SG Sink Or Swim 

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Choa Chu Kang families ask me about cost more directly and more often than almost any other topic, and I appreciate that directness, because affordability is a completely legitimate, practical concern that deserves a straight answer rather than vague reassurance. Swimming lessons, especially if you're committing to a multi-year pathway from a young beginner through full SwimSafer certification, represent a g

Core strength is often called the "engine" of efficient swimming, connecting the upper and lower body to transfer power through every stroke. A strong, well-engaged core improves body position, supports rotation, and helps maintain technique as fatigue sets in—yet it's frequently treated as a separate dryland activity rather than something integrated directly into pool training. Incorporating core work into swim workouts, both in and out of the water, can reinforce the specif

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Every year, usually somewhere between July and October, a familiar haze descends over Singapore, drifting in from land and forest fires in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan. The skyline turns a hazy grey-yellow, the smell of smoke becomes noticeable even indoors, and parents across the island start asking the same practical question: is it actually safe to keep swim lessons going, or should we be pausing pool

In the Individual Medley, swimmers face a challenge unique to this event: maintaining technical efficiency across four strokes that each demand different muscle groups, energy systems, and movement patterns, all within a single race. A swimmer might be highly efficient in fly during isolated training but see that efficiency collapse by the time they reach freestyle in an IM, simply because accumulated fatigue affects each stroke differently. Maintaining efficiency across all

Butterfly is often described as a stroke you either "flow through" or "fight against," and rhythm is the deciding factor between the two. Unlike freestyle or backstroke, where stroke rate can be somewhat forgiving, butterfly's power comes from a continuous, wave-like rhythm connecting the kick, pull, and breath into a single fluid motion. When that rhythm breaks down—often under fatigue—the stroke becomes exhausting and inefficient almost immediately. The drills below isolate

Backstroke is unique among the competitive strokes in that swimmers can't see where they're going, which often leads to shorter, choppier strokes driven by anxiety rather than technique. Many swimmers compensate for this lack of visual feedback by increasing stroke rate rather than stroke length, which feels productive but is often less efficient. Maximizing distance per stroke—commonly called "stroke lengthening"—allows swimmers to cover more ground with less energy expendit

Of all four competitive strokes, breaststroke is uniquely sensitive to head position. Because the head naturally rises and falls with each stroke cycle, small errors in timing or angle create outsized effects on drag, breathing rhythm, and overall efficiency. Many swimmers unknowingly sabotage their breaststroke by lifting their head too high, too early, or holding it up too long—habits that are often rooted in breathing anxiety rather than technical necessity. The drills bel

In freestyle, the arm pull generates the majority of a swimmer's forward propulsion—often estimated at 80–90% of total thrust, compared to the smaller contribution from the kick. Yet many swimmers, even experienced ones, don't pull as effectively as they could. A powerful freestyle pull isn't about brute strength; it's about applying force to the water at the right angle, at the right time, through the most effective path. The drills below target the specific mechanical eleme

Parents and educators of children with ADHD often look for ways to support behavioral regulation beyond medication and therapy alone. Physical activity, and swimming in particular, has drawn growing interest as a complementary approach. While research in this area is still developing, a number of studies point to swimming's potential to reduce hyperactivity, impulsivity, and aggressive behaviors in children with ADHD. This article looks at what the evidence actually shows, th

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Of all the questions parents ask me, this one comes with the widest range of conflicting answers already lodged in their heads before they even speak to me. One relative says babies should be in the water from a few months old. A friend insists nothing meaningful happens before age four. A pamphlet from a swim school promises dramatic results starting at six months. Another parent at the playground swears th

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Somewhere in nearly every term of lessons I run, a parent pulls me aside at the pool deck with some version of the same worried question: "Is it normal that my child is this scared? What am I doing wrong?" There's almost always guilt underneath the question — a sense that the fear reflects some parenting failure, or that other children their age have simply moved past this while their own child hasn't. I wan

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Parents ask me a version of this question constantly, usually somewhere around the time their child finishes a first term of lessons: "Is my child actually swimming yet, or is there more to it than this?" It's a fair question, because "learning to swim" gets treated in everyday conversation as a single milestone — as if a child either can or can't swim — when in reality it's a layered set of distinct skills,

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Singapore is, in many ways, an unusually water-heavy place to raise a child. Between condominium pools, public swimming complexes in nearly every neighbourhood, school swim programmes, beach outings to Sentosa or East Coast, and the sheer number of birthday parties and gatherings that happen poolside, the average Singaporean child is around water far more often, and from a younger age, than children in most

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Of all the questions I get asked about swim coaching in Singapore, this is the one where I feel the most responsibility to be genuinely careful and honest, rather than giving a tidy answer that sounds reassuring but glosses over real complexity. Parents and caregivers of special needs learners — children and adults with autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, physical disabilities, sensory processing di

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim "What's the best swim coaching option for a beginner?" is one of those questions that sounds like it should have a single clean answer, and every time someone asks me directly, I have to disappoint them a little by saying: it depends, but here's exactly how to figure out which option is genuinely best for your situation. I've spent years coaching beginners in Singapore — children starting from zero water con

The Individual Medley (IM) is often called the ultimate test of a swimmer's versatility, requiring proficiency in all four competitive strokes—butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle—within a single race. But success in IM events isn't just about being good at each stroke individually; it's about how efficiently a swimmer manages timing, transitions, and pacing across the entire race. Optimizing stroke timing in IM can be the difference between a swimmer who fades

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim I get asked some version of this question almost every week, usually in one of two forms. A parent asks, "Is my baby too young to start?" Or an adult, often in their forties, fifties, or beyond, asks, quietly and a little apologetically, "Am I too old to learn now?" The honest answer to both is no — but the more useful and more honest answer is that "suitable for all ages" doesn't mean "the same lesson for a

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim Every year I get a wave of the same message, usually right after a work trip involving a hotel pool, a friend's condo barbecue, or a family holiday where everyone else waded into the sea and one adult stayed on the sand: "I never learned to swim properly — where do I even start as an adult in Singapore?" It's a more common question than most people realise. Singapore's swim education system is built almost e

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), Founder and Head Coach, SG Sink or Swim If you've typed "swimming lessons near me" into Google while sitting in Jurong, Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang, or Clementi, you already know the problem isn't a lack of options — it's too many of them, with too little clarity. Community club programmes, private coaches, condo instructors, big-name academies, one-to-one tutors advertising on classifieds apps — the west side of Singapore has all of it, and every

Swimming is often described as an essential life skill in Singapore, and for good reason. The island is surrounded by water, dotted with pools in almost every housing estate, and home to a tropical climate that makes swimming one of the most natural and popular forms of exercise and recreation. Yet for many families and working adults, the biggest obstacle to learning to swim isn't motivation — it's logistics. Between school schedules, work commitments, traffic, and the sheer