Fishlike News & Events
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A Brief History of Total Immersion in FAS
Updated on 09 February 2007 08:27 PM by fish
As told by Tang Siew Kwan ...
The result of FAS today started out from the humble beginnings when I ventured into the teaching of swimming in Jan 1994 after graduating with my GCE 'O' Levels. In November 1994 when I got my SSA NCAP Technical Level 1 swimming certificate, I was only 16 years old, one of the youngest swimming instructors in Singapore. My main objective as a swim instructor then was to earn a living out of teaching in the field that I have spent so much time in. As an athlete at that time, I have been training in competitive water polo and competitive swimming. Although swimming and water sports were my passion and driving force, coaching had not surfaced as my forte. Like all instructors then, I started work as a lifeguard at Clementi Swimming Complex under the Singapore Sports Council.
I proceeded into my diploma studies while continuing to coach freelance for 3 years. Surprisingly, I found more satisfaction and passion to progress in coaching than in simply training myself to become a better swimmer and athlete. Eventually, I realized that it is not simply the higher income that drives me, but the challenge and contentment coaching provides. This is when it dawns upon me that I should try coaching more professionally. Following that, I started my own swim school known as Elite Tang Swimming Platoon (ETSP) in 1997. This was my first step towards professional coaching today.
The school began by coaching younger athletes and children as my priority. I believe in the traditional saying that a good athlete should always start young. I started by formulating my own methods of teaching in the Learn to Swim programs before bringing the better swimmers I taught into the arena of competitive swimming. With the knowledge and experiences from my previous instructors and coaches, I trained my athletes in the conventional concepts of shear strength and power. The training emphasizes on the using of kickboards, pull bouys and hand paddle. The idea I instill in my athletes then was like what all coaches stand by to: "No pain no gain". The harder you train, the better you should get.
It is only in 1998, after meeting my coaching mentor that I started to revolutionize many of my coaching concepts and methods. My mentor's name is Giam Teck Choon and he started off as my assistant / supervising coach. It is through him that I was gradually convinced that more effective methods other than conventional means of coaching are feasible. There should be more grace than shear strength and power in swimming. He later became my partner and ETSP was renamed Fishlike Aquatic School (FAS). During that time, I was also introduced to Total Immersion (TI) from the first TI book found in book stores. My attention was instantly captured as I was inspired to learn more. Sadly, the workshops were only offered in America at that time and the cost of flying there is way above my means at that time. Thus, I decided to buy the TI video for "Freestyle-the revolutionary way to swim better, faster and easier" and went about practicing on my own.
Through those times, Teck Choon and I researched and tried designing new means of more graceful yet effective swim methods in coaching. Much progress was made with tangible results in athletes under my guidance. Many were able to compete in National age-group level competitive swimming meets while some qualified in for the national team. Unfortunately, my partner had to leave the swim school for personal commitments and his pursue in his own IT business.
My innovations in more graceful yet effective swims continue with valuable results, but not with a break through. I was in a stand still in my ideas of innovative swimming then. In the year 2000, I met my current partner-John Lee Chung Yat. He shared with me his priceless experiences gained from teaching in YMCA-Taipei and his physical education degree from Taiwan. Base on his refreshing concepts, FAS rebounded and continued to reform from her initial stand still. By then, I have been practicing TI for 2 years and had realized that I am swimming more smoothly and gracefully than in my teens. I was among the average swimmers then and could never outshine. Now, even when I may not have been as physically fit as in the past, I surprisingly felt that I could travel much further per stroke than before. I achieved this sensation by becoming more relax while executing my stroke and body roll at a rhythmic time. It simply got better through mindful practice.
Meanwhile, I had been sharing the TI knowledge to my swimmers and experimenting my success during some trainings to observe the outcome. Surprisingly, my athletes picked up the concepts very quickly and were experiencing some of my success after 2 to 3 months of drilling. I eventually signed up for the 1st TI Freestyle Workshop in Nov 2003 in Singapore. In Jan 2004, I flew to Coral Springs Florida to undertake a six day TI Teachers Training and experienced two internships under the TI founder, Terry Laughlin. What truly motivated me during the internship was when one 83 years old participant managed to swim freestyle the fishlike way after the workshop. This assured me that age should not become an obstacle to swimming smoothly and gracefully.
After I returned, I went on to complete two internships with Ria Mackay and Ang Peng Siong. I even decided to return to America for further training for a full month and was attached to the Hawks team (an age group competitive team using TI techniques) while helping out in the running of the TI Four Stroke camp. I also witness the new TI swim Studio in New Paltz, New York.
These events truly inspired me to fine tune and re-formulate the weekend workshops to effectively to accommodate to Singapore needs. This is what today's TI Fishlike Freestyle Workshop (TI FFWS) Part A and B are about. After much observation after the workshops, I strongly felt that if the swimmers were left alone, progress became very limited without guidance from a certified TI coach. Eventually, I came out with a 3 module series known as TI Fishlike Triathlon Swimming Series (FTSS TM). Here, module one to three would guide a swimmer in a systematic approach toward the TI practices to increase mastery in distance and speed.
In year 2006, Fishlike Sports Academy Pte Ltd (FSA) was incorporated and it took over the whole operations of FAS. In 2007, FAS was made a subsidiary company owned by FSA. Now in 2007, FAS was tasked with the job of venturing Total Immersion (TI) Swimming in 5 countries (cities) in Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.