used to go to Shivaji park and look at the coaching being done and then try and copy.
So I am pretty happy that she is learning the techniques and the different strokes as well. Yesterday she had a swim meet in school. The first and second standards swim together in competition. Last year she hadn’t learn enough to swim the length of the pool for her to take part. This year she suddenly burst into scene to get eth silver for the freestyle and the bronze for back stroke. She is still yet to learn the butterfly and breaststroke. She was two seconds behind the gold in freestyle and the gold was won by a champion swimmer. When I saw her I really thought – wow, she is fast. Whenever we go to the pool together she never swims with me properly. We are busy trying to enjoy ourselves. I keep throwing her in the water, she refuses to swim fast and the complete length etc etc. it was quite a revelation watching her.
In the backstroke she swam well to start off amongst the fastest and the n suddenly half way through the race she slowed considerably. She was tired, I could see. She then came a close third. The reason I thought that happened was nutrition. She had dosas for breakfast. A ha… I have learnt the value of nutrition science the hard way. I was ended up explaining the low GI and high GI funda to jasmine and the value of have high fibre for breakfast and then continuous calorie intake. Especially for sports activity.
This I guess is a he change from my growing up when no matter what the breakfast at home would be a gulp of a glass of milk. It would do for any requirement. We have not learnt nutrition at all in the scheme of things. I hope at least I can try and figure this out. Jasmine also needs some distance to go on this. Especially Jispa. Jasmine exasperations have been primarily on her inability to get Jispa to eat regularly. I will have to sit with Jispa and explain to her the value and the importance of eating and eating right. After she finished her back stroke I asked her if she got tired in middle. She agreed as much. I told her that her breakfast was wrong. She was quick to blame Mummy but she the she conveniently forgot to eat her snack that mommy had sent. Jasmine tries to send her decent snack and avoid junk in the dabba, but Jispa effectively foils her noble intention.
Many times I have been able to get through Jispa’s dogged refusal to understand by using the right words and talk. This time as well the task is on me to talk to her about food. I will have to do it and keep reinforcing the same. It always helps when she has had an experience that she can relate to and remember.
So far I have stayed away from trying to coach her and trying to get into motivation, push, egg, etc. you learn you try and see if you can do your best. There is also nothing that I think I can add at this stage. I am not an expert on all this. I am also not the one screaming and shouting at the kids a la other mothers. SWIM FAST SWIM FAST is not for me. See the game, try and analyse it. See how the champions do it, learn a bit. Ask the right questions. It will make an impact. Every sport has a technical side to it which must be mastered. You focus on the basics and you will get there. And once in the pool or arena for that matter, it’s you and the sport. No mama no papa no crowd no home support. What you have learnt and what you apply will count. Post that what new experiences you have encountered and what you have you have learnt from it will count. It’s really that simple really.
In the evening a friend remarked that you father and daughter must be having a cupboard full of medals. Ha ha. I said that when I was small, I was not the fastest swimmer, not the fastest runner, not the first in class, nothing. I won practically nothing. She has already far over achieved if I was the bench mark.
I think what helps for sure is the way we place importance on physical activity and having fun. I am sure she appreciated the fact that I came for the meet. I was not sure of going but I am glad I did. I could spot something; some change that I think might help her. As the bible on parenting said something like – your presence is an indicator of the importance you place on an activity and your child definitely takes cues from that.