Up from Sydney for the weekend: Ross’s story
A couple of weeks back I shared some news I was proud of, becoming the first and only Ocean Walker Technique™ coach in the Southern Hemisphere. This is what that looks like in practice.
Meet Ross. He’s 69, and he’s been swimming and surfing most of his life, the last twenty odd years to stay strong for running, ocean swims and triathlons. He didn’t need talking into the water. What he wanted was to swim better, with less wear on his body, for years to come.
So he got on a plane. Ross flew an hour and a half up from Sydney and spent a long weekend on the Sunny Coast to learn the Ocean Walker Technique™ properly, in person.
We did it over two days. Day one was five hours in the pool, breaking the stroke into its stages and drilling each one. Day two, three more hours putting it together, unpicking habits fifty years in the making, with video analysis so he could see exactly what was going on rather than take my word for it.
By Saturday afternoon something had clicked. Ross had a kick he told me he’d never had or used in his life, and a smoother, longer stroke that moved him through the water for far less effort. Better still, he had a way of swimming he could take home and keep refining on his own.
In his words:
“I’d highly recommend this to anyone at any age, regardless of how well you think you swim, or how long you’ve been swimming. Video analysis will open your eyes and make you realise you DO need this.”
Here’s the thing about this technique: people travel for it. Swimmers go to Adam Walker in the UK from all over the world to learn it at the source. Now there’s somewhere closer to home. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand and you’ve been meaning to sort your stroke out properly, you don’t need a passport, just a trip up the coast or across the ditch. Fly into Sunshine Coast Airport at Maroochydore and you’re about 15 minutes from toes in the water. Or fly into Brisbane and it’s a little over an hour’s drive up the motorway.
Ross made that trip worth it. If you’re thinking about it, I’d love to help.
Book a session or find out more at swimmore.net.
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