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Aqua Life Swimm School, Delta Swimming Pool, Sibu (2026)

03/09/2026

【Find a Coach Who Can Walk the Journey with You】

Recently, I heard about a student who was scolded by a swimming coach during class until the student cried.

Afterward, the coach said, “I was only speaking a little louder.”

But based on the reactions of other students, the issue may not have been just the volume. It may have been the tone and teaching approach at that moment, which made the student feel a great deal of pressure.

This made me think again about something important:

Is swimming instruction really just about teaching someone how to do the movements?

I don’t think so.

Especially for adult learners, learning to swim is often not just a “technical lesson” — it is also a “mental lesson.”

Some people are afraid of water. Some have swallowed water before. Some do not feel safe in deep water. Others are not lacking effort, but after failing again and again in the past, they have already started to doubt themselves.

When someone enters the water carrying nervousness and fear, and what they receive in return is blame, pressure, or a harsh tone, then what they have to fight is no longer just the water — but also their own fear.

Why does some teaching easily turn into “the more you teach, the louder you get”?

1。Coaches project their own learning experience onto the student

“I learned this way too.”
“My coach used to be even fiercer.”
“If you practise a few more times, you’ll get it.”

But just because the coach could do it does not mean the student can do it right now.

Everyone is different in age, physical condition, water confidence, learning experience, and mental state.

2。Volume is mistaken for teaching effectiveness

Speaking louder does not mean the instruction is clearer.

When a student is already nervous, a louder voice can sometimes make the body even more tense and breathing more rushed. In the end, the student may not even be able to do a movement they could previously do.

3。Ignoring each person’s level of tolerance

Some people need more direct reminders. Others need time to slowly build confidence.

What truly matters is not how the coach is used to teaching, but how the student in front of them needs to learn.

Many adults get stuck not because they are not trying hard enough

After teaching adult swimming for so many years, I have become more and more certain of this:

Many problems cannot be solved by simply saying, “Relax a little.”

Because what the student really wants to ask is:

“How do I relax?”

And it also cannot be solved by simply saying:

“Just do it, and it’ll be right!”

Because the student’s real question may be:

“But I honestly don’t know how to do it.”

If the student does not understand, then explain it in another way.

If the student cannot do it, then break the movement down into smaller parts.

If the student is afraid, deal with the fear first.

If one method does not work, try another method.

That is the true value of a coach.

So, how do you find a coach who can truly support you?

① A coach who is willing to listen to your difficulties
Not someone who rushes to tell you what you did wrong, but someone who first tries to understand where you are getting stuck.

② A coach who can see things from your perspective
Something that feels simple to the coach may feel extremely difficult to the student.

③ A coach who knows how to break movements down
They can turn abstract ideas like “relax,” “balance,” “rotate,” and “breathe” into small steps that you can actually do.

④ A coach who gives you a sense of safety
A good learning environment does not mean there is no pressure at all. It means you know that even if you make a mistake, you are still allowed to try again.

⑤ A coach who is willing to walk through the learning process with you
Sometimes, what you need is not someone who keeps pushing you to “go faster,” but someone who knows when to encourage you forward and when to let you slow down.

I have always believed this:

Swimming is not taught by shouting.

Truly good teaching helps a person who is afraid of water slowly dare to put their face into the water.

It helps a person who has always believed “I just can’t learn this” begin to realise:

Maybe I just haven’t found the method that suits me yet.

Finding the right coach is like finding a reliable support point in the water.

They will not hold on to you forever,
and they will not swim the whole journey for you.

But when you are still unsure of yourself, they stay with you,
helping you build skill, confidence, and a sense of safety step by step.

Until one day, they let go—

and that is when you realise that you already knew how to swim.

03/09/2026

【The Hardest Part of Learning Is Letting Go of Resistance】

“Once you resist, there is very little anyone can do.”

Many times, what truly stops someone from learning how to swim is not their physical ability. It is that mentally, they have already closed the door.

When you begin to resist a movement, resist changing an old habit, or already decide in your mind:

“This method doesn’t suit me.”
“I didn’t swim like this before.”
“This feels strange.”

then no matter how much the coach explains, demonstrates, or adjusts the lesson, it becomes very difficult for real learning to happen.

Learning does not mean accepting everything blindly.

It means being willing to try first, and then judging based on the result.

For adults especially, the hardest thing to change is often not the movement itself, but the habits and beliefs that have been built over many years.

You need to be willing to try once before you can feel the difference.

You need to let go of the old movement before there is space to build a new one.

So sometimes, a coach can help you with many things.

But there is one thing a coach really cannot do for you:

help you change when you have already decided that you do not want to change.

