Infants swim with their trainers in Cairo, Egypt on Jan. 16, 2018. At a small closed and ceiled hygienic swimming pool in a language school on the outskirts of Cairo, a dozen of parents took their babies to attend the special swimming classes in the unique center run by international baby swimming coach Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- "My baby started swimming exercises when he was born only a month and a half. Since then, the baby has become healthier than those at his age," said Nisreen al-Badawy, a housewife in her late 20s, while watching her little baby Ubai in the swimming pool with his trainer.

"We don't have the baby swimming culture here in Egypt and I am not a good swimmer myself, so I want my child to be different. The course fees are also affordable, given that the center is the only one in Egypt," the young mother told Xinhua at Baby Swimming Egypt, the newly opened first center for infant swimming learning in the most populous Arab country.

At a small closed and ceiled hygienic swimming pool in a language school on the outskirts of Cairo, a dozen of parents took their babies to attend the special swimming classes in the unique center run by international baby swimming coach Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud, who also works for TOTO baby swimming center in Russia.

Abdel-Maksoud is married to a Russian woman and living mostly in Russia, where infant swimming learning is as basic as eating and drinking, as he says. He himself taught his two-year-old child how to swim when he was only one month.

"This is the first center for baby swimming in Egypt. The project started to go well and many parents got to know what we're doing. So it has become fruitful although it opened only four months ago," said Abdel-Maksoud while getting ready to start a class with one of the infants.

"The number of participant babies reached 130. We also hold constant courses and the number of subscribers are about 35 now. Our ambition is much higher and we plan to open several branches across Egypt," the international baby swimming trainer told Xinhua.

Abdel-Maksoud was making silly faces to a crying baby during the swimming class until the baby cooled down. He also let a little kid's arms around his neck from behind and dived with the kid on his back.

"We mostly work with children aged between two months and four years. Dealing with older kids is harder as they have formed their personalities and sometimes they are stubborn or not in a good mood, unlike babies," said Abdel-Maksoud.

He noted that some parents come for the mere reason of teaching their children swimming at a young age, while some others visit the center for treatment of their children's muscular issues.

Samar Essam, a housewife in her early 30s, came with her husband and mother from Upper Egypt's Assiut Province to Cairo just for this swimming training for her five-year-old elder son Mahmoud, who suffers a muscular problem with his left leg due to lack of oxygen during his birth.

"Doctors recommend swimming as a basic exercise for him, but we lack such trainers in Assiut. Only in five sessions here, a tremendous, unbelievable progress has been made. My son used to fear the water but now he can swim on his own," the housewife told Xinhua.

Essam was so excited and overjoyed while filming her son in the swimming pool during the class, hugging him every time he comes out of the pool for a few seconds. She was happy that the coach focused more on the kid's leg muscle problem.

"Today is the sixth session. He is supposed to get a condensed 10-class course because we're going back to Assiut. We will surely come back again because of the great progress made in a few days," she told Xinhua at the poolside.

"Make a Hero" is the slogan of Baby Swimming Egypt, as coach Abdel-Maksoud, assisted by four other Egyptian and foreign trainers, aims to prepare healthy children rather than merely teach them swimming.

"Our purpose is to make a hero by not only teaching an infant how to swim. We care about the baby's health, we make sure all his systems function properly and we deal with any problems he has immediately," said Ahmed Mahmoud al-Laithy, a 26-year-old swimming trainer.

"So in the end, the baby grows into a healthy child who can be very active and productive in the future. He or she can be a hero," he added.

Laithy was holding a two-month-old baby on the surface of the water and swiftly rowing her legs up and down while the infant seemed bedazzled. Her mother was watching from outside with a big smile on her face.

The trainer, newly married with no children, said dealing with babies is a difficult job as he has to be so careful not to hurt them while holding them, "especially that they cannot tell you what they want or feel."

He also said communicating with babies is a parental exercise for himself, for he will be a father in the near future.

"It's difficult in Egypt to convince parents to allow their two-month-old babies in the water. Only few people understand the advantages of baby swimming exercises. We hope more parents will have this awareness in the near future," the baby swimming trainer told Xinhua.