Hi Everyone,

Welcome back to swimming classes in 2023 and huge welcome to all our new swimmers! I hope your break was as lovely as mine; full of swimming, resting, reading and eating. These major holiday periods offer many of us a wonderful chance for a slow, haze filled downtime. A time to totally stop. If you’re like me, you know you’ve switched off when you don’t know what day it is! 

Now we’re back, we’re all fired up and ready for January and February, traditionally the busiest time of the year for us. Ellie and I have been working hard to allocate everyone into classes and private lessons. If you haven’t booked in your class or lesson schedule yet, please do so as we’re almost at capacity, with new clients being put on waitlists. 

This month sees us celebrating our eighth anniversary. Different Strokes Swimming started as a dream, based on my own experience of learning to swim freestyle at the age of forty eight. A dream to transform the lives of adults, by teaching them a new physical skill and helping them realise an often dreamed of ambition. It all started with one lane and one instructor and a learn to swim program.

Since then Different Strokes Swimming has morphed into a much bigger enterprise, offering the complete aquatic journey. The addition of Sydney Swimmers squads, an open water training program, masterclasses and much more as enabled us to take a new swimmer and ultimately have them swimming across Bondi. Prior to COVID we were in eight locations and had twenty one on the team! I’m glad to say we’re still going strong after the hurly burly of the last three years, albeit with a much smaller, boutique outfit.

Most importantly we have helped literally thousands of adults on their swimming journey, some commencing their first learn to swim program and becoming water safe; others who turn to us to realise their wildest swimming goals. It has been such a rewarding experience and become my deep passion. Thank you to all who have been part of the Different Strokes Swimming story, it’s been great to have shared it with you and to have you onboard. 

As always, yours in swimming, 

Kari Baynes
Director 

Photo: Prince Alfred Park Pool, January 2023 PC:Kari Baynes

Public Holiday – January 26th

We’ll be closed on the Thursday January 26th public holiday, but back to swimming as usual from Saturday 28th! If you haven’t already, make sure you chat to us about adding any classes you’ll miss due to this closure on to the end of your current schedule.

Feel free to give us a call or shoot us an email and we’d be happy to help you get this sorted!

Goal Setting in the New Year

We made it to a brand new year! As the saying always goes, it’s time for a “New Year, New You”, right? In our experience, this is so much easier said than done without a solid set of goals and a plan to achieve them. 

At the end of last year, we asked you to take a minute to reflect on your goals and progress through 2022. If you haven’t already done so, this is a great first step in your goal setting journey! Knowing what you were able to achieve last year and what felt so hard that you just gave up will help you set reachable and inspiring goals this year. 

Now for the fun part: deciding what you want to make happen in 2023! First up, we recommend thinking about one or two big “final” goals that you’d love to achieve, but aren’t sure if you can finish them in just one year. This might be something like swimming 1km freestyle, or entering an open water event!

Next up, it’s breaking down this big target into smaller steps that you can celebrate along the way. This list could include things like getting comfortable with having your face in the water for 10 seconds, treading water for 30 seconds straight or swimming a certain number of strokes/laps of freestyle. Make sure these are all small and broken up into little chunks.

Finally, make sure you’re kind to yourself and allow some room for not getting everything done in a small time frame! Swimming especially takes time, practice and a lot of energy to get confident with, so don’t feel disheartened if it’s taking you longer than you think it should. 

Photo:  Two of our legends celebrating their achievements in the pool! PC: Kari Baynes

DSS Swim Caps are Here!

That’s right, we’ve got a new stock of swimming caps in and ready to get you geared up for a whole new new year of swimming. They’re sturdy silicone swim caps in a black base colour with our Different Strokes Swimming logo printed on both sides. Whether you need a new swim cap, a second one for extra warmth, or you just want to represent DSS while you’re out there swimming why not pick one up!

You can purchase a swim cap either online through the link below, or by getting in touch with the office. Once purchased, we’ll bring the cap to you at your next class, so no need to worry about postage!

Photo:  DSS Swim cap in action on a beautiful sunny day at Prince Alfred Park Pool. PC: Kari Baynes

Inspiration Corner

The Olympic Swim Coach Who Couldn’t Swim  | Here’s Where it Gets Interesting

This podcast tells the incredible story of Soichi Sakamoto, the Olympic swimming coach who didn’t know how to swim! From an impoverished background working on sugar cane plantations in Hawai’i , Sakamoto did whatever he could to get his young students all the way to the 1948 Olympics. Click the button below to listen to the full story.