My college also required all first semester freshmen to know how to swim before they registered for their 2nd semester. They had to do something like a 25 or 50, any stroke, as long as they completed it, in like 2 or 3 minutes. There was a class for those who couldn't. But the instructor of that was pretty bad. It turned out that the water saftey instructor class took most of these kids and worked with them 1-1. I had a guy who wouldn't even get his feet wet. It was hard to understand, but I got him to pass the test after 3-4 weeks. Just taking the time to teach him to get in the water, do some kicking, etc did the trick.
I lifeguarded at a water park near Allentown, PA one summer in college. It is convenient for bus groups from both Philly and NYC, and we got many of them, filled with inner city groups. Many of these people had never seen a pool before, and didn't know the whole concept of swimming (some thought they could just float). Days at the 12 foot deep pool with slides got pretty interesting. Many of the guys were very athletic, and fought as we'd try to save them. Heck, I even had to jump into 4-5 foot water after people came out of a slide and were disoriented (and some knew how to swim), when they could just stand.
I myself learned to swim when I was about 4 or 5. I'm also from a large family (7 children), but my parents thought it was important enough for all of us to at least know how not to drown. Even in a rural community, we had a community pool about a 5 min drive away; which turned into a 15 min bikeride or 20 min walk (cutting through yards, fields, and woods), getting to lessons at 7 or 8am.
My college also required all first semester freshmen to know how to swim before they registered for their 2nd semester. They had to do something like a 25 or 50, any stroke, as long as they completed it, in like 2 or 3 minutes. There was a class for those who couldn't. But the instructor of that was pretty bad. It turned out that the water saftey instructor class took most of these kids and worked with them 1-1. I had a guy who wouldn't even get his feet wet. It was hard to understand, but I got him to pass the test after 3-4 weeks. Just taking the time to teach him to get in the water, do some kicking, etc did the trick.
I lifeguarded at a water park near Allentown, PA one summer in college. It is convenient for bus groups from both Philly and NYC, and we got many of them, filled with inner city groups. Many of these people had never seen a pool before, and didn't know the whole concept of swimming (some thought they could just float). Days at the 12 foot deep pool with slides got pretty interesting. Many of the guys were very athletic, and fought as we'd try to save them. Heck, I even had to jump into 4-5 foot water after people came out of a slide and were disoriented (and some knew how to swim), when they could just stand.
I myself learned to swim when I was about 4 or 5. I'm also from a large family (7 children), but my parents thought it was important enough for all of us to at least know how not to drown. Even in a rural community, we had a community pool about a 5 min drive away; which turned into a 15 min bikeride or 20 min walk (cutting through yards, fields, and woods), getting to lessons at 7 or 8am.
