My father was telling me how he learned to swim and who taught him. (He was old enough to actually remember his first swim lesson instructor.) How many of you overcame a fear of water or know someone that did in learning to swim?
Wasn't a swimmer until my 40's, but as a child I wasn't really afraid of the water, just couldn't swim. Had two close calls as a kid, once I was waist deep and the ocean current took me, my aunt happened to notice and saved me. The second time I fell into a creek and was rescued by a friend. After that I eventually learned to tread water and was able to swim about one length without stopping, which was required for pool usage in the summer.
I don't know why I took up swimming, but it started while I was taking my kids to lessons. What got me hooked was the euphoric feeling.
I used to teach adult T.O.W. (terrified of water) classes. I'd say 90% of the people in those classes related a traumatic experience that created their fear, the remaining 10% usually said a parent was afraid of the water and passed that fear on to them.
It took weeks of desensitization training to get them moderately comfortable in the water. Very interesting classes.
My father was telling me how he learned to swim and who taught him. (He was old enough to actually remember his first swim lesson instructor.) How many of you overcame a fear of water or know someone that did in learning to swim?
I have taught dozens of adults how to swim. Many of them were initially either afraid of water or somewhat uncomfortable in the aquatic environment. What's worked best is to get in the water with them and do activities that show them it can be fun and safe. I make sure they feel safe and secure the entire time and even say things, like "if you have trouble standing up after you take some strokes, I will help you," or "just reach for my hand if you need support," etc. Many of them have this fear if they are in the horizontal position swimming, they won't be able to stand up...One woman cried, she was so overjoyed she overcame her fear and learned to take her first strokes.
A llittle off the subject of teaching non-swimmers that are afraid of the water to swim, but i think to a degree, a healthy fear of the water is a good thing for a non or poor swimmer, especially around the ocean. And respect and a little fear with good judgement are good things for even good/great swimmers. Each year that we've gone to the outer banks of NC (OBX) there are drownings. It's often blamed on "rip-currents," which i think is an over simplification and leaves the wrong impression.
Yes there are sometimes rip-currents, and the surf, beach profile, long shore currents, winds, tides, and waves can be very troublesome on OBX. But, i think mostly the drownings occur as a result of non or poor swimmers who venture out, sometimes aided by a raft, kayak, etc. and they get knocked around, separated from their floatation, or get knocked over in-shore and either panic or just can't handle the surf conditions for more than a few seconds. They didn't have enough respect, knowledge, or fear. Possibly they've over estimated their ability to handle the conditions or just don't know or think about what can happen. If they can't swim, let the fear keep them out of the water, i think.
I've lost friends who were swimming in lakes and bays to drowning, one that was a non-swimmer and two that were great swimmers (a swim coach when i was young and a CT state champ 100 fr right after HS). I get that you need to overcome fear of water in order to learn to swim, but the fear needs to be replaced with respect, knowledge, and good judgement possibly from retaining a little of the fear, even after one learns to swim.
Adult T.O.W. classes. We have nothing like that in our area that I know of. Maybe I should look into starting something like that at the YMCA.
I taught them in FL in the 90's, there was a big push back then to get people comfortable in water to cut down on the record numbers of drownings.
I teach Adult swimming. A good portion of the time I spend getting their faces in and then to stand up, or actually to rotate their feet down.
If they go no further, at least they are not afraid to go in the water. Many of them are just happy to do water aerobics or to be able to enjoy the beach or pool with their families.
A history of trauma is common.
