26-year-old teaches swimming in Mumbai, his only instruction: ‘keep kicking’

Behera started swimming with his father in his hometown at the age of five. Since then, he has not received any formal training, he said. “Age is no limit to learn how to swim and one can learn basic swimming in 15 days depending upon the coach. But to learn it at the professional level, one needs a lot of training and a certain diet to build up stamina,” he added.

Behera said that children can start swimming at 5. But children between 5 to 7 years of age can be trained only if they don’t cry. “Otherwise, children between 7 to 15 years are easy to train as they pick up fast, they listen to you and their bodies are flexible,” he added.

“It is difficult for people above 25 years of age to learn and catch up when compared to children… also I can yell at the children if they don’t follow my instructions, which I can’t do with adults,” Behera said, adding that as the female body is flexible, women learn to swim easily, unlike men with stiffer bodies.

According to Behera, swimming is the best exercise because it involves full body movement, unlike going to the gym, where you have do legs, arms and core exercise differently. “Swimming is good for the back and shoulder,” he said.

Behera, who stays in the quarters at the club, said that while breast stroke is easy to learn, the butterfly stroke is most difficult one. “A swimming instructor can only tell you the kind of drills a particular stroke needs,” he added.