Alana Wilson - Sydney, Australia
I feel a great IOU to swimming.
I love the way swimming is part of different cultures, seeing peoples’ dispositions around water, and how it fits into their daily lives.
“Swimming is a huge part of my life; one of my most longest standing activities and loves.
“Being involved in swimming from a young age helped me define and shape values still important to me today: dedication, goal setting, seeking personal improvement, and a desire to work hard with, and alongside, people with the same interests and goals.
“Having grown up in a swim school family business, I feel a great IOU to the water and to swimming. This is one of the main reasons I continue to teach swimming in parallel to my career as an artist.
“Born in Canberra, my early swimming years were confined to the pool environment with the occasional dip in Lake Burley Griffin. Between the ages of two and seven years swimming was all about learning the skill and playing in the water. From early on I loved swimming and being in, and around, the water.
“When I was four my family moved from Canberra to Wellington (New Zealand), where my parents established a swim school for learning (children and adults) and swim fitness squads for adults. By the time I was eight years old a swimming club was added to the swim school pathway. To this day I remain in touch with friends I made at this time. They were like a second family, a bond built over many hours of training in the pool together.
“The pool was a second home; my sister and I have happy memories of the weekend play swims we had together. We developed a range of ‘bombs’ and other fun games, going home happy but exhausted. We had the pool to ourselves where an extensive library of wild and imaginative pool games was created.
“Looking back at the early years before club swimming the family swims are vivid in my memory, more than of my early ‘formal’ swimming lessons, although I do recall learning breaststroke and butterfly as a young developing student. My other early recollections are the times I would play for hours in a pool with my sister and cousins when on family holidays. There is no doubt the affinity I have with the water today was sown in my early years.”
Swimming squad life
“I recall swimming was always an enjoyable part of my day, one I could connect strongly to, see results, feel inclusivity, and gain ample satisfaction from doing it well. The club coaches regularly found ways to make the swim sessions fun as well as challenging, which I thrived on. During my competitive swimming years, I became surrounded by like minded squad members who helped me reach my personal goals of succeeding at national level. To me, swimming trips (camps and away meets) were my favourite times. PB’s and a session or race well executed were generally of higher importance than a medal.”
And now in later years
“I still feel a strong connection to swimming and being in an aquatic environment. It has been an important part of my life already and I cannot imagine this will change in the future. When swimming I am in my space or zone of calm, where I am often tweaking or playing with my technique to improve the way I fit with the water. Swimming has a greatly positive effect on my physical and mental wellbeing.
“After graduating from high school (2006), I moved to Sydney, commencing my study at the National Art School graduating with a degree in Fine Arts (Honours) in 2012. I have remained in Sydney since.
“Living in Sydney has allowed me to swim in many pools and beaches. Initially living in Tamarama I had options to swim at Bondi Icebergs, Bondi Beach, Bronte Beach and the Bronte ocean pool, as well as the Cook and Phillip aquatic centre where I taught swimming part-time during my study years and beyond.
“After 10 years of living in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs I relocated to the Northern Beaches, to Manly, where I currently live. My 3-4 swims per week are at the local beaches - Shelly, Manly, Freshwater, Curl Curl, Newport, or in any of the Northern Beaches ocean pools. I enjoy a swim at most beaches this stretch of coast offers.
“Swimming provides the physical and mental gratification of feeling in control, smooth, relaxed, familiar, and true’ which in turn also provides mental clarity for other focuses within my day, as well as the benefit of physical wellbeing and fitness. The main goal of my swimming is to feel strong in my stroke, long through my body line with an easy efficiency.
“I regularly experiment with aspects of my swimming technique to prove to myself I can learn something new or make changes to my established habits. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone, altering ingrained habits for the better, working on breath control and ‘underwaters’ are other small targets I include in my swim sessions. A forever goal would be to get back to butterfly feeling easy and comfortable – 200m butterfly was my main event in my younger days (today 50m feels a long way!)
“Over the summer months, ocean swim events which I often swim with my dad for fun - not so much the competition - are an enjoyable challenge. These events can range from 1500m to 3000m. They test me, enable me to experience swimming in different locations or conditions. Being part of the swimming community always has a positive effect on me. I have great respect for people who swim these events, particularly for those that do so even though it’s uncomfortable and challenging. I sometimes see adults who I coach or teach at these events, and am so proud for them to be able to have the confidence and courage to get involved and push themselves to do things that they may not otherwise. Knowing we have worked towards their goals in lessons and to see them overcome any doubts or challenges they feel they’ve had is very rewarding - just as much as seeing a child learn - as learning something new as an adult is far more multi-faceted and full of self-imposed obstacles.
“One swim I do look back on in awe is as a 13-year old I swam from Kapiti Island to the New Zealand mainland. A 5.5km swim in cold water. I recall only opening my eyes when I was breathing to avoid the speculation of what was below me. Dark deep water and the unknown of what could be down there kept me motivated to swim faster. I can recall the many jellyfish stings and having numb limbs for most of the way due to the cold water and wind.”
t I love about swimming
“As a swim teacher I really enjoy seeing the responses and the progress of the students when they have a successful lesson or session. This can be a boost in confidence or an increased connection with their classmates and friends, as well any swimming improvement.
