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?
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.
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.
