SG Sink Or Swim 

ActiveSG Closes Outdoor and Non-Air-Conditioned Facilities in the West Because of Haze: What It Means for Your Child's Swim Lessons By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim If you live or swim on the west side of Singapore, you may have seen a red-and-white notice doing the rounds on social media. It is an ActiveSG "Haze Advisory" titled Closure and Cancellation Notice, and it says that, "due to the elevated PM2.5 readings," Sport Singapore (SportSG) has decided "to take

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim If you are a parent, a swimmer or a coach in Singapore, the haze season brings a serious question: "If I swim while the air is bad, am I putting my lungs at risk?" It is a fair thing to ask. Swimming is exercise, exercise means breathing harder, and haze is something you breathe. Put those together and it is natural to worry. At the same time, I do not want to frighten anyone with claims that go beyond the evidence. So in this arti

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim The air is grey, the PSI is climbing, and the venue has just sent a message: lessons are cancelled this week. You are relieved that your child is not breathing hard in poor air. And then, a few minutes later, the second thought arrives: "But what about their progress? Will they go backwards if they miss lessons?" I hear this from parents every haze season, and I understand it. You have invested money, effort and weekly logistics in

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim When the haze arrives, one question lands in my inbox again and again: "MC, is it better to swim at an indoor pool than an outdoor pool when the air is bad?" It sounds like it should have a simple answer. Indoors means a roof and walls, outdoors means open sky and whatever is floating in it. Surely indoor is safer? The honest answer is: often, probably yes, but it is not a guarantee, and the official guidance is less specific about

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim It is 3 pm. The sky looks a little hazy, your phone shows a PSI number you do not quite know how to read, and your child's swim lesson starts in ninety minutes. The bag is half packed. Do you go, or do you message the coach and stay home? Every haze season, I see parents stuck on exactly this decision. Some skip lessons at the first sign of grey sky and then worry their child is falling behind. Others push on regardless because "it

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim If you have recently collected your keys to a new home in Tengah, or you are planning to move there, you are probably busy with renovation quotes, furniture deliveries and figuring out where the nearest supermarket is. But if you have children, another question tends to appear sooner than you expect: "Where do I send my child for swimming lessons?" More specifically, parents ask me, "Can I get SwimSafer lessons in Tengah?" I'm Coac

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim If you have ever enrolled your child in swimming lessons in Singapore, you may know the feeling. Your child finally warms up to Coach A, starts blowing bubbles without crying, and then the next week there is Coach B. Then Coach C. By the fourth lesson, your child is anxious again, you are explaining the same fears to yet another stranger, and the progress you were hoping for has quietly disappeared. So it is no surprise that one of

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim If you live in Jurong West, Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang, Clementi or anywhere else on the west side of Singapore, you have probably asked yourself some version of this question: "Is there a swimming lesson that actually fits my family's week?" It is a fair question. Between school timetables, CCAs, tuition, shift work, grandparents doing the pick-ups and the sheer fatigue of a Singapore weekday, finding a swim class that does not co

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Parents of teenagers often tell me the same thing in the first conversation: "My teen is hard to please, so I want to get this right." Choosing swim lessons for a teenager isn't the same as choosing them for a young child. A seven-year-old will usually go where you take them and splash happily in a group. A fifteen-year-old has opinions. They may be self-conscious about being a beginner among younger kids. They may be juggling exam

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim "How much per month?" is usually the second question a parent asks me, right after "Do you teach near us?" It's a fair thing to want to know. Swimming lessons run for months, sometimes years, and the cost adds up. For families in Choa Chu Kang (CCK), where many households are juggling school, tuition and enrichment, understanding what you're likely to pay, and what you're actually paying for, matters. The honest answer is that ther

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim Every year, when the haze rolls in over Singapore, my phone fills with the same kind of message from parents and adult students: "My child was coughing a lot at the pool." "I felt tight in the chest halfway through my laps." "Should we still come for lesson today?" If you have asked yourself a similar question, you are not alone. Swimming is a breathing-intensive activity, and haze affects the air we breathe. It is natural to wonde

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Adults who want to learn to swim usually have one thing in common: a packed calendar. Between work, commutes, family commitments, shift patterns, overtime, study and the rest of life, finding a regular weekly slot can feel harder than learning to float. Many adults who contact me say some version of the same thing: "I'd love to learn, but I can't commit to the same time every week." Or: "My shifts change." Or: "I travel for work, s

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Bukit Panjang is one of those west-side towns where a lot of families live a short walk from a pool they don't use as much as they'd like. Look around the estate and you'll see condominiums scattered through the neighbourhood, many with a lap pool, a children's pool, or both. The Integrated Transport Hub, the LRT loop and the surrounding HDB estates mean that a good number of families live nearby, and a good number of children are

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink or Swim It is probably the first question almost every new swimmer, or every parent of a new swimmer, asks me: "How long will it take to learn swimming?" I wish I could give you a single number. Parents especially want one, and I understand why. You are planning a budget, juggling a weekly schedule, and hoping your child will be safe in the water as soon as possible. Adults who are learning later in life often want to know whether it is re

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim For many families in the west of Singapore, the nearest swimming pool isn't a public complex. It's the pool downstairs at home. Condos in areas like Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Clementi, Jurong and Tengah often have a lap pool, a children's pool, or both. It's an obvious thought: why trek across town to a crowded public pool when there's a perfectly good one a lift ride away? Parents of young children especially like

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim If you live in Clementi and have a child heading into primary school, or already in it, you've probably asked this question: where can we get SwimSafer classes close to home? It's a sensible thing to ask. Clementi is a mature, well-connected estate with a busy interchange, lots of schools, and plenty of young families. Getting to lessons by MRT or bus is easy, but choosing between the different routes to SwimSafer is less clear. Th

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Most parents and adult learners begin their search for swimming lessons the same way: they pick up a phone, type "swimming lessons near me" into a search bar, and start clicking through websites. I understand why. A website is the first impression of a swim school, and for many people it's the only impression they get before deciding whether to make an enquiry. But here is something I've learned from coaching and from talking to hu

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Almost every new student, or parent of a new student, asks me some version of the same question in the first conversation: "Which stroke do we start with?" Some people assume freestyle, because it's the stroke they see most often on television and at the pool. Others have heard that breaststroke is easier because the head stays up. A few ask about backstroke, because "at least you can breathe." And some arrive with a firm opinion f

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim When parents and adult learners contact me about lessons, one question comes up more often than people expect, though it's usually asked a little shyly: "Do you have a female coach?" or sometimes, "Will it be a male or female instructor?" I never take this question as an insult. It's a sensible thing to ask, and behind it there is usually a real concern. A mother may be thinking about her daughter's comfort in a swimsuit. A father

By Coach Tan Meng Chew (MC), SG Sink Or Swim Almost every adult who walks into my first lesson asks the same question, usually in a slightly embarrassed voice: "How long will it take me to learn?" It's a fair question. You're giving up evenings or weekends, paying for lessons, and probably dealing with a bit of nerves. You want to know what you're signing up for. The honest answer is that it depends. But "it depends" isn't very useful on its own, so in this article I'll lay o