How many can't swim?

[Mo 10]

I can't swim but I bet that the majority of you can.

 

When I was at school we used to go to the old Park swimming baths (going down towards Park hill). It was an ancient building and the smell of chlorine nearly took your breath away.

 

I can remember the instructor was a beast of a man who has managed to give me a fear of water which borders on phobic.

 

He used to line us all up along the edge of the bath and tell us to jump in. I was always petrified and was one of the poor kids who was knocked in one at a time with the pole he carried.

 

I hate water to this day and feel that I miss out so much. Even when I am in the bath I can't wash my face or hair in there. I have to get out and be able to feel my feet on the ground. I have made sure that both my children have had lessons and can swim for their safety sake as well as their own enjoyment.

[Miss_60 10]

aaaaahhh!!!! nasty beast of a man

 

 

....my b'friend had an instructor like that....he was good at swimming and got put in the group with the "big lads" at school and couldn't keep up with them because they were bigger and obviously stronger swimmers....and the instructor used to be right awful to him when he couldn't keep up!!!!!!! If I had been my b'friend I would have chucked him int watta with a few house bricks

[halevan 11]

I have been able to swim since I was ten years of age and have always enjoyed it up until recent years, when this disease I have prevented me doing it anymore.

 

I have always loved water and used to swim regular, many years ago when I took lessons for learning the crawl stroke, I turned up for my lesson as usual and there was so much chlorine in the water, that driving home I could hardly see as my eyes were smarting so much.

 

That was at Gossop road baths, and in those days at weekends, the bath was covered with a wooden floor and dances were held on it. When a hundred people were dancing one could feel the floor sagging underneath us.

[mh01 10]

i cant swim nowadays, too much chlorine gives me asthma attacks duntit

[munky 10]

Our lass couldn't swim at all, however I'm very proud of the fact that she learned the basics after about 2 or three lessons and after a total of five lessons from me, she's now doing widths of the deepend completely unaided.

 

Thinking back to when I was at school, we had the group lean kids who could already swim and I was one of those poor kids who hadn't been exposed to bodies of water in a leisure environment and had to go an humiliate myself in the shallow end with a blue piece of polystyrene for 30 minutes.

 

The instructor for the crap kids was a bit mean and never really went into depth about what she was trying to teach us so I mainly ignored her and watched what the ready-swimmer group were doing.

 

After the 30 mins, we had 15 minutes of free play where all the kids would get the mega-floats and toys in the water and rather than play silly beggers in the shallow end, I decided to teach myself how to swim by having watched the existing swimmers and trying to replicate what they were doing while holding onto the side.

 

After a few tries, I managed to let go of the side and actually moved in the water by my own prepusion and all it took from that was to more of it, for longer and before I knew it, I could swim.

[xfox3x 10]

I can't swim and can't be bothered to learn. Seems a bit pointless trawling up and down a swimming pool...but I'm convinced I'd lose weight if I did it..............so should I 'go for it' or am I too old?

[taxman 12]

I can't swim and can't be bothered to learn. Seems a bit pointless trawling up and down a swimming pool...but I'm convinced I'd lose weight if I did it..............so should I 'go for it' or am I too old?

 

You are never too old, and as the adverts say -

[Grandad.Malky 11]

You are never too old, [/url]

 

Very true, I couldn’t swim properly, maybe a width at best; I went to adult swimming lessons and progressed to the stage where I could do 40 lengths in a session.

[Agent Orange 11]

I was taught to swim when I was about 6. My mother insisted that I learned, but I didn't mind as I loved water. The only issue was the victorian style teacher who barked at us if we didn't managed to get a stroke correct etc.

[gina2007 10]

I taught myself to swim when my mum and sister disappeared on holiday and left me in the pool. Im not the best swimmer but I can do it.

[taxman 12]

I think I was taken to the public baths by my Mum when I was about two. At infant school we also had a pool (and a nice teacher called Mr Potter).

 

It does help kids if the facilities are good. At one point when we left infant school and went to juniors we used to get bussed to some horrible old Victorian place with those cubicles by the side of the pool, cockroaches in the water and Eva Braun as an instructor - nearly put me off for life.

 

Where I go now I regularly see Mums taking very young babies in and literally throwing them in at the deep end - they love it and learn quickly.

[RobbyBrown 10]

In my opinion the best way to teach someone to swim is a "crash course".

 

Simply get them to jump in the deep end at the swimming pool, when I was a swimming coach, every non swimmer who jumped into the deep end, always got out.

 

If you ever watch a cat fall into a fish pond, the cat always gets out, and a human reacts in exactly the same way