If you are a person of South Asian origin reading this, the first thing that might as well come to your mind when you hear ‘swimming’ would be a svelte person in revealing clothes having the time of their life in the pool, a picture in which most middle-class South Asians with not-so-perfect middle-regions of their bodies would struggle to fit. The Love Swimming initiative launched by Swim England, the national governing body for swimming in England, along with ten of its partners, is targeted precisely at such people who are overwhelmed by the popular ideas of swimming in their own cultures, and in mass media. A national campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of swimming, it aims to make people from all communities, regardless of their sex, age and abilities, ditch their gadgets and join each other at the swimming pool.
That South Asians are a focus group has statistical underpinnings. According to a recent survey conducted by Swim England, more than 3 in 5 (63%) people of South Asian origin felt it was intimidating to learn to swim as an adult, against the national average who shared this view (51%). This rested on several misconceptions within the focus group. 48% of South Asians thought that swimming lessons were only for beginners against a national average of 33%, 67% of South Asians believed that swimming teachers preferred teaching children to adults against a national average of 42%, and significantly, 49% of South Asians thought that swimming lessons ‘aren’t’ for people like me’.
Boosting self-esteem
Muna told the newsweekly, “I love attending my swimming session. It gives me time to focus on myself and stress relief and have a lovely conversation with my favourite mamas. Swimming sessions give me 45 mins of my 24/7 to focus on myself and I come out relaxed.”
Neelam said, “I had a phobia of water,” She gives credit to her teacher, Sen and this opportunity where I can get over her phobia as well as learn how to swim. “I had never swum before. These classes have given me the chance to learn from scratch. Each lesson has been raising my confidence in myself and boosted my self-esteem in doing things of which I had no knowledge of,” she added.
Another swimmer, Irum told us, “I think swimming has really given me a lot of confidence and boosted my self-esteem. I never learned it as a child, so having the opportunity and experience through the community, especially with leading and organising these groups has been wonderful. I feel like it's just such a privilege to be part of this group the swimming itself is so it's a different feeling to be around others who were in the same boat as you and just waiting to learn the happy feeling of being in the water really does feel very very good for your mental health.”
This cultural hangover persists in South Asians even when they move to other regions of the world. As swimming in South Asia has traditionally been in natural and open water bodies, those unwilling to shed their clothes in public, and women in particular, find it impossible to continue swimming once they reach puberty. Of late swimming facilities for adults have come up in relatively urban areas, but even they remain either out of reach for large sections of the South Asian population or are not perceived to be safe and private.
And these perceptions have grown deeply rooted. According to the survey by Swim England, the lack of privacy was revealed as an overwhelming barrier to swimming lessons by South Asian respondents, with 75% believing that the pool isn’t a private space and they didn’t want to be watched through the windows, significantly greater than the national average of 56%. But this does not make South Asians in England lag in enthusiasm. If their fears and insecurities are addressed, they would be the most enthusiastic to pick up swimming as adults, as revealed by the nearly 7 in 10 (67%) of respondents from the South Asian community who felt encouraged to improve their swimming ability and 1.7 million from ethnically diverse communities who have not been swimming in the last 12 months, wanting to do so in the next year.
Real therapy
Jamal Hussan, a swimmer who had his first ever lesson aged 45, had the following to say about his experience. “I first brought my daughter to start her lessons and she actually inspired me to get into the water. At first, I was really scared because it was something I’d never done before at all. When you think about the barriers to why people might avoid lessons, if I’m honest I think body shape, and age, all play a role. But that shouldn’t be getting in the way of anyone starting lessons. I was always worried that if I was taking my daughter, then I wouldn’t be able to go in the water with her and I’d miss out on that time with her. Thanks to lessons, I do feel more confident on a daily basis now. That hour that I get in the water, it gives you real therapy and I would urge anyone to just go for it!”
The potential for the opportunities to make swimming inclusive by Swim England to have an impact on people who till now have been excluded not only from swimming spaces in their communities but also in England where their discomfort has often been overlooked, is evident from the words of Talat, from London. She said, “I am now a group leader for sessions run by Hounslow Swim Club, where we provide a safe environment to connect with others from different ethnicities, cultures, and countries of origin. Providing the opportunity for adults to learn to swim is essential, it gives them a vital lifesaving skill that many of the women did not ever believe they were capable of. The latest Love Swimming campaign is about busting those damaging myths about who swimming lessons are for, and we want adults to know it’s never too late to learn, and that lessons are there to support everyone into the water.”
