Nexus

Diving In - Wangaratta Masters' Swimming and Writing Workshop

On Sunday the 20^th September, ten strangers came together for the first time to participate in a swimming and writing workshop at Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre. Funded through TASA’s Social Sciences Week funding, the Wangaratta Masters Swimming Club event, titled “Water and Words”, involved participating in a swimming activity and collective writing session.

The swimming segment involved an adapted swimming program to suit swimmers’ abilities and goals. It included a creative method for participants to capture their thoughts during the swim by writing on a laminated sheet of paper with special graphite pencil, without fear of these being erased by the pool water. After drying off, swimmers made their way to the “writing room” where they took part in a 25 minute “shut up and write” session, facilitated by TASA member and Wangaratta Masters swimmer, Alexa Ridgway. During this time, they used their notes from the swim to create their own written works.

One of the participants, Tegan Podubinski, an academic with the University of Melbourne who admitted early on that swimming was not her preferred sport, found the morning rewarding: “I really enjoyed the morning. The coached swimming session allowed me a place to meditate on some of the things that have been floating around my head for a while, and the journalling part allowed me time to get it all out and leave it on the page. I particularly appreciated being able to jot random thoughts while resting on the wall, using a very high-tech laminated note page and graphite pencil!”. 

For Sarah Martin, an author from Melbourne who had come to Wangaratta especially for the event after her daughter heard about it on ABC Radio, the pool was a different experience to her usual sea dips with the Icebergers. In fact, it was the first time she had been in a pool in years! Sarah shared some of her writing created on the day: “As I begin swimming back towards the group at the other end, my strokes lengthen, and I feel the water smooth and supple beneath and around me, holding me in its embrace. Something inside me has been released. I am free and refreshed in a way that I would never have expected”.

All in all, the event was a great success with participants expressing enthusiasm for another, perhaps next time with a dip in one of our glorious rivers. Many thanks to TASA for supporting this unique experience!