A little bit about the swim centre

There is no lesson this week because of the Australia Day public holiday so I thought I would write a little about how I found my class, how much it costs and what the swim centre is like.

According to the yellow pages many public pools and private swim centres have adult learn to swim classes however, turns out that is not quite true.  Some didn’t even offer them and of those that did most only offered private classes arranged directly with an instructor, at a cost of $30 - $40 per half hour.  There were only 3 swim centres which had organised regular classes available.

Option 1 was a little out of the way and classes were on a Friday afternoon so I ruled it out. 

Option 2 was my preference:

·                Monday 7.30pm

·                5 minutes from home

·                30 minute class

·                $15 per class

When I went to check it out though, which was during the allocated class time, I was horrified! The place was dark, dank, had no natural light, looked somewhat tired, over powered me with the smell of chlorine, and worst of all the instructor was standing on the side of the pool yelling at the person in the water. Granted it was probably so that he could hear her but it put me off instantly and I left without bothering to look.

Option 3:

·                daily 11.30am and 5.30pm classes as well as an 8am Saturday class

·                10 minutes from work but a bit longer from home

·                30 minute class

·                $15 per class if you pay by the week

·                $12 per class if you book in for a term or for all of what is left of the term

When I went there for its inspection, I fell in love….  a gorgeous, bright, airy, state of the art centre with a great vibe, plenty of natural light and most importantly nobody doing any shouting!

The pool I use is 25m, 1.2m deep, has 8 lanes and is heated to 29 degrees, the change rooms are nice and clean with (divine!) hot sensor showers inside as well as poolside, and the only rules are that you must wear a swim cap in the pool and hop under the showers before getting in.

Given that Option 3 is part of a big busy gym the only downside was the increased chance of running into somebody I knew but overall I was sold!

I have paid $144 and booked in for 12 weeks.  I am the only one in my class (so at $12 a lesson my private instruction is an absolute bargain) and from what I have gathered most of the time slots are pretty bare.  

I go to the same half hour session each week which means I have the same instructor each week but you can change session times – it just means you may not get the same instructor.  You do need to book in though, point being if nobody does they won’t schedule an instructor.  The swim centre only has learn to swim pools which mean that after the lesson you can’t stay behind and practice. That hasn’t been a problem so far though because after my half hour I have been exhausted!

At this preliminary stage I am glad I am the only one in the class because that means it is all about me! J   And really I just don’t think that any more than a class of 2 is conducive to a decent learning pace for this sort of thing.  I think though that as I progress it would be nice to have others to share the different experiences with.

I am pretty pleased with everything so far and am actually surprised at the pace of progress.  I wasn’t expecting face in the water action from lesson #1 and I certainly didn’t think that by lesson #3 I would be trying to incorporate taking in breaths from the side (that’s coming up next lesson I am told....).  Having said that though there is no overbearing pressure to attempt anything I am not comfortable with and I think that that, combined with Jackie’s calm nature and the really nice vibe and environment of the centre has kept my enthusiasm for this challenge well and truly alive. J