Hello RMCO! And swimming pools are not opened... yet.

So today is the first day of Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO)... 10th June 2020 to 31st August 2020. Came to think of it, almost 80% of the year 2020 we #stayathome #staysafe #kitamestimenang. It's actually DAY 83 today. We started with MCO, CMCO, and now RMCO... It has been a long journey, yes.

Some changes in this phase are we are allowed to travel to other states (in Malaysia only), hotels will be opened, some sports are allowed, you can go cut your hair at a salon... BUT SWIMMING IS STILL A NO-NO.

They simply put....

"Aktiviti dalam kolam renang"

And that, made us swimming instructors outraged, just to exaggerate. But really, we are! The reason is because of 'Mass Gathering'. Like what....... Pfft. OKAY. I wasn't satisfied too so I made a post on Facebook stating my opinion. And I'm writing about it more here... Obviously I am not settled yet aha...

Of course la MASS GATHERING. Because you think of the swimming pool as a place to main-main air... mandi-mandi.. I know because I've been to swimming pools all my life, literally. T-shirt? Kain batik? Baju kelawar? Picnic tepi pool? That's why. Berkumpul-kumpul tepi kolam...

There are a lot other activities in the swimming pool! Swimming itself is an individual non-contact sport/ activity. And rehab? Yes, rehab. Some people found comfort exercising in the water when they couldn't do so on land... I pity my patients who couldn't continue their rehab... There's even one who didn't even get to start yet! And his sick leave is ending on July...

The crowd can be controlled. As for health issues....

"Evidence suggests that COVID-19 cannot be spread to humans through most recreational water. Additionally, proper operation of these aquatic venues and disinfection of the water (with chlorine or bromine) should inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.

Infectious Disease Experts' Publication"

Click here.

We got the facts. So we fight.... They we came up with SOPs for swimming lessons to be carried out first, since that one is controllable by swimming instructors. And it's amazing how fast these instructors work! One issue would arrise in the whatsapp group, and zappp came line ups of articles shared by other members... They work real fast, man... No wonder they got so big. Business wise, I meant. Not physically big.

Anyhow. It IS hard to change people's mindset. I think the Youth and Sports Minister thought so too... He said, 

"Sikap org awam di dalam kolam renang yg boleh menyebabkan jangkitan"

This was said on the news, when he met with ASUM's representative okay. Don't sue me. He said that. And I definitely agree with him. Not going to restate again t-shirt, kain batik, seluar track...

My bestie said I should write something fun.

Is this fun? This is rage. A rage deep within someone unsatisfied on the perception people had on swimming pools. I know I'm not the only one as the other instructors in the whatsapp group were also outraged on that reason. They we demanded another reason as to why swimming pools are not allowed to open other than mass gathering because we can control that. So far it seems like we're getting somewhere. At least KBS has called us for a meeting to further discuss this issue. They'll be having a meeting this Friday.

Will be waiting for good news. Even if just one category (competitive, learn to swim, personal/ group) is allowed, that's a big step already.

Btw, just a cool hashtag EJ from Swimin12 came up with #swimmingcoachesaredrowning. This is funny in a way, but not in reality ok.

Til next time!