Can Swimming be Taught on the Internet - Why Not?

By K. Kemper

I am NOT certified to teach swimming, but am in teaching business. [I have taught scuba diving and have swum for 55 yrs.]

I have all my students do the same thing and I hereby share these with you--in the pool instruction--too.

a; the water is not your friend or enemy. It is a chemical entity. NOT more, not less.

b; 95% of fresh water has some softness to it permitting FLOATING. I require all my students to get comfortable with the water before swimming. Swimming is not automatic nor a born skill and thus, without basic skills, one can die in 3 feet of water.

c; most instructors teach immediately, the different "strokes"; Australian Crawl, breast, side, back, etc. I do not. Those come after one is comfortable in the water.

d; after one gets used to standing and then kneeling in the water, I teach breath holding. Few instructors teach swimming underwater. I find that absurd. IF one is not adept at swimming underwater and one is not in a shallow body of water and one wants flexibility, swimming underwater can be a God send. [many good swimmers do not like being underwater!]

e. After one can hold their breath comfortably, and has no fear of water, we kneel down and look around us underwater, with or without a mask. We become friends with the water.

f; After one has accomplished the above, it is time for the most important life-saving component of swimming; floating. SO many people have drowned because of exhaustion when they were in water over their head.

So, after one is "at home in the water", we roll onto our back and move our legs and arms around a bit to keep afloat. We initially hold our breath because we will sink often till we can synchronize our movements and the air in our bodies enabling us to stay afloat. I can stay afloat on my back hours at a time--it can go from being very relaxing to very boring.

g. Now, we learn to kick. We need to learn to kick the swimming way and soon thereafter, using a stroke. If we kick INEFFECTIVELY, we get a lot of motion and splashing and little movement in the direction of our choice. So, we grab hold of the edge of the pool and while we are in the water, let go of our standing position and let our bodies float to the surface. We simply experiment with different movements of our legs. The straighter we can keep our legs, the more FORWARD motion we will generate.

h. NOW, it is time to learn to swim! AND, no matter where you are in the pool;

If you get tired and don't happen to be near the side and you are in over your head, you can just roll over and float and push yourself to a shallower end.

All swimming seems to start with the Australian crawl but I prefer that being stroke #2. I prefer teaching a sloppy "breast" stroke first, as it is easiest and generates forward motion with the least specific things to do.

To do a breast stroke, one "lies" in the water IN THE SHALLOW END TO BEGIN WITH, [on top of the water], and we bring our [two] hands together about 6 inches out from our face, and we smoothly push the water out of our way, while concurrently, kicking with both feet. [We also CUP our hands so that we push the most amount of water with each movement.]

IF we begin sinking, we move our hands and feet faster. If for some reason, we cannot stay afloat, we twist our bodies around and seek to float.

We also learn to play as we learn to swim; we learn what results we get when we move our hands and our feet and our head. Some UNCOORDINATED movements will still provide some forward movement and an assurance that we stay afloat. The more coordinated we get, the more we stay on top of the water [if that is our objective] and the faster movement we get in our choice of direction.

Lastly for now,

i. Swimming --or, doing the Australian Crawl.

We take a breath of air, then, keeping our bodies floating, we can go faster if we do not turn our faces to catch a breath of air, so we hold our breath for 2-4 strokes. In pure crawling, one grabs breath at each stroke.

---The problems novice swimmers have; they demand air at all times instead of practicing EASY breath holding. IF we get comfortable with the water and learn there is nothing there to harm us, and learn to hold our breath, and be comfortable with water IN OUR noses--we can swim under water and above water and we can be in control! When we get tired, we get out of the water. IF we get tired quickly and are many feet from the sides, we roll over and IN A RELAXED manner, float. AS we float, we aim ourselves to a side.

People panic because they are in deep water or cannot breathe at any moment they want to. Practice in holding one's breath a few seconds longer and longer will almost eliminate one's panic when the time comes the body is tired and not near a pool's side or are swimming in a river, lake, or ocean. By turning over and floating, one saves his life! Once one has turned over and gotten one's wind, one can again turn over, face the shore--and begin casual swimming -or--turning over and --as one floats, aim oneself to the shore while floating! While it sounds complicated, it is the opposite; relaxing and comfortable and one need not hold one's breath when good at floating!

NOW, save your life and your friend's life.

... and NEVER ever [in my opinion] enter the water that is over your head, voluntarily without knowing how to swim EVEN if wearing a life preserver of any sort.

[Panic kills, the water does not kill!]

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