Department of Nursing

Pilar Rd, Almanza Uno, Las Piñas, 1750 Metro Manila

Shawn Matthew Manuel BSN – 3
April 22, 2024

Reflection paper: first day and practical exam day

Today was our first day of Physical education in this semester. This physical education

focuses in aquatic activities. For this day, we are gathered in BFRV clubhouse’s swimming pool to

have our first swimming activity. At first, our professor instructed us how to properly take a deep

breath before going under the water and breathe out while under the water. It is exhausting the fact

that swimming is a seldom activity to do or sometimes it can only be done occasionally. After that

activity, I was somewhat chasing my breath as we take a break. As we do it frequently, my breathing

is somehow adapting and it’s more comfortable to stay longer under the water because of having some

capacity of air remaining in your lungs. It’s very crucial to learn the proper breathing pattern under the

water to swim better and to have longer time being in the water. After that activity, our professor

taught us how to flutter kick properly. He tends to raise the legs of the students to determine the

proper level of feet and legs while swimming and how it is supposed to move. It’s an exhausting

activity too because it takes us almost 3 to 5 minutes to do it but like how it progresses through,

similar to breathing pattern, it makes it more comfortable to move in the water and it makes it less

tiring when we do it frequently. The last swimming skill that we learned is freestyle swimming. It is

where we integrate all the skills we learned earlier with the addition of arm movement. I’m amazed

that even in the short time to practiced it, I saw my improvement in swimming. As we ended our first

P.E. class, my friend and I tried doing one lap of swimming in the longer route. We are very tired but

it’s a good exercise too in the morning. In addition, we had our practical exam on the second day of

our face-to-face class in P.E. 4. On this day, we had our practical exam day where we would choose

whether we will swim for four laps in short path or 2 laps in long path. I was too late for that day and

because of that, my consequence is to swim in a longer path two times in order for me to have a grade

in the practical exam. After doing it, I almost had cramps because my body wasn’t prepared for the

activity. While swimming, I stopped two times at the point where it was almost at the finish line. After
 Department of Nursing
Pilar Rd, Almanza Uno, Las Piñas, 1750 Metro Manila
that, I was very exhausted and my thighs were as heavy as a rock for being contracted too much

because of the exercise I did. In conclusion, our first day and practical exam day of swimming class

was fun and I somehow enhanced my swimming skills, such as breathing patterns, flutter kicks, and

freestyle swimming. I hope in the upcoming days, I’ll learn and enhance my other swimming skills.