For the remaining two-plus hours of the practice, I sat bundled on the sidelines as the Sea Gal squad perfected every kick, split and pom-pom thrust in some 30 routines.
My teacher was a deeply tanned fellow named Aryeh, who told me he one day hoped to compete for the Israeli Olympic team. (I thought of him four years later, when Gal Fridman's Athens windsurfing victory landed Israel its first-ever Olympic gold).