Mind Over Matter

Whenever I read news of sports athletes going beyond their physical limits, these 3 words always appear: mind over matter. Sure or not? Is it really possible? I can tell you: It IS 100% POSSIBLE. I experienced it first hand. I would like to go into more details of my swimming interview on Sat to illustrate...

First Stroke - Breaststroke. Under normal circumstances, I can swim up to 40 laps of breaststroke at one go. Although I had 2 hours of badminton before my swim interview, I could still swim 5 laps of breaststroke if needed. As I was only required to swim one lap, it was a piece of cake for me.

Second Stroke - Front Claw. Personally I feel that front crawl is a "dizzy" stroke as the head needs to turn to side to draw breaths. I seldom swim this style and I think I looked rather clumsy during the swim interview. In addition, I felt dizzy and was a little breathless after swimming just one lap of front crawl.

Third Stroke - Back Stroke. Only VERY rarely do I swim this style because I am not sure how to steer straight. So I did not really swim one lap, instead I sort of zigzagged and think the interviewer was trying not to laugh. I drank a few gulps of water when I turned my head to try to steer straight and I was quite breathless after "one zigzag lap" of back stroke.

Fourth Stroke - Butterfly. Under ideal circumstances, when I am fresh in the morning (my JC swim mate LY can vouch), the MOST I can only swim 3 strokes of butterfly. However now after badminton, I was tired, dizzy and breathless (from front crawl and back stroke). I was not even sure I could swim ONE stroke, let alone ONE LAP. Out of the 4 styles, I have performed badly for 2. I needed this final stroke to pass the swim interview.

"AAaahhHH !!!!!" I yelled in my head and started to swim butterfly ... small dolphin kick, big dolphin kick and lift both arms and upper body out of water then slap both arms straight in front for entry back into water... small kick, big kick and arms out ... kick, kick and arms ... I cannot remember how many strokes I did but I remember there were lots of bubbles underwater and splashes above water. Gosh, I was tired but strangely someone seemed to have taken over my body and was "swimming" for me. "SLAP!" I felt my palms slap on something concrete. I stopped. I had swam ONE LAP!!!

At this point, the mysterious person who "swam" for me left. I felt my body aching. I was beyond breathlessness and I saw the interviewer's lips moving but I could not hear anything... Mind Over Matter. I did it! It CAN be done. We learn something new everyday yah?