The "dry" drills were good, I'm practicing them in shower. It imprints the movement in your head so that it becomes more natural and routine in the pool.

Regards, and again many thanks.
Kobus

Dear Georgie, I was totally blown away by the 5 hour TI workshop I attended with you today, thank you so much for your patience, understanding and most of all your expertise and professional approach. After swimming "uphill" for the last 18 months, I immediately felt more "balanced" in the water and that after only 5 hours of tuition. The greatest part was not feeling like I had to fight the water to stay afloat!

After landing in Port Elizabeth tonight all I wanted to do was get to my local gym pool to practice the drills I learnt today and hopefully rejuvenate my fledgling swimming/triathlon career. Although my main focus is IM and Half IM, it will also be great to participate in a draft-legal Olympic triathlon and not be one of the last one's out of the water who has to singularly chase the main bunch for 40km and waste huge amounts of energy that could be put to much better use in the run.

Good luck for the 70.3 IMBC2009 this weekend and I wish you all the success, that you greatly deserve, in your Total Immersion Training School. A bientôt and here's to swimming like a "fast fish" in the future
Chris - Competed in Ironman and Half Ironman World Champs Florida

Hi Georgie, I just want to thank you once again, I am so very impressed with your course!

Just to let you know i was so excited, that i couldn't wait for tomorrows swim squad, so off I went to the pool and asked my friend to come with, without effort (ok a little ) can't say it was easy, but i broke that 1 min 6 sec that I got in your pool and got a 1 min 2 sec time ...cant actually believe it and i wasn't even exhausted....

big improvement from a 1 min 17 sec leaving me absolutely buggered to a 1 min 2 sec still ready for more, my friend is also very, very impressed ...sure he will be calling you soon

Many thanks
Gary Tarantino, Cape Town

"I have attended the Cape Town Total Immersion two-day workshop and am thankful to have taken the plunge.

Before the course, I was all arms in the water and wondered how I was going to get through a swim of more than 50m without that glug-glug feeling.

Since completing the course, I have been in a pool regularly and am enjoying my swimming so much more. I am in a much better position, the stroke is easier (more efficient) and much more powerful than what I did before. The drills and imagery used during the course are repeatable, which enables their use on my own even when the coach is not there. I now have an idea of what to strive for and can identify when I am going out of sync. This helps with me with the motivation to keep getting into the pool and keep improving. Swimming has become fun for the first time."

"Thanks Georgie for the guidance and the motivation. You are extremely knowledgeable and are able to teach the swimming technique extremely well. You were able to spot areas for improvement and provide accurate corrective measures straight away.

Excellent course and highly recommended to all aspirant swimmers"
Marvin Eagles, Cape Town

“Don’t panic. I will tell you when to panic!” These were Georgie’s reassuring words to me in response to a panicky e-mail: I had just had a terrifying open water experience, not two weeks before my first triathlon and was ready to pull out of the event, pretty much convinced a 600m swim in the icy Table Bay water would mean certain death.

We’d had a similar conversation about a month earlier: “I’ve signed up for a triathlon, only I can’t really swim. And it’s only a few weeks away. I’m in a bit of a panic.”

You might imagine that a teacher could get quite bored of a pupil who panics repeatedly. Or who has trouble with the most basic of things (counting to three was a big problem for a while, and rather important for breathing in freestyle.) But Georgie remained calm in the face of adversity, chuckled benignly at my ineptitude, and remained absolutely and unswervingly confident that I could succeed in that 600m swim.

So on Nov 30th, not six weeks after I had first stood in Georgie’s endless pool I emerged from the sea at Blouberg giddy with happiness; I was not the last person out of the water and I had kept pace with my friend who had been a competitive swimmer in her schooldays. I had conquered a 600m open water swim and still had breath left to head off onto the bike leg of the race.

I love Total Immersion. Swimming is no longer simply an exercise in survival; it’s a pleasurable activity that I get a sense of mastery out of. I love the way it is taught in a series of steps, so that you can always feel like you are succeeding. I love the ‘mindfulness’ of it – instead of spending every moment anxious about how to get oxygen I can think about all the different parts of my stroke, fully confident that I will get air when I turn to breathe. It still feels like a little miracle each time I swim – I probably look like a splashing mess but I feel wonderful!

So, thankyou Georgie and thankyou TI! “
Gillie Bonner, Hout Bay, Cape Town