Splasher: Diving In Head First!

Having learnt to swim with Splash Foundation, Mary Cruz has found her voice and her second true calling as a volunteer coach. Elizabeth Kerr reports Manila native Mary Cruz claims that at one time not too long ago, she was a social klutz. That’s hard to believe given the fact that the fit, entirely engaging woman sitting in Coffee Academics in DB Plaza is chattering up a storm – about travelling, her son, swimming, Hyrox, Coldplay and the seven- and 10-year-olds in her charge as a domestic helper (or auntie, Mary’s much warmer word), who she clearly adores. The reference to her klutzy days comes when she recalls Splash Foundation asking if she’d be keen to coach other new swimmers as one of their volunteers. Initially she balked. “I didn’t think my social skills were strong enough,” she says with a little grin. “Before I started Splash I was a five-minute person, you know? ‘Hi.’ ‘How’s everything?’ ‘Are you liking this or that?’ That was it. I didn’t have anything more to say.” Those days are clearly over. The 2025 version of Mary is confident and outgoing, curious and a fun hang. And she looks about 26. At a push. A nursing student until she had her son at 19, Mary always had a touch of wanderlust to go with an eye for a better, more informed future. It’s what inspired her to relocate to Saudi Arabia for her first job. Naturally, everyone wondered why she’d didn’t head to Hong Kong, where she had family. “I wanted to do it on my own,” she says. That job was as personal assistant to a couple in the hospitality business, a role that segued into childcare when the family’s existing nanny left. The job also meant frequent trips to Europe and the Middle East as a bonus, but Saudi was “too much luxury, it was too lavish,” Mary says. “I wanted something that would show me the good stuff and the bad. Seeing other perspectives from around the world is valuable.” Mary spent three years in Saudi before coming to Hong Kong for a visit. That was 13 years ago. Fixed contracts and frequent repatriation meant she had four employers before finally landing on her current family nine years ago. “You learn from the first one, what you don’t like, what you’re really looking for and what you’re good at,” she says, crediting her current boss with much of her personal growth over the last decade and suppor ting her choices. Like learning to swim. Despite hailing from an island nation (hey, not all Canadians can skate) Mary never learnt to swim, sticking close to shore during beach holidays as a kid or dangling her feet off the side of the pool as a teen. “Then I read about Splash on Facebook.” Mary signed up for one of the free lessons Splash Foundation (www.splashfoundation.org) provides to migrant domestic workers, refugees and underprivileged children as soon as classes for MDWs opened in DB in 2017. “I remember the first thing they asked was ‘Do you know how to float?’ And I said I think so.” She did not, but she stuck with it and saw rapid progress. “I’m a person who will always give something I don’t know a try,” she says. “In my experience at first, it’s scary but in the end, you star t liking it.” “We have amazing senior coaches – Coach Jenn, Coach Estelle and Coach Linda – they’re all DB residents and they volunteer their time for free,” Mary adds. “They are very suppor tive and they guide us: I’ve learnt so much and I’m still learning more. I’m very happy with the way we all work together with so much unity. To be surrounded by people who bring out the best in you… this is what I truly enjoy.” No doubt, swimming is more than a sport or extracurricular activity. As Splash Foundation’s director of communications Victoria Ahn points out: “It’s a life skill and a vehicle for personal growth, resiliency and connection... Our MDW par ticipants feel less lonely and most are less stressed or anxious in their professional life after our programmes.” Mary indeed likes swimming (the cross-harbour swim is on her bucket list), which is why she volunteered as a swim captain on graduating from Splash in 2017. She started the next month as a coach and never looked back – except for those few minutes of hesitancy. As the years went by Mary also realised Splash had made her more confident. “When I talk to our coaches and the Splashers it helps me. I enjoy teaching other helpers learn how to swim – I love to see the progress they make and helping them see their potential. It also works both ways, they help me boost my social skills and self-esteem.” This past April, Mary completed her third Splash Dash Relay alongside the DB squad that meets every Sunday at Discovery Bay International School (as one of Splash’s Good Pool Par tners DBIS provides free use of its pool space). The DB Splashers took the prize for team spirit after winning for most laps last year. “But doesn’t really matter, because the point was to raise money to help more aunties, refugees and underprivileged kids learn to swim,” Mary says with a shrug. Splash, now in its 10th year, rustled up just shy of HK$550,000. Another bonus: rumoured avid swimmer Chris Mar tin was in town with Coldplay in April and went for a dip at Kellett School with a group of Splashers. Mary didn’t meet Mar tin. “But I went to the concer t,” she declares. The band donated tickets to Splash, and though she’s claustrophobic, her self-described impulsive side reared its head and she attended her first concert. Ever. “It was like a fear was unlocked,” she explains. “It was really nice and it wasn’t what I expected. I also didn’t know many of their songs. I have friends going to Blackpink in 2026 who asked if I wanted to go and I said no, but for some reason, with Coldplay, I thought ‘Why not?’ And I liked it. I liked the positive vibes.” Victoria says that kind of trickle down is common among Splash’s graduates. “Our par ticipants are more willing to try new things after Splash and many of our MDW par ticipants develop more career ambitions and wider personal interests,” she says. “Learning to swim as an adult is a transformative experience… we’ve designed a curriculum that empowers our par ticipants and helps them see what they’re capable of.” How much more Mary chooses to do is up to her. She’s not heading back to Manila this summer; she’s got too much to do here. In vowing to get fit by 40 a few years back (she’s 41 now) not only does Mary swim and coach, she does strength training with DBDB ahead of this month’s Hyrox, plus a little yoga. It’s fine with Mary, who’s spent all her 13 years in Hong Kong in DB – where she’s staying as long as it’ll have her. She likes the work, the comfor t and, yes, the profit. But she also likes the downtime when she gets it, be it painting, an afternoon in the Museum of Art, or some good sleep. “There are times I go to the beach and just enjoy the feeling of laying down on the sand and having a nap. I love sunset. That’s downtime for me, even if my brain is still going.”