Zurich - Swimming Course

Opfikon Pool - Closed for 18 Months

I’m still at a plateau with my swimming and now my local pool is closed, so I feel a little bereft. I decided to get a year’s subscription to the Oerlikon pool since the bus segues quite nicely with the tram, meaning I can get there without too much problem. The good thing about Oerlikon is that it’s a 50m pool; the bad thing about it is that it’s always busy (or so it feels).

I’ve given up trying to do a non-stop kilometer when I’m at the pool and am focusing more on drills and improving my technique while I have the comfort of a pool to do it in. There are certain exercises that are a bit difficult to do in the open water – such as “no arm swimming” (the sea is too rough for something where I won’t have much propulsion, at least given my ability),improving breathing technique (hard to know if you’ve not rolled your head far enough or whether it was just a pesky wave), and also any attempt to see what makes the biggest impact on my speed or lack thereof (because the sea conditions are never the same). Consequently, it’s rather nice being back in the pool and able to concentrate on these things with more confidence.

I noticed a poster at the pool saying that there were still places available on an advanced crawl course. I bravely (because it involved speaking German to a Swiss person and thus me potentially not understanding them or even them not understanding me) enquired what “advanced” meant. The man at the desk said I needed to be able to swim 100m without feeling out of breath, so I decided to sign up.

I got increasingly nervous as the day approached for me to join the group (it was already in its 3rd week) – would I be good enough, would it all be very Swiss, would I be able to do it? Also, the sheet told me that the group would meet at the non-swimmers’ section (!). This itself caused me many a worry. This wasn’t just a beginners’ course was it? Surely the meeting place was just for the first lesson, but this was the third lesson, so where were they meeting now? How would the teacher know I’d paid and was she expecting me?

I stood like a plonker at the designated place, but no-one turned up. I wandered over to the end of the swimmers’ pool where I could see what looked like a lesson taking place, although I wasn’t entirely sure it was my lesson (they didn’t really seem to be doing crawl). I asked the lady who then pointed me to a woman sitting with someone on the steps at the other end of the pool.

She was deep in conversation but I finally got her attention and she told me to go to the other end of the pool. I was confused, so I just stayed there wanting to ask another question, but she got a bit annoyed and said she’d be there soon, so I wandered back down to the other end. It was then that I spotted five people hanging around (who all looked very fit and very professional, throwing me into another tizzy). These things are just so daunting!

Eventually she came and, after introductions, told us to swim 200m as a warm up. Whoops, the man had only specified 100m; I began to panic again about the level required. I’d comforted myself previously that this was a course and not a training session and thus I wouldn’t be expected to tire myself out. Then further confusion entered my mind as it seemed that she hadn’t booked a lane and we were to swim in the same lane as the other course that was going on. This wasn’t very Swiss. The Swiss are supposed to be orgnanised.

The other group was much slower, so although I started swimming crawl, I had to go into breast stroke, since I don’t like overtaking people. I did my designated lengths (mostly crawl, since the other class eventually moved). The teacher then pronounced that I’d never done a swimming course before, so I nodded and then she asked me if I could swim. I thought this was a bit bizarre because surely she’d just seen me swimming? My technique couldn’t possibly be that bad? I explained that I could do crawl, which she seemed to accept (what else could she do, though? This was little comfort).

She then asked if I’d prefer High German since she’d been speaking very strong dialect up to that point, so I said it would be easier for me. She took it upon herself to announce this to the whole group in a tone of voice that said she knew it was inconvenient for everyone but what could they do (or at least that was my take on it). It was all my nightmares and more.

However, I enjoyed the class itself. The others were friendly, but they were Swiss, so I was too shy to speak to them much. Most of the time I didn’t really understand the exercises I was supposed to be doing, but I quite enjoyed giving it a go. I got a bit muddled when we had to put swimming gloves on as she told me I had mine on the wrong way and the black bit had to go on the inside, so I started to turn them inside out. Fortunately one of the others showed me that the black bit was on the palm and then the penny dropped. This was pretty indicative of the entire lesson with me continually misunderstanding.

The teacher corrected my drills a few times, but I’m not sure I was doing it right even afterwards. Nevertheless, at the end of it, I felt I could have continued on and I felt energized, so despite everything I’m glad I went. Another seven lessons to go!