“My goal for my teaching is to make sure the lesson environment is a place of fun, longevity, community, and personal growth and satisfaction for the swimmers and myself. I am incredibly grateful that I can help others in their swimming ambitions.
“My artistic career has grown steadily since graduating, but I still very much enjoy the balance I have with teaching swimming to a range of generations, including beginner adults who may have been non-swimmers for most of their lives.
“I believe that as an adult it can be particularly challenging to sign up to learn something new - particularly something you may be fearful of or uncomfortable with. By witnessing the beginners mind in adult form and working through the process of learning and unlearning with these students, I learn just as much as they do from the classes. I very much admire their willingness to change and feel uncomfortable in pursuit of their own swimming goals.
“The hours I spend in the pool each week work directly with people and figuring out the best ways to communicate with them. I feel indebted to the pool and to swimming: being in a role that provides for my community and encourages people to be in and around the water gives me great satisfaction. The time spent away from my studio allows some respite from a very internally-focussed practice, communicating in a different medium. I believe the balance of the pool and the studio will afford greater longevity in both.
“In my younger years, I would have said that my swimming highlights were based around swimming a good race, breaking a record, achieving a PB, or when I ‘aced’ my race plan. I think with time, I have come to appreciate more how the water and swimming fit into everyone’s lives in a different way.”
Swimming across the world
“Whenever I travel, I love to swim. Not just to have a swim, but to see the different ways swimming is a part of different cultures, their dispositions around water, and how it fits into their daily lives. I always highly recommend swimming in different environments when travelling, to consider how a ‘daily swim’ may look for someone else. I have been lucky on so on my travels when exhibiting my art (ceramics, photography, sculpture, film) within Australia and overseas.”
My experiences include:
Swimming in Hong Kong, amongst towering skyscrapers, in a pool of immaculately presented locals
Swimming in a pond in Hampstead Heath in London, amongst ducks and ladies doing breaststroke with their heads up
Swimming in Paris, in a crowded 25m pool, a lot of noise, barely 0.5m between each swimmer
Laps in Central Park (NYC) in a circular shaped pool, perhaps 2-foot-deep, barely 10cm between each swimmer crammed into 2 very narrow lanes
In a Lido in London, swimming amongst everyone doing bombs, splashing one another, hanging out with friends, trying to escape the summer ‘heat’
In the harbour of Shelter Island (Hamptons NY) swimming amongst yachts and boats in crystal clear water below blue skies, with no goggles.
Why do you teach swimming?
“Having grown up in and around the water I feel indebted to the water and the pool. My teaching allows me to share this with others which gives me immense satisfaction, watching my students make progress and overcome their own swimming challenges. The teaching aspect of the relationship also satisfies me, as I believe that we learn just as much about life through teaching as we do by learning.
“In addition to my own understanding of swimming I continually expand my technique by researching the evolution of the various swimming techniques and drills which in turn has an impact on my own swim sessions.
“For example, any new drills or sets that work for the competitive swimmers, encourages me to consider how I can adapt the concepts into my own swimming, and then how I can reshape this know-how to teach the concept to the students I work with. The complexities of swimming and swim teaching is a challenge I embrace.”
Alana’s favourite sets when pool swimming
I am a fan of including paddles in my pool sessions.
1. I usually start these sets with both paddles and band*, before finishing the set without the band. This helps me to get my body in line and find my stroke flow and rhythm. *Old car inner-tube cut into a 40-50mm strip which I wear on my lower ankles.
Example: 4 x 300 Freestyle
1st 2 with paddles/band 2nd 2 paddles (no band) hold 4 beat kick.
2. I also like wearing my fins. Within my fins set, I aim to maintain 7-8 ‘dolphins’ off the walls.
Example: 8x100 Freestyle with 7-8 fly kick off each wall.
The challenge to hold the ‘dolphins’ increases as I work through the set. The last few repeats will often test my willpower and lung capacity.
3. A go-to favourite set is a ladder where I work down the distance.
Ladders such as 400-300-200-100, or 250-200-150-100.
These ladders are usually repeated at least once in the session – I find ladders great for building the session distance.
4. Sculling in my sessions always gives me strong feedback on how my stroke is feeling. Working laps as 25 scull, 25 freestyle are a regular part of my pool swim sessions.
Alana, if a visitor came to your neighbourhood, what places would you recommend they take a swim?
Shelley Beach - for the sea life and the calm seas
Freshwater or Curl Curl ocean pools
My new favourite is Newport beach - protected by a southern reef and generally ideal conditions
Manly Andrew Boy Charlton - if you cannot get to anything saltwater.
Is there a ‘bucket list’ swim you are determined to tick off?
“One day I want to swim in the Mediterranean again. I have swum in Villefranche Sur-Mer and Cap Ferrat, in the South of France. I would love to visit Western Australia and swim at different places along the coastline.
“In the back of my mind is a target of swimming in the Palm Beach to Manly ocean swim – a 26km ocean swim held in March each year.”
What are two things you feel most appreciative of in your swimming?
“Over the last 2 years…. this would be my beach swims along Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
“Looking back…. the dedication, effort and camaraderie in my competitive training years.”
