{
  "path": "/2026/04/21/swimming-diploma/",
  "site": "at://did:plc:xsx3bphrwkgeo3qnfjhzmdra/site.standard.publication/3me7k4wsueo2b",
  "tags": [
    "swimming",
    "sports"
  ],
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "title": "Getting My First Swimming Diploma",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreibkjnjuna6mwtn5a3rwptyaifzrof4ftu4bk2uktjw5zmbuexojbq",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:xsx3bphrwkgeo3qnfjhzmdra/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjz5zj5uyvvi",
    "$type": "com.atproto.repo.strongRef"
  },
  "description": "My updates about swimming keep aging fast, and that's a good sign. Last month, I mentioned I was finally having lessons at the deep end of the pool, and how it was being a blast. So much happened the past three weeks though!",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-21T16:11:48+02:00",
  "textContent": "My updates about swimming keep aging fast, and that's a good sign. Last month, I mentioned I was finally having lessons at the deep end of the pool, and how it was being a blast. So much happened the past three weeks though! I had mentioned I asked the teacher if we could have a lesson on the deeper pool. Well, we did. The pool is 4 meters deep, which is more than twice as much as the swimming pool where we usually have our classes. It went well and was less scary than I expected. However, when you're swimming with your face down and you... look down... it's something. It's almost a void, especially considering the tiles on this pool are quite dark. Or maybe not all lights were on. Anyways, not only did we swim and dive in that pool, but we also jumped from the 1 meter diving plank. That was fine. Then we jumped from the 3 meter. It probably took me some 5 minutes of reluctancy and fear to do it, but I did. I want to do it again. After that lesson, we had another special one: a fully clothed lesson. Yes, with a shirt with long sleeves, pants and normal shoes. I was expecting to have to do this for a few laps because it's part of the survival part of the Diploma A, but not for a whole class. It was extremely tiring. 45 minutes with clothes. Not only is it harder to swim because of the weight of the clothes, but the shoes act as floatation devices, meaning your feet just wanna come higher than they should. That makes it annoying. Fortunately, at some point we were allowed to take the shoes off, but we kept doing stuff with the clothes on, from diving, front crawl, swim through holes, etc. And... the class after it was the afzwemmen, which means I now have the Diploma A! That means that I'm now allowed to actually go for lap swimming. I did that today and it was nice. There were some incredibly fast people - or I am very slow! National Swimming Diploma A I would like to show a photo of the diploma, but I'll only get the physical diploma the next lesson, which is after the May vacation, in two weeks. I'll update the post to include the photo by then. The photo is above! The plan is to continue lessons for Diploma B, and then C. In the meanwhile, I am aiming to go swimming once a week besides the lessons. Still need to see what time works best for me. I also think it's time to cross the fear of deep water out of my impossible list."
}