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Jeanette Wang
Sports Reporter
Drawing the line while making a splash
January 30, 2009 Friday, 12:41 PM
Jeanette Wang laments the lack of swimming etiquette in pools here.
I GRABBED a butt and got a fist in my face this morning at the swimming pool. It's not what you're thinking though. I was keeping to the blue line in my lane huffing and puffing through my 300m speed intervals. He had just gotten into the pool and decided to swim in nearly the exact same line as me, despite the pool not being full. He was approaching me at half my speed, I was looking down on the blue line in total focus and concentration. BANG!! Not the first time it has happened to me in the pool. Nearly every time I go for a swim I collide, or just avoid a collision with someone. This, I feel, is something peculiar to Singapore swimming pools. Why? I've swum in pools in Germany, Canada, the US and Australia. All of them usually set aside lap swimming lanes, using lane rope to mark out about two to three individual lanes for lap swimmers (i.e. swimmers who swim laps continuously rather than chill out at the wall). These lanes then each have a sign indicating the speed (slow, medium, fast, faster) and direction (anti-clockwise or clockwise) of the lane, and swimmers are meant to pick a lane based on how fast they think they go and follow the given direction. That means making sure you're always swimming to the left of the line on the floor if the lane is clockwise and vice-versa. Obviously if you're the first person in the lane it's quite a no-brainer because you're in no danger of hitting anyone. But, if you're joining a pool where the lap swimming lanes are each already occupied by at least one person, the usual etiquette is to find the lane most suited to your speed, wait for the person to reach the wall, try to get his/her attention, ask politely if it's okay to join the lane, then follow the direction of the lane. If it so happens you have to overtake, do it as you would in a car. Make sure there aren't any oncoming swimmers, then overtake on the outside of the swimmer in front of you. Simple stuff. The risk of a head-on collision is greatly reduced. Lap swimmers get to do their serious swimming worry-free. Fun swimmers can continue to frolick in the rest of the pool without worrying of getting a fist in their face or their butt being grabbed. If the Singapore Sports Council, who looks after the public pools in on this island, could do something about it, I would be eternally grateful. And so will the guy whose butt I grabbed this morning. Tags: singapore, sports 
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As our society's key focus is on economic and financial advancement, we pay relatively little attention to social engineering. Be it in developing sports culture, arts culture or the likes, we often care less about character building through proper public education. To the man-on-the-street, he/she might not see the fault due to a lack of knowledge in specific area of need/inadequency. To those who are able to see beyond the superficial, please continue to highlight areas which can be improved - for the good of the nation. Hopefully, one day, we'll be able to measure up to what we are inspired to be.
If there is one swimming etiqutte in public pools, that is -
you don't own the pool. Don't close your eyes. Watch out for people who also have the right to swim and use the facility.
Do we really expect the government to spend time and money on such sillyness? If yes, why stop at swimming lanes. There are hosts of mundane things related to swimming.
I remember the world is in a financial crisis.
Why do we Singaporeans always rely on our government to solve all of life's mundane things?
If I am stupid, who's the government agency responsible for that?
Hi Jeanette
Your encounter is only the tip of the iceberg. I have experienced worst senarios some of which including inconsiderate bathers who spit, relieve themselves in the pool, and also the demanding swimmers who behave like 'kings' having paid a mere $1 entrance fee. I would just like to comment that although Singapore is progressing rapidly, we are far from being a gracious society.
Just a piece of advice for you, when swimming, stay alert and you have to be aware of your surroundings. Afterall, we have to give way to weaker swimmers. You can always avoid the peak hours like weekends or weekday afternoons when schools are having their swimming programmes. The best time to do lap swimming will be in the evening after 7pm. Happy lap swimming:)
hey jeanette,
You're right. And may I add: The lack of etiquette in swimming pools is even more dangerous that using hand paddles for training. As far as I know, SSC disallows hand paddles 'coz they may cause serious injury' to fellow users.
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