FROM BREWING COFFEE TO TOA PAYOH SWIMMING COMPLEX

PART ONE

BREWING COFFEE

my mom send me to learn swimming when i was in Kindergarden year One. That time with me in the swimming class was my elder cousin and 2 distant relative. Our instructor was from China, and he was the one who pushed my head in the water for what seems like minutes. He told my worried mum that if i can't get over the fear of water at this age, it will be harder for me to overcome it in later years..a few days later there was news that he was deported back to china as his passport has expired

In primary school i signed up for the swimming CCA. There is swimming lesson every tuesday and thursday at the bukit batok swimming complex. I was in Bukit View Primary school, that time was when my uniform consist of blue shirt and dark blue pants, now the uniform has been changed, along with the removal of the old concourse where i grow up with my budding classmate KengYang and Hongwei...things change but memories stays...

I was ranked the second in my batch for 2 years. The "ruling" party was a girl from class 2A..(i was from 2B)..no matter where and when she always beats me to the ending point first.

Then came when the school start selecting people to go the inter-school swimming competition at toa payoh swimming complex. Both of us were selected to go for the 50 m breaststroke. I was so excited when the time come close to the unforgetable thursday...

PART TWO

TOA PAYOH

On that morning i reported to my swimming in-charge teacher, she was a malay woman in her late 20s and was also my form teacher. Bad news she said was that she, the girl from class 2A reported sick the day before and decide to withdraw from the competition...

The other person from my school was a boy from primary 4, he was to go for the Freestyle match. Both of us didn't talk much in the taxi on the way there, cause all i can hear is my teacher encouragement.

"Detail" by "detail" guys as young as me move up the seats closer and closer to the pool, and group by group they dived into the water. The "chom" and "splash" sound signal the beginning of screamings and whistles as schools shout for their teams...i really wonder whether you can hear anything when you are in the water, when all you Want to think about is touching the end-point and seeing how well you have done. My primary 4 senior swim first and end up last second in that detail line-up. Not bad he is quite close to the 6th guy.

Sitting at the seat just behind the diving point, one "auntie" behind me was incessantly shouting her boy's name who was in my lane. At that moment i caught a glimpse of my parents sitting beside my teacher and that freestroke guy, waving at me..

Already a few boys has been disqualified and marked because they jumped in before the whistle was even blowed. To most of us, standing upon the diving point and staring across the distance of the pool to the end point, the heart beat is just killing.

I dived into the pool and found myself leaving the surface and going deeper..(i didn't receive enough training for my diving)..and when i come out of the surface...shit..the 2 guys beside my lane already about 5 m ahead of me...what has happened?

I kicked hard and pulled back with more effort than my usual training...the crowd is still making much noises and already i am rather out of breath. About 10 m before i reach, the people in my line-up are already getting out of the pool and the first 2 person has already made their way to the reporting station and drying themselves...haha what to say.. I was still panting and struggling in the water..close to the end and not yet, just a few more strokes..

i stayed in the swimming CCA till the end of my primary school years, my school never send anyone to competition anymore i think. And our instructors there changed a few times...

A few months back when i took the initiative to drag my lazy bones to BB swimming complex, i spotted my former instructor, the guys who trained me and the 2A class girl. Besides having a lot more white hair and wrinkles on the face, he was still as before, the man who had made a SIMPLE selection process and trained us, BUT TO ME , it was more than just a simple experience, it was A UNFORGETTABLE AND REWARDABLE CHANCE, to stand facing the pool, when all I have in mind, was myself, the pool,people waiting for me at the end-point, who are always there to pick me up, and a climax in my swimming diary...Thank you