Swimming in Winter? Why Not?

Since I was a kid swimming in Cinque Terre, Liguria, in Italy has always been - and will always be - a part of my life. I remember the time when my grandma used to bring me to the beach, early in the mornings, with few people around, a crystal clear sky and a shining sun that let the transparent, still untouched water, sparkle. We would go for a swim together, in which we’d mainly chat, splash the water in each others’ faces, and have so much fun while appreciating the incredible landscape and seascape that surrounded us. And this is one of many other reasons why I’ve always considered swimming not only my favourite sport, but a great outdoor activity that can let people appreciate nature while having a fun time. Unfortunately, due to safety reasons and weather conditions, this sport can’t always be practiced in seas and oceans - that is why swimming pools were invented ! After years and years of competitive swimming, when I’d spend much more time in the water than outside, I could start to feel scales on my skin. As happens with everything, when you do too much of something, after a while, you feel tired of it and for this reason, mainly, I decided to drop it until …. the beginning of second term, when, after perusing several new and interesting sports, swimming stood out on the list, as if someone wanted me to go back to my origins, bringing me back to practice in the water. As with all sports offered by Brentwood, we would have our swimming session three days a week. At the swimming pool, each day, our coach would give us a program to follow with various lengths for each stroke and leave us ten minutes to do whatever we wanted, including going in the hot tub, which was pretty nice. ;-) Having a competitive swimming background really let me enjoy each and every single lesson so … if you’d also like to have the possibility to go swimming in Winter and, “if having wet hair on the way back to the school doesn’t really bother you” and you “would like to have fun in the water, not only by swimming laps but also diving, playing water polo and doing many others interesting water activities, all provided by the course” as outlined by Hannah C and Lindsey P, two friends of mine who attended this sport with me, you’ll know what choice to make when deciding pn your second term sport. Marta G, ‘19