Referring to an article reported by Lianhe WanBao dated on December 2014, A four-year-old boy drowned while playing in a pool at Aloha Loyang resort on Saturday (20 Dec 2014).

It was reported by one of the rescuer, Mr. Cai, who was also the first eye witnessed that he realised that something was wrong when he saw a woman panic.

 He acted quick and helped to rescue the drowning boy with two other rescuers on site. Two of them was a member of the public and the other, a lifeguard. Despite the three of them performing resuscitation on the victim, the boy’s pulse was weak even after 20 minutes of resuscitation.

Mr. Cai highlighted that the boy's body had turned cyanosis and when police and civil defence personnel arrived at the scene, he was immediately loaded and rushed to the hospital.

Though the boy was rescued at 7.18pm on Saturday (Dec 20), he passed away five hours later in the hospital - after midnight on Dec 21.

Mr. Cai highlighted that perhaps no one noticed that he was drowning because there were a lot of people in the pool. He added that parents should pay more attention to their kids to ensure their safety.

We strongly agree with Mr. Cai and would like to advise parents to take extra precaution and attention in ensuring their children safe. Many parents tend to lower their precaution when they knew that their children have fundamental water skills. However, it is strongly not advisable, as many children tend to underestimate the water depth. At Isplash Swim School, our swimming lessons for kids follow the swimsafer teaching syllabus and one of the aspects is imparting children with knowledge on understanding their personal water safety.

Aqua jogging is one popular aquatic theraphy exercise. Aquatic therapy is an exercise program performed in the water for medical conditions. In addition, it is also suitable for obese and older individuals who are experiencing difficulties in performing land exercises. Taking advantage of the physical properties of water, patient is able to use aquatic therapy to provide assistance for therapeutic benefits and relaxation.  Examples of therapeutic application includes back problem, orthopedic rehabilitation and musculoskeletal pain. 

As a result of the upward thrust of buoyancy provided by the water, it helps patient in supporting their weight. Buoyancy also helps patient in performing range of motions, improves flexibility and assist their weaker muscles.  In addition, the resistance as a results of  water viscosity serves as a muscle build up exercise without the need of weights. 

One common aquatic therapy exercise is aqua jogging. It is a form of water jogging that resembles running movement. As a result of the buoyancy of water, there is minimal impact and is safe for almost any injuries. However, one important point to note, to have minimal(near zero) impact, individuals have to find a pool deep enough as the feet are not supposed to touch the bottom of the pool. Pointers for a good working of aqua jogging are to keep upper body as straight as possible and avoid leaning infront too much. In addition, if you are a beginner, it is strongly advised for you to get an aqua jogging vest for assistance and safety purposes. 

Have you ever wondered why so many parents are enrolling their children in swimming lessons? Swimming is a valuable skill and lifelong sport that will benefit your kids for the rest of their life. Moreover, swimming also enables your kids to be active and healthy. In this article, it will focus on some of the key benefits of swimming for children.

Why must I do warm-up and cool-down activities?

A good workout begins with a good warm up and ends with a good cool down activity. So the next time you are exercising, do remember to spend a few minutes to commit to doing warm-up/cool-down activities(Note: Spend a long time on this activities if you intend to do more intense workouts).

Importance of warm-up

• Increase of blood flow to muscles that are active
• Gradually improve contract and reflex timings
• Reduces stress to the heart
• Reduce the risks of injury (muscles, ligaments etc.)
• Athletes feel more psychologically prepared

Importance of cool-down

• Reduces the risks of injury
• Helps to slow down heart rate after intense exercise

At Isplash Swim School, we ensure all students to have proper warm-up/cool-down activities before any intense training sessions. An example of how our instructors conduct warm-up/cool-down activity is shown on the case study below.

Case study

Instructor Zhen Hao plans a swimming lesson for kids at Sengkang Swimming Complex to train stamina of his students(Short distance sprinting).

Note: Case study is for illustration purpose

"The eyes are the window to your soul."

-William Shakespeare

In a vibrant city like Singapore, many people tend to forget about the little blessings they have in life. One very common blessings that many of us tend to forget is to be thankful about is the ability to be able to see this beautiful world.  Hence, it is very important to protect our sense of sight. All Isplash Swim School students are strongly encouraged to put on their personal swimming goggles when they are having swimming lessons.

Importance of swimming goggles

• Protecting eyes from chemicals such as chlorine which damage eyes' tissues and causes irritation
• Protection against harmful UV rays (note: not all goggles are tinted with UV ray protection coats)
• Allow swimmer to have a "High Definition" experience for clear view under water

Tips on choosing swimming goggles

• Choose one which has UV ray protections when you frequently swim in outdoor pool (eg. Choa Chu Kang Swimming Complex, Clementi Swimming Complex etc.) during day time
• Choose a right sized swimming goggles. If it does not fits properly, it can cause leakages which cause swimmer to feel uncomfortable and lose the purpose of protection against chemicals
• For swimmers with short sightedness, try getting a swimming goggles with the right degree for an HD view underwater

After learning the importance and tips on swimming goggles, do remember to get your own pair before heading to the pool! You can conveniently get your swimming goggles at most of the sports retail outlets (eg. Sportslink have outlets at Jurong West, Choa Chu Kang sports and recreational centre, Clementi Mall, Westmall etc.)