Written by: Lydia Ong Edited by: Choa Zhao Xiang and Leung Lok Heng Photos by: EusoffWorks
I am sure all of us have dreamt of becoming doctors, teachers, and CEOs since a young age. However, as I sat down with Yue Hong and Crystal for this interview, the male swim captain helpfully informed me that stripping had been his ambition as a kid. Needless to say, his parents were forced to step in and direct him towards the next best thing – swimming. Sitting next to him, the sweet and demure Crystal presented an interesting contrast. Despite this, their established rapport was clear, and the chemistry with which they answered my questions left no doubt that they complemented each other well as co-captains.
The pool is the second home for Yue Hong and Crystal, our swim captains this year.
The official definition of swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one’s entire body to move through water. The most common strokes used in the sport are breaststroke, free-style, butterfly and backstroke. But of course, who better to explain swimming as a sport than the captains themselves? To Crystal, swimming is basically pushing through 50 metres in the pool and then just dying at the side, but Yue Hong had a more unorthodox view of it. In his exact words, it is a sport where you “start fully clothed and dry, but finish wet and panting”. He is not wrong, but to be clear, swim trainings take place only at the pool. More specifically, they are held at the olympic-sized pool in University Sports Centre, on Tuesdays (6.30-8.30pm) and Fridays (5-7pm). Each training is two hours long, and begin with stretching and warm ups, followed by main sets. Like most other sports in Eusoff, trainings are projected to become much more intense as the Inter-Hall Games approach, and it is expected that only the strongest will be left standing.
Although that sounds brutally competitive, Crystal assured me that Eusoff Swim is all about learning at your own pace, and being motivated to hit the goals you set for yourself. They are accepting of people of all skill levels, as long as they have a persevering spirit and a strong will to keep improving as progress does not come fast. Besides that, all you need is probably a good bottle of conditioner to protect your hair from the chlorine in pools. (Weirdly enough, Crystal’s smooth hair does not require any conditioning.)
Onto a proper introduction of our captains! Yue Hong is a Year 2 “archi-torture” student (how dramatic!) whereas Crystal is a Year 2 economics student. Aside from stripping, Yue Hong’s hobbies include eating, sleeping and swimming (“the holy trinity for swimmers”) and Crystal is an avid Netflix watcher in her free time. A fun fact about Yue Hong is that he estimates having ingested about 7 cup fulls of pee water since he started swimming. Coincidentally, one about Crystal is that she pees in pools (oh no). She also claims to specialize in doggy style (“not that one!”) and staying afloat.
Yue Hong’s leadership and expertise in the pool garners him much support from his teammates.
The two captains are by no means inexperienced. Yue Hong recalls being thrown into a pool by his father, who simply told him to survive. He also recalls being the fastest swimmer before he was born. Like him, Crystal became a swimmer in primary school, and advanced so quickly that she had to stop lessons as she was too young to proceed to the next course. Clearly, both were gifted with exceptional swimming skills and innate comfort in the water.
There is an unspoken rule that embarrassment naturally accompanies being half naked and wet, and neither of the captains have been exempted from it. Yue Hong has an especially memorable one. For context, swimmers usually change into their trunks before reaching the pool. On this particular day, Yue Hong might or might not have forgotten, and might or might not have reached the pool without his swim trunks on, and might or might not have pulled down his pants, without realising that he might or might not have not been wearing trunks. Personally, I see this as a subconscious manifestation of his stripping ambitions, but he disagrees.
(Disclaimer: he was 7 at the time so please DO NOT contact OSA*.)
Crystal brings her infectious enthusiasm to every training, making it a welcome place for her team.
This year, the captains’ common goal for Eusoff Swim is to win and have fun doing it. To encourage the swimmers to do so, Crystal says to “just keep swimming” and Yue Hong asks that they wear “chlorine as [their] cologne”. There is no doubt that the swim team is in good hands as even a freshie describes Yue Hong to be “very driven” and (appropriately) “dominant” and Crystal to be “an understanding and patient teacher”. After our chat, I can safely say that I have full confidence in these two capable leaders both in water and on land. Let us cheer on the Eusoff swim team and wish them all the best in the upcoming Inter-Hall Games.
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