Ashiya Swimming Camp (Summer 2014)
Coaching at the Ashiya Swimming School during the summer is the most exciting event during my summer vacations.
This camp takes place everyday (weekdays, Mon-Fri) from 8:30-11:00 (coaches must be there from 7:30-1:30) and I started volunteering as a coach at this camp since last year, making many friends along the way.
We clean and set up the pool for the 450 students we coach from 7:30 am to 8:00 am. I was assigned to coach 124 first graders (beginner swimmers) with 3 other coaches my age. We separated the 124 kids into three different groups (Pink, Blue and Green team according to their swimming abilities -Pink being the best and Green being the worst.) I was assigned the blue team by myself, which consisted of 52 students. Everyday was a hassle, you would constantly hear me screaming, instructing the kids on how to swim and stay underwater for 10 seconds.
I made up a schedule for the students and tried following it everyday:
8:00-8:30 Register, stretch, shower
8:50-9:30 Floating on stomach for 10 seconds
9:35-10:05 Floating on back for 5 seconds
10:10-10:30 Staying underwater for 10 seconds
10:45-11:00 Stretch, shower, go home!
By the end of week 2, my voice was gone and I could not speak. Everyone in my family kept mocking me because I sounded like an old man trying to get words out of my mouth in an extremely raspy voice.
One of the students I was coaching was terrified of the water and refused to swim. I diligently tried getting him to step into the pool everyday. On the last week of camp, he came to me and asked to watch him swim, as he practiced swimming at the pool with his father the day before. Once I saw him swimming all by himself, tears ran down my face as I was so happy of his accomplishment. For the rest of the week, he kept asking me to watch him and teach him how to swim.
The best part of it all however, was that I was nominated as the best coach by my students and many of their parents came to thank me for teaching them. In my opinion however, I was able to have fun at this work because the kids were so great.
I came across many cultural differences and difficulties (as this camp is extremely Japanese in their ideals) but it gave me an opportunity to learn about this culture first hand.
For example, I had to learn the hard way that in Japan it is a given rule that one must arrive 10 minutes before the meeting time. I was also made to learn that when coaching, one must not sit and talk to other coaches. Although this camp may sound extremely strict, it was one of the best experiences of my life. We shared differences and similarities; laughing and bonding over music, food, and crushes. I am planning on working there as a volunteer coach next year as well.
Hours: 24 ( i will only count the maximum time allowed to add onto CAS)
Considered The Ethics Of Their Actions
