WANT TO GET A 29-year-old man out of his comfort zone?
Easy: Get him to accept a challenge and make him go public as he does it.
“Sure it’ll be a bit of craic, Chris.”
“Aye, sure why not?”
And, so, I convinced myself it was a good idea.
It was, at the time, too.
Now, here I am, Thursday evening, hardly-clothed, and, as I look out from a steaming pair of goggles, I’m not so sure…
A couple of months back, I decided to, literally, take the plunge. I’d managed to get this far, all 29 years of me, without learning how to swim, but it was time to change that.
Been across the globe on sun holidays, stag parties and all sorts of weird and wonderful adventures and managed to stay out of the swimming pool.
The Deele College teachers thought it was a good idea to try our hands at swimming back in the day, but the attention span didn’t particularly focus on actually becoming the next Michael Phelps.
So, here I am, at the Aura Leisure Centre, to try my hand at the Swim Academy, an eight-week programme. Now, I’m back for round two.
What’s the worst that can happen? Well, bar the obvious…
“It’s just like riding a bike,” Daniel McConnell, the Aura Swim Instructor, says. Can’t recall the last time I cycled, either.
Luckily, if that is the right word, I’d enrolled earlier this year for an introductory set of lessons and, thankfully – that’s definitely the right word – those few weeks under Gavin Doran at least heightened confidence that I wouldn’t sink.
But would I swim?
[adrotate group=”37″]A group of seven of us are lined perilously underwater at the lower end of the pool, like a group readying itself for whatever the aqua version of a firing squad is.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but apparently it is possible to teach a twenty-something-water-novice to keep himself afloat.
“It’s like driving a car, you’ve so much to remember between gears, clutching, braking and what have you,” Daniel tells his bunch of hopefuls, including this writer who feels as if he’s stalled the engine enough to seize it at this point.
The Aura’s instructors are all about the positives and make you feel as if progress, however slow it may feel, is being made.
Who thought that the most basic of human tasks – breathing – would make life so complicated at times? Well, I’d be on course for the Olympics were it possible to hold breath for an extended period.
Chris McNulty is attempting to swim!
It looks so easy, but mastering it isn’t quite how it looks.
Floating? No problem.
Kicking the legs? A doddle.
Swinging the arms? Yeah, I can manage that.
All of them at the one time? That’s where the problems start!
Can I go try riding the bike – or driving the car – next week?
No? Back for more.
Gulp!
Actually, maybe if I didn’t gulp, it might help…
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