02/09/2026

【Learning to swim is a lot like life — it does not always move upward.】

We often assume that as long as we practise seriously, we should improve day by day.

If we swam well yesterday, we should be even better today. If we have already learned a movement, we should not make the same mistake again.

But real learning has never been a straight line.

Sometimes, you suddenly find the right feeling and think, “I’ve finally got it.”

Then a few days later, when you get back into the water, the same old problem shows up again.

You start to doubt yourself:

“Am I getting worse?”
“Maybe I just can’t learn this?”

But the truth is, taking a step back does not always mean you are regressing. Sometimes, it simply means your body is reorganising and relearning.

When learning a new movement, it is normal to go through the process of understanding, trying, making mistakes, correcting, and then understanding again.

You may feel like you are going in circles, but with every repetition, your body is actually remembering a little more.

This is true in swimming, and it is true in life as well.

Real progress is not about being better than yesterday every single day.

It is about being willing to keep moving forward, even after getting stuck, failing, and starting again.

So if you do not swim well today, there is no need to rush into doubting yourself.

Give yourself some time, and give learning some patience.

You do not need to improve every single time.

As long as, when you look back, you can see that you have already come farther than when you first started, that is enough.

It is okay to stumble along the way.

As long as the direction is right, you are still moving forward.

01/09/2026

📢 Important Announcement

Dear parents and swimmers,

According to the Sibu Municipal Council, Delta Swimming Pool will be temporarily closed from 1 September 2026 until further notice due to the serious haze and worsening air quality.

Therefore, all Aqua Life swimming classes at Delta Swimming Pool are cancelled until further notice.

The pool will reopen when the IPU reading falls below 200 and conditions are considered safe. We will share further updates once available.

Thank you for your understanding. Please stay safe and take care. 💙🏊‍♂️

29/08/2026

【Still Can’t Do It After So Many Attempts? Maybe It’s Not Because the Student Isn’t Trying Hard Enough.】

Sometimes when you learn swimming with a coach, you may experience something very frustrating:

“Why can’t I get this movement right?”

The coach has explained it many times.
You have practised seriously again and again.
But your body still just cannot do it.

Eventually, you may start questioning yourself:

Is my coordination too poor?
Do I simply have no talent for swimming?
Am I too old to learn?
Maybe I really just can’t do it?

But here is something I want you to know:

Maybe the problem is not entirely you.

In swimming lessons, we often see the same situation.

A student cannot perform a movement, so the coach keeps asking them to repeat it:

“Again.”
“Relax more.”
“Kick your legs.”
“Keep your arm straight.”
“Don’t lift your head.”
“Try again. You can do it.”

The coach may be very patient and very serious.

But there is one important question:

If a student has already tried ten times and still cannot do it, will the eleventh attempt suddenly solve the problem?

Sometimes, what is missing is not effort.

It is that the prerequisite skill has not been developed yet.

For example, imagine a swimmer who keeps lifting their head while breathing in freestyle.

We can repeatedly tell them:

“Don’t lift your head!”
“Turn along the surface!”
“Look to the side!”

But if they cannot even control basic side-body balance, if their body sinks whenever they rotate, and they panic whenever they try to breathe, then asking them to practise the full breathing movement may be too much.

Naturally, they will lift their head because their body is simply trying to survive.

At that point, the real problem may not be breathing at all.

We may need to step back and work on:

• Body balance
• Side rotation
• Head position
• Breath control

Once these foundations are in place, we can return to freestyle breathing.

And suddenly, something the swimmer could not do after dozens of attempts may start to make sense within just a few minutes.

That is why I strongly believe:

Teaching is not only about knowing how to perform a movement. It is also about knowing what to do when the student cannot perform it.

There can be many different learning paths toward the same skill.

If a student cannot do A, it does not always mean they should keep repeating A.

Sometimes, we need to go back to A-1, or even return to a more basic ability.

Sometimes, we need to switch to B and build the same feeling from a completely different direction.

That is part of the skill of teaching.

I did not understand all of this when I first started coaching either.

When my understanding of swimming technique was still limited, naturally, I could only teach what I personally knew how to do.

The student cannot do it?

Try again.

Still cannot?

Explain it again.

Demonstrate it again.

Because at that time, those were the only tools I had.

But the longer I coach, the more I realise:

What coaches truly need to build is not only swimming knowledge, but also the ability to solve problems.

Ten swimmers may have the same freestyle breathing problem, but the reasons behind it can be completely different.

One may be afraid of the water.
One may not know how to exhale.
One may be sinking.
One may not rotate enough.
One may turn the head too early.
One may drop the leading arm too soon.
Another may simply be too nervous or rushing.

If everyone is taught using exactly the same method, someone will eventually get stuck.

