My Life @ DSA
Benjamin Ooi, a Swim Teacher Trainer at DSA, had the responsibility of being a father at a very young age. With the support and security offered by DSA, Ben is now secure about the well-being of his family.
Ben talks about his journey as a Swim Teacher in DSA.
“Over the last of 10 years, my DSA Journey has been of personal empowerment and financial security. DSA has provided me the stability and change to secure the future and well-being of my family.”
Seeing the improvement in children from non-swimmers and being water-phobic to being at home in the water is the greatest joy about being a swim teacher. Teaching children swimming is like solving a puzzle, you have to try different mixes and matches to achieve the result. It’s a whole lot of fun, to try out and experience the many methods of teaching swimming.
A Swim teacher’s job is one with flexibility for the most part, with a lot of freedom. Freedom in the working hours and also in the process of teaching. While the basic guidelines like a lesson plan and syllabus are followed, different techniques for teaching the different skills for different students can be adopted. Exploring the different ways is up to the teacher’s creative ability and that’s what differentiates this job from most other desk jobs.
In Malaysia, for a part-time basis being a swim teacher or swimming coach is considered a high paying job, better than part-time positions in other sectors.
At DSA, while the main focus is on learning to swim, children are also conditioned to discipline and character building. While some parents opt for a stricter approach by the teachers, others leave it to the teacher’s judgement. This imparting of essential skills in addition to swimming create a healthy growth for the child to an adult in the society.
DSA is always striving to improve and teamwork is an essential factor towards reaching greater heights. All decisions regarding the working and operations are taken together with active involvement and representation which creates an air of openness and vibrance. There is not much hierarchy and everyone remains approachable at all levels.
“DSA is always striving to improve and teamwork is an essential factor towards reaching greater heights. All decisions regarding the working and operations are taken together with active involvement and representation which creates an air of openness and vibrance.”
DSA is what makes me who I am today. Around 10 years ago, during the last semester internship in culinary arts, I had to make a choice as a young father of a child.
I had to leave a prospective full-time job to take care of my family. Being a swimmer, at the age of 21 years, I started in DSA as part-time swim teacher and then in a year became a full-time employee.
In 2015, I started coaching as well, and as squad coach, I improved my knowledge of swim education significantly. In 2022, I became a Swim Teacher Teacher Trainer. Over a period of 10 years, DSA has empowered me personally and financially with a secure future for me and my family. This is the change and the value DSA has added to my life.
I come from a family that is fully involved in Media and Entertainment industry. My father is a movie director and other family members in many areas of the media, so most probably I would have also been in that industry if not as a Swim teacher.
But I feel my background of exposure to this line has helped me a lot in the way of being able to conduct training sessions for the new recruits and the regular professional development sessions for all the swim teachers.
Most of my best friends, who are all swimmers at competitive levels are working as swim teachers and we all are here in DSA as teaching swimming is a passion we all share.
“I really enjoy the whole day being at work and in the pool with the students. I am usually one of the earliest at work so that gives me some time alone to think and plan ahead about the classes, to work out what the things that need to be focused on for the day.”
I really enjoy the whole day being at work and in the pool with the students. I am usually one of the earliest at work so that gives me some time alone to think and plan ahead about the classes, to work out what the things that need to be focused on for the day.
Coach Daniel is someone I look up to for guidance and support while Coach Heng Juan Ju better known as Coach JJ, is a good friend and a mentor for me. I still remember my first day as a squad coach. JJ though known as an introvert person was very cordial and open with me. I remember the words he said, that it doesn’t matter how good I was, he was going to teach me everything he knows.
Coach JJ is a very creative person, good with children and immense problem-solving skills which is his strong point. He is not only passionate about his job but he also creates the passion in others. We have been with each other, watching each other grow in our personal lives too.
I also look up to Cyrena who had said that she is looking at me at not just being a Swim Teacher a few years back. That had a profound effect on me and it boosted my morale a lot. Later that year, I won an award for the Most Improved Employee at DSA.
My highest achievement was when I was given the opportunity to become a Swim Teacher Trainer, which is a huge honour for me; for someone who started out as a part-time swim teacher.
Most people do not realise the amount of effort that goes into teaching children swimming. While it may look like just a physical activity, it also involves a lot of mental activity as well.
A teacher has to adopt different teaching methods for different skills as all children will not learn at the same pace or the same way. Finding the right methods to teach takes a lot of mental preparation and calculations which many people do not associate with this activity.
Most times parents don’t understand much about the aspects of swim education. I have been interacting with parents both as an assessor now and earlier as a swim teacher.
While at times a swim teacher may not have too much interaction with the parents about the progress of the children, as an assessor, it is very frequent. This is usually when the progress is not as expected and the parents will have to be updated about it. For this, an assessor must understand beforehand what the reasons are and discuss with the parents about it.
Swimming and sport in general differ for people but it is something which everyone can do. Everyone can learn to swim; the results depends on how much time and efforts you are willing to put in. This is the knowledge that you want to impart as a swim teacher.
