Amusing occurrence at the pool this morning. There were 3 young Chinese women in the shallow end of the lane next to me. I had no idea what they were saying but one of them was obviously a beginner they were teaching. She would take a few strokes, stop, stand up and walk back. After much urging, the newbie finally took off and swam the whole 25 yards non-stop to the other end. She reached the wall, stopped and tried to stand up, then absolutely panicked and got a death grip on the ropes when she discovered she could not stand in the deep end. It didn't seem to matter that she had swum the whole length. Not touching bottom was frightening. Coaches, warn your students there is a deep end.
You're right. Being in the deep end can be frightening and it's unconscionable that a teacher of newbies wouldn't know that putting a non-swimmer in deep water is not only dangerous, but can do a hack job on their confidence.