So what coaches need to learn is not only how to swim.

More importantly:

How do we help different people find the learning path that works for them?

I also believe there is another important responsibility for a coach.

Students should not finish every lesson thinking:

“I’m really bad at this.”

“I can’t swim without my coach.”

“I need someone beside me before I dare to practise.”

Instead, we should gradually help them feel:

“Actually, I can do this.”

“Now I understand what I’m doing wrong.”

“If I face this problem again, I know what I can adjust.”

That is why when I coach now, I often think about two things:

1. How can I help you see how much you have already improved?

2. How can I help you recognise when and how to correct yourself, instead of always waiting for the coach to give you the answer?

Because I have always believed that the true goal of swimming instruction is not to make students depend on their coach forever.

The goal is that one day, they can become their own coach.

I also do not think we need to constantly criticise and say:

“Many swimming coaches today don’t know how to teach.”

Teaching itself is just like learning to swim.

No one becomes a coach on the first day already knowing how to handle every student and every problem.

We all learn through lesson after lesson—observing, making mistakes, adjusting, redesigning, and gradually building our own teaching system.

So I hope the swimming-teaching environment can develop a culture where:

Coaches are allowed to make mistakes.
Students are allowed to make mistakes too.

I can accept your mistakes, give you room to adjust, and accept that today may simply not be the day you can do it yet.

Because learning is never a perfectly straight line.

Good teaching is not about expecting a student to “get it right the first time.”

Good teaching means that when the student cannot do it, the coach still knows:

We can try another way. 🏊‍♂️💙

29/08/2026

【Learning to Swim Takes Time — and Patience.】

Learning any new skill usually goes through four stages:

You don’t know what you don’t know.

You realise what you cannot do yet.

You can do it when you concentrate.

Eventually, you can do it naturally without thinking too much.

Many adults may be learning to swim for the first time, or perhaps it has been 10, 20, or even more years since their last swimming lesson.

That is why adult swimming challenges are often not just about “not knowing the movement.” They also involve changes in the body, mindset, and learning style.

Here are seven common challenges adults face when learning to swim:

1. Your body has changed

As we grow older, our body shape, centre of gravity, and muscle proportions change. Naturally, our balance in the water changes too.

2. Your ability to relax is different

Adult muscles are more developed, and we are used to actively using strength. But in the water, the harder you try to force things, the more tense and heavy your body may become.

3. What feels relaxed may not actually be relaxed

Years of work, exercise, and daily stress can make the body accustomed to tension. You may feel that you are relaxed, but once you enter the water, your shoulders, neck, waist, and legs may still be tight.

4. Past experiences can hold you back

Maybe you have heard, “Swimming is difficult,” or “I just can’t float.” Perhaps you have swallowed water or had an unpleasant learning experience before. These memories can create invisible pressure when you enter the pool.

5. Your learning system may not be solving the real problem

Simply repeating exercises does not automatically fix a problem. The methods you learned as a child may not suit you now. If you are still endlessly kicking with a kickboard, do you actually know what you are trying to improve?

6. Your goals are different now

As a child, swimming 25 metres might have meant “I can swim.” As an adult, you may want to swim more comfortably, go farther, enjoy the pool, try open-water swimming, or even prepare for a triathlon.

7. Adults often learn under pressure

Children usually explore the water through play. Adults, however, often worry about falling behind, doing the movement incorrectly, or not completing the coach’s programme. Sometimes, the biggest thing holding you back is not your body — it is the pressure you put on yourself.

Adult swimming lessons are not simply about repeating the same lessons you had as a child.
They are about understanding the body you have now and finding a learning method that works for you.

It is okay to learn slowly.

Understand the problem first, build control, and then gradually turn each movement into a natural response.

What challenges have you experienced while learning to swim? Feel free to leave a comment or message us. 🏊‍♂️💙

27/08/2026

【Swimming Doesn’t Have to Look Like the Olympics】

This is a common misunderstanding. Many people start learning to swim and immediately compare themselves with Olympic swimmers, thinking they must reach that level before they can say they know how to swim.

But in reality, swimming has many different purposes and values.

1. Different Reasons for Swimming

Safety & Self-Rescue
For most people, the most important goal is to feel safe and calm in the water and develop basic self-rescue skills.

Health & Fitness
Swimming is a full-body exercise that can improve cardiovascular fitness, posture, strength, and stress relief. You do not need competition results to enjoy these benefits.

Challenge & Recreation
Some people want to complete long-distance swims or open-water challenges, while others simply enjoy the relaxation and freedom of being in the water.

Competition & Professional Sport
Only a small number of swimmers choose the competitive or professional pathway. This is when high-intensity training similar to Olympic athletes becomes necessary.

