‘Swimming gives me energy and helps me switch off’
Being in the pool wasn’t always a passion for Minreet Kaur, 41, from west London, but she embraced a change in direction to help more Asian women love the water.
Getting into the pool, I feel at peace. Being in the water gives me time to myself. But I haven’t always loved swimming – I used to hate it. I was six when an instructor pushed me into the water, putting me off doing it for years.
My fears continued into adulthood. Although I knew how to swim, I hated the idea of being out of my depth or swallowing water. Unlike me, my mum loved being in the water after learning to swim in her 30s. A love for swimming has helped keep up her strength and fitness into her 70s.
My mindset began to shift when I turned 40 last year and wanted to do something new. Last September, the Alzheimer’s Society was running a challenge to swim one, five or 10 miles in 30 days. It was a cause close to my heart as a friend had recently lost his father to Alzheimer’s. With encouragement from my mum, I put aside my fears and rose to the challenge of swimming five miles over five days.
Getting into the pool for the first time was scary yet exciting. I still had doubts whether I’d complete the challenge or not. I didn’t think I’d be able to sustain more than a couple of lengths at a time, but to my amazement, I managed to swim up to 70 laps of the pool each day. I proved to myself there was nothing to be scared of. I also felt healthier for it.
Afterwards, I began swimming regularly at my local leisure centre in west London. I’d been experiencing painful stomach aches and sometimes my mental health was low, but swimming helped in a way that no other exercise did. It gave me energy and clarity, and I felt fitter than I had in years.
When I posted about my new hobby on social media, Asian women began to get in touch to ask if I could teach them to swim. It wasn’t something I’d considered before, but I spoke to a friend about the idea and she inspired me to do it, as she knew lots of Asian women who wanted to learn to swim.
There’s often a stigma in Asian communities that swimming isn’t a sport
There’s often a stigma in Asian communities that swimming isn’t a sport for women
for women and some Asian women who feel conscious about their body image don’t feel comfortable wearing swimwear, meaning many never learn to swim.
Back then, I was working as a freelance journalist, so I was flexible with my time. I wanted to help more women embrace the water, like I had, and swimming is such an important life skill. Knowing how to float and swim could potentially save your life.
To give one-to-one lessons to adults, I had to sign up to a three-day course to achieve a level one Swim England qualification, which involved learning theory and practising core aquatic skills in the pool, as well as understanding health and safety regulations. The course was with Tritons Swim School and I was able to access a bursary to train for free.
One of my first clients was a lady who’d grown up believing she’d drown in deep water. At the beginning of our first lesson, she told me she didn’t want to venture into the deep end, but I helped her feel comfortable under the water and I gave her a noodle float to help her. We kept to the side of the pool and inched our way into the deep end while holding on to the edge. She couldn’t believe it. ‘I can’t wait to tell my son that I can swim,’ she told me.
Last February, I enrolled on an intense week-long course to become a level two swimming instructor. It involved planning lessons and teaching groups of children. Teaching kids for the first time was daunting as I’d only taught adults, but they were well-behaved and I qualified in March.
Soon I’ll be giving swimming lessons full-time at my local leisure centre, where I’ll also be able to teach children to swim. But for now, I’m focused on helping anyone who wants to learn to swim later in life.
Even my mum is asking me to teach her new tricks. She’s always been a daredevil, diving and learning how to do forward rolls and butterfly stroke. Now I can join her with tumbles and handstands in the pool, doing all the things I never did as a child.
When I’m swimming, I switch off and I don’t worry about little things in life that don’t matter. What I do care about is feeling good and making a small difference to people’s lives.