MIDLAND, TX (KWES) - The City of Midland Aquatic Center is putting on a kids camp this week, not unusual for a swim club in the summer, but this particular camp slightly differs from the norm.
"If I was a real mermaid that would be super cool," said camper Ella Tap.
A close second is learning to swim like one.
"The first day we teach them how to swim in the mono fin and then they really start learning how to maneuver through the water. There's a lot of stigma around the fins people trying to say that they are unsafe but in the history of mermaiding no one's ever drowned or even had a serious injury as far as I'm aware," said Kai Wood.
That's right there's a term for this, it's called mermaiding but we'll let COM instructor Kai Wood, also known as mermaid Meara explain it.
"Mermaiding is really the act of taking on a mermaid persona so there's swimming and then there's mermaiding," said Wood.
What she does may look elegant but it's far from easy, because all that glitter doesn't come without extra weight.
"My tail for example is about 20 pounds and holds three gallons of water when I'm swimming so that's a lot of drag," said Wood.
This camp could prepare these girls to take on a mermaid persona themselves, but most of them will use what they learn for other activities.
"For the butterfly stroke, they use the same sort of stroke they use in the mono fin. This definitely helps develop that kind of movement for them," said Wood.
So it turns out these girls may be living out a dream but really it's development in disguise.
