JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for November 26, 2013

Learning to swim is perhaps the second easiest thing to learn next to breathing. The mistake most people make is thinking racing is the first step to swimming and you learn on the water surface. Mammals (some) prefer swimming on surface,, fish swim under the surface. Once I got that concept though to my grandkids who claimed they could not swim for trying for a year, they picked it up in 20 minutes.

I think all folks should learn to swim, or at least to survive in water if they fall in. Even, or especially, folk who may have limited mobility. Panic is the biggest killer → if you just let yourself float, you can survive to be rescued. But folks fight it and end up putting themselves and rescuers in more danger than needed. Support you local pools (YMCA, YWCA, Community pools)

My dad threw me in the water when I was two and waited until I surfaced again. I was forever taking my arm bands off so he decided that if I wanted to much to jump in the water he should better make sure that I could keep my head out of the water.

I learned to swim under water before I learned to swim on the surface. I’m still working on breathing underwater…

I took my kids and grandkids to swimming lessons, and it took some of them years to get it. The lone athlete got it right away, swimming across the pool with her face under water. The rest, not so much. The Aspie boy finally caught on in high school (they gave them classes in school, on and off, in Wisconsin). Was he ever happy!

I learned how to swim when I was four, it was one of the ways my Mom kept me occupied

I kept jumping into the “big” pool so my parents paid one of the lifeguards to teach me how to swim……..and I was 3

I could never get over the fear that something under water would pull me under so I would drown. I have tried many times to learn but, that fear is ALWAYS there. It is a real phobia.

Someone will soon claim to have learned to swim from the web!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2046060_swim.html

I joined the Navy in 1965, I didn’t know how to swim. I knew how when I graduated from Boot Camp. In those days you couldn’t graduate unless you at least passed a rudimentary swim test. I don’t know if that is still true, but it should be.

Ever try floating when you had a mild case of polio as a kid and then in your teens had to take swimming to graduate? Couldn’t get my feet to stay on the surface and kick so I could float on my back.

I can swim, but can’t get my face underwater because somebody once tried to kill me with a pillow. Do a mean side stroke, though. Our kids all swim like fish.

AshburnStadium: In WW-II, it was the leading cause of combat deaths in the 332nd wing (Tuskegee Airmen) because they weren’t permitted to use public or base pools. If they were forced down over the Adriatic, they usually drowned.

As my good deed for the year, please let me teach all who don’t know how to swim:.When below the surface, hold your breath.When above the surface, breathe..To rise, push water down.To move forward, push water behind you.To move in any direction, push water in the opposite direction.(It doesn’t matter what you push with, just hands, hands and arms, feet, feet and legs, just so it moves water.).It’s so easy that even dogs can do it..Now that you know how to swim, go practice in swallow water for a start. You can learn how to fancy it up later.