2. Most Swimmers Don’t Need to Swim Like Olympians

Different training goals:
Olympic swimmers are chasing differences of hundredths of a second. Most recreational swimmers simply need to swim comfortably, efficiently, and safely.

Different physical conditions:
Elite swimmers often have natural physical advantages combined with years of intensive training. It is unrealistic for an ordinary learner to copy everything they do.

Different learning needs:
Adult swimmers may simply want to improve their breathing, endurance, confidence, or prepare for open-water swimming — not achieve a technically perfect competitive stroke.

3. Aim for Swimming That Suits You

✅ If you can float, breathe, and move forward, you already have important water-safety skills.

✅ If you can relax and swim with less effort, you can truly begin to enjoy swimming.

✅ Keep adjusting and learning. As your body changes, your swimming technique can evolve too.

✅ Conclusion

Swimming does not have to look like Olympic swimming, because the true value of swimming is finding what works for you.

Some people swim for health.
Some swim to challenge themselves.
Some simply want to enjoy the water.

If swimming helps you achieve your own purpose, then that is already successful swimming. 🏊‍♂️💙

21/08/2026

A student once asked me:

“Coach Eric, do you think beginners are harder to teach, or swimmers who already have some experience?”

My answer was

Sometimes, swimmers with a foundation are actually harder to teach.

Many people are surprised when they hear this because we usually assume that beginners, who know nothing yet, should be the most difficult to teach.

But in fact, beginners have one big advantage—they come without baggage.

They don’t yet know what is “right” or “wrong,” so they are often more willing to try something new.

Teach them balance, and they learn balance.
Teach them how to breathe, and they practice breathing.
Teach them how to relax, and they try to understand what relaxation feels like.

They are like a blank sheet of paper.

On the other hand, swimmers who have been swimming for years often carry habits they may not even realise they have.

Some have been swimming since their school days.
Some have watched countless videos and read many articles.
Some even practice seriously every day.

But here is the problem:

Practicing hard does not always mean practicing correctly.

When an incorrect movement is repeated thousands or even tens of thousands of times, it becomes the body’s most familiar pattern.

At that point, we are no longer simply correcting a technique.

We are changing a habit.

More importantly, we may also need to change the way a swimmer sees and understands their own swimming.

Most people do not like hearing:

“The way you have been doing it all these years may not be correct.”

That is why some people would rather remain stuck than go back and relearn the basics.

This is also why some swimmers improve very quickly while others stay at the same level for years.

The difference is often not talent.

It is the willingness to accept change.

After conducting more than 10,000 swimming stroke analyses over the years, one of my biggest lessons is this:

The people who improve the fastest are not always the most talented.

They are the ones who are willing to let go of old assumptions, relearn, and make adjustments.

When we are willing to admit that there is still room for improvement, that is when real progress begins.

So I have never been afraid of teaching beginners.

What concerns me more is when someone has stopped learning but believes they already know everything.

Because this is true not only in swimming but also in life.

Sometimes, what limits our progress is not a lack of ability.

It is simply that we trust our old answers too much.

17/08/2026

📢 NOTICE: TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF CHILDREN’S POOL

Dear Aqua Life swimmers and parents, 💙

Please be informed that one (1) of the children’s pools at SMC Delta Swimming Pool will be temporarily closed next week for scheduled maintenance works.

The maintenance includes the replacement of broken tiles on the pool floor and walls to improve safety and comfort for all pool users.

🏊 Swimming lessons will continue as usual unless otherwise informed by Coach Eric.

Thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation. 🙏💙

08/07/2026

📣 PROUD ANNOUNCEMENT 📣
Introducing Our New Brand: Aqua Life Swim School! 🛟🏊‍♂️

Dear followers, parents, and students,

We are proud and excited to officially announce the launch of our new swim school brand, Aqua Life Swim School! 🎉✨

At Aqua Life Swim School, swimming is not only about learning strokes, kicks, and breathing techniques. We believe swimming is an important life skill that builds confidence, discipline, safety awareness, and independence in the water. 🏊‍♀️🛟

To provide a more complete and meaningful learning experience, we are also upgrading our swimming syllabus by adding life-saving skills into our programme. 🛟💪

Through our structured 8-level swimming progression, students will continue to learn proper swimming techniques while also developing important water safety knowledge and basic survival skills. Our goal is to help every swimmer become more confident, skillful, and responsible in and around the water. ⭐

Thank you to all parents, students, and supporters for your trust and encouragement. This new chapter means a lot to us, and we are excited to continue growing together with you. 💙

Aqua Life Swim School
Swim Smart. Swim Safe. Swim For Life. 🏊‍♂️🛟🌊

Aqua Life Swimm School

03/09/2026

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