Who Taught You to Swim

[kumu]

a neighbor taught me, he about 50, me about 5

[NakedBudd]

From England, Mr. Ivey had married an American woman somehow and come to the United States, where he taught high school math... and also taught children to swim in his backyard pool, as a public service. He did well, but I didn't... and couldn't really swim until college, where it took me an entire year to pass the class.

[Byron]

I often liken it to snow skiing - so frustrating when you seem to sink so many times in the attempt - but one day something clicks into place all of a sudden.

[Malcontent]

I taught myself!

[louis]

me here taugh myself.

[Byron]

Interesting that I struggled with breast stroke having seen that as the start of learning imposed by all instructors - but in fact got my confidence in my own front crawl.

[bostonspdo]

I didn't know how to swim growing up. When I got to college, it was a requirement that you know how to swim. This was in the days when Physical Education was a required part of college curricula. If you didn't know how to swim, you took a semester of swimming instruction (water safety, really) instead of regular P.E. The "final exam" in the course was to get into the middle of the deep end of the pool and by whatever means you chose, stay there without touching the bottom or sides for half an hour. I liked swimming enough to take a full year of swimming, which was also my intro to water polo. It wasn't my intro to speedos, which I already liked to wear to the beach, because classes were held nude. You could wear a suit if you wanted to, but only one or two of about fifteen guys ever did.