Hoi An’s fortunate coastal geography means that swimming is ingrained in our culture.
With the long hot summers, beautiful beaches, and many of our families spending weekends by the pool, we are inextricably connected to life in the water.
To support all our students to become confident swimmers at HAIS, we added the indoor pool facility three years ago to broaden our physical education offerings. This term saw the return of weekly lessons for all our students, and everyone was very happy to get back in the water.
Swimming lessons started on April 10th and will run through to June 23rd. Lessons are offered to all students from Early Years through to Upper Secondary and our Squad meets an additional two times a week to train. Studies have shown that kids who begin swimming at an early age achieve physical and mental milestones before their peers. So it’s not just water safety that we’re teaching, we’re encouraging our kids to thrive academically and improve their well-being by taking part in this daily ritual.
Swimming coach Ms Amanda said, “Learning swimming develops many skills. It is a great cardiovascular exercise that is low impact, which results in less injuries than other sports. It builds our fitness, teaches us life saving skills, requires responsibility, and develops our mental endurance and mindfulness. Swimming regularly can greatly enhance one’s quality of life.”
Ms Amanda has a love of swimming herself. She was a competitive swimmer as a child and teen, and has been coaching swimming since. Ms Amanda still trains today and greatly enjoys water activities. In her spare time, she does fitness swimming in the pool and open water swimming along the shore, and she loves to scuba dive, free dive, and snorkel when she travels.
At the end of the day, swimming isn’t just about building muscle or winning the race, it’s a form of meditation. Something happens when you dive into a world where clocks don’t tick and phones don’t ping. Arms circling, charging forward, laps in our pool allow the students to focus on the present moment. And in today’s automated world – that is undoubtedly a positive thing.
Swimming Carnival
Every year we play host to a raft of sporting events, including our annual Swimming Carnival. This year, the event will take place on Thursday June 8th for Primary students, and Friday June 9th for Secondary students. Kindergarten will also enjoy their own Swimming Carnival activities from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM on Friday, June 9th.
Parents are welcome to attend the event and more details about this will be released closer to the time. The ceremony will be held the following week during Sports Friday.
Our carnival isn’t just about collecting medals or winning a race though, it’s actually about having a go, getting in the water, and doing your best. Good luck to Phoenix, Dragon and Buffalo.
