Oh, poor kids!

Everytime I go swimming, I see young elementary kids training for a swimming contest. But the trainer seems too harsh for the young kids, some of whom are only 7 or 8 years old.

I always see the trainer yelling at the kids, spanking them on their tiny backs with his huge hand, and whipping them on their tiny little palms and soles with a thick rod for their poor performances, which all seems just like a military training.

What makes me even more surprised is that the children's parents are just watching the whole class behind the glass walls until it is over.

Even though I know that being trained for a professional athlete is totally different from learning as a hobby, and that high school or college sports teams have very strict and harsh disciplines, I can't help but think, "They are just kids!"

I've never been trained for a professional, and that kind of corporal punishment seems to have been allowed both by the swimming program administrator and by the parents. So I don't want to judge anyone.

But everytime the slap sound echoes throughtout the swimming pool, I just can't help myself murmuring "Oh, poor kids!"