A Simple Story

Vaishali told me a simple story on Thursday that has still not left me. 

I told a modified version of the story to my daughter at bedtime yesterday.
This story will stay with me all my life like a burn mark that refuses to fade. Some stories are like that.

Here is the version that I told my daughter:

This is a story of a well-dressed man who is walking on a lonely road. 
After going some distance, he hears the footsteps of another person walking behind him. He senses that the other person was wearing shock-absorbing sports shoes and was walking briskly. 

Soon, Mr. Smart Shoes  overtakes our walking man. He breathes out a curt "Hi" as he passes by. Soon he is out of sight behind a clump of trees on a road bend.
Our walking man decides to walk briskly because he doesn't want to be left behind. His shoes are formal and not meant for sports. He is determined, for some reason, to overtake Mr. Smart Shoes. 

His walking pace increases and he begins to jog. When he catches sight of Mr Smart Shoes, he begins to run. Our man is breathless as he overtakes him. Mr Smart Shoes glances at him in admiration. A sense of pride and achievement washes over our man as he reaches ahead to the end of the road.

He kneels down in exhaustion as drops of sweat rush down his face and neck soaking his formal clothes. 
He notices his watch as he wipes the sweat from his face. 
It is then that he realises that he had to take a turn on the road to reach where he had set out to go.  
His destination lay elsewhere but in the heat of the competition, he had forgotten all about it. 

Ten Little Mermaids

Picture courtesy: Lama Mohammed Belal

On  24th May, the members of the Ras al Hamra Recreation Club (RAHRC) witnessed an exclusive spectacle as they assembled by the pool. 

Ten little mermaids between 6 to 11 years, demurely wrapped up in white towels, emerged at the poolside to present a Synchronised Swimming Show. With bright faces and cheerful smiles, they danced in the water displaying elaborate moves timed to catchy music. 

Synchronised swimming was called water ballet in its early years. It is a sport that requires advanced water skills, stamina, endurance, breath control, and grace. 

The two short pieces choreographed to popular numbers like Cotton-Eye Joe and Happy had the audience clapping and tapping their feet to cheer the girls. In one formation, a girl jumped off from the backs of two others who held the railings at the edge of the pool. The rest then dived in one by one to form a straight line and then split into two circles.  

A trio of girls completed the show by swimming to classical music. The girls displayed amazing control, teamwork, flexibility and strength. Their formations in water left the audience spellbound. 

 

A couple of hours earlier, in the green room, after the girls had had their waterproof makeup done and their hair gelled, their coach, Engy El Selouky, rehearsed the steps one last time:

“Eggbeater  1- 2 - 3 – 4    Eggbeater   5 - 6 - 7- 8...

Tub  2 - 3 – 4...  Tuck  2 - 3 – 4... ” 

During the Synchronised swimming course, the girls learnt some interesting new terminology including ‘sculls’ and ‘eggbeaters’! The ‘eggbeater’ is a kick that allows a swimmer to be upright in the water with one or both arms free to do the dance moves. 

During the routine, the girls did not touch the bottom of the pool for support but depended instead on sculling and eggbeaters to keep afloat and maintain their balance. 

The girls – Alix Dupont, Anna Lemos, Ella Wusten, Gargi Moghe, Hanna Van Doren, Julia van Bourgonje, Julia van Cuijck, Jumana Saada,  Maria Crampin, and Saskia Tromp, seemed to be in their element in the water. 

 

Picture courtesy: Lama Mohammed Belal

They had worked hard and practised the techniques thoroughly. It was a strange feeling for them when they had to wear rubber nose-clips for the first time to prevent water from entering their nostrils. Their hair was rolled up in buns and gelled by flavourless gelatine to keep it in place. They all wore matching fuchsia and black costumes and glitter ribbon sashes and hairpieces. The elaborate eye makeup enhanced their natural beauty. It was a proud moment for their families and friends. They celebrated by offering flowers to Engy and sharing a cake shaped like a pool!

Picture courtesy: Lama Mohammed Belal

Engy was visibly proud of her pupils too. Besides being a coach, she is a financial expert too. She has graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She has done Master of Business Administration and CFA, and has worked as a Senior Credit Analyst in Egypt and the UK.

She started learning Synchronized Swimming at the tender age of eight and participated in several national competitions in Egypt. Her passion for the sport led her to train as an assistant coach in Egypt. In 2011, when she travelled to the UK, she joined the Queen Mother Sports Team as a synchro swimmer. She later coached girls under 18 years for local club competitions. 

In 2015, she joined the RAHRC and started training 6 to 11 year old girls.

Engy enthusiastically says, "This was the first time that synchronised swimming was introduced in Oman. When I first advertised for it in the RAHRC, 80 girls applied and they were all really interested. I did an assessment session for them to judge their water skills, and chose 10 girls to be trained once a week due to the limited timing available at the pool. I started training these girls since October 2015, and by the end of May, they did a wonderful show. As this was the first synchronized swimming show in Oman, I am really proud of these lovely girls."

The young ladies received their certificates of participation after the show. They showed the promise of untapped potential and superb aquatic skills.  

Picture courtesy: Lama Mohammed Belal

(Parts of this post were also published in The Oman Observer, Muscat Daily, and The Week, June 2016.)