Swimming competitions are not normally our thing - the boys LOVE to swim but not actually 'swim laps'. They are completely safe in the water but I would not say they are strong swimmers. So when Jack came home and said he wanted to start doing swim squad we were both surprised and thrilled. We thought it would be really good for his discipline and also for his fitness. He spends so much time running around playing football, that we thought we would be a good change.
However, by signing up for Monday afternoon swim squad, you also get selected for competitions......... and, of course, they are in Bangalore, India (not Phuket......) !! So last week Jack was selected to participate at Cambridge Public School in an inter school swimming comp. Off we head in the pouring rain to what can only be described as 'Indian Ghetto Hell' !! My first sign should have been that I had never heard of the school and when I googled it, it was a million miles away! I shouldn't have signed that damn permission slip, but alas, I did.
We arrive at an ALL Indian school and head to the 'aquatic centre'. I have seen backyard swimming pools bigger than this 'aquatic centre'. It was raining quite heavily and there was little to no seating for anyone. Our kids from Stonehill were not allocated any space and had to stand at the end of the pool for the entire day... unbelievable! When I looked around, I realised we were the only non-indian participants - our Swedish girls were quite the hit !
It was the coldest day I think we have had in 16 months in Bangalore and it rained ALL day - unheard of really. There was no food available for sale and nowhere to sit to eat snacks sent from the school. There were only two toilets available for all students, parents and teachers, and both of those had no toilet paper. As you can imagine, I crossed my legs tightly ! So many of the kids were scared and horrified - some even refused to compete and immediately turned around.
The 'dignitaries' were delayed due to traffic, along with the bad weather, so they decided to start the competition without them. There were 32 schools participating - in a backyard pool ! It was the craziest thing I have experienced in a long while - and that is saying something given some of my previous blogs.
Competition was going along quite well (except for the booming music and speakers....... only in India!) and then the dignitaries arrived, so competition had to 'STOP' ! We had a 20 minute speech and then the choir came to sing a Bollywood classic and then a shocking rendition of Kay Perry's 'Fireworks'. And, of course, at a ridiculous volume in the tiniest space possible. I was certain some of the girls were going to fall into the pool in full uniform.
We recommenced swimming and about 30 minutes later, they called 'lunch' - one hour break from competition......... we had 30 freezing kids with nowhere to sit or keep dry ! I was seriously considering pulling Jack out of competing, but what sort of Mum would that make me ?? So we soldiered on for him to swim.
By the time he actually got to swim it was after 3pm and the teachers had decided we needed to cancel competing in the relays - much to the boys disappointment. So Jack raced, came third, we packed up and headed home. I arrived at home at about 5pm and poured a looooong G&T.
'We' will not be attending another swimming competition anytime soon.
 |
This is the finish line........lots of room
|
|
 |
And this is the starting end...... marshalling area to the right.
|
|
 |
The choir on the way out.
|
|
 |
Jack waiting for his turn
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment