Well, I had kind of been dreading lesson 3 as it got nearer on the back of last week's lack of progress.
On Sunday I took my 3 year old lad for his second swimming lesson which really was about as successful as mine and I was a bit disappointed with the standard of so-called teaching but that's another matter.
Last night we had a new pupil. A guy, just like me, who's child is learning to swim and he realised that he can't. I'm not the only 1. I knew it couldn't just be me.
A day or so before lesson 3 I got a post from Adam on the blog who helped me put things back in perspective, so thank you Adam. I have employed your breathing technique and added the goggles to my underwater wardrobe and, surprise surprise, it made a big difference. I even practiced the breathing before I got to the pool and had that just about in the bag before I got in the water. I hope nobody at work saw me! That was important as I had the rhythm ready and I knew when to lift my head before I got in the water. I reckon if I hadn't practiced that before I got there it would have went wrong when you have everything else to try and do.
So with the breathing just about sorted I could hopefully concentrate on getting from one side of the kiddies training puddle to the other. I started with the floats again, just to see if last week was just a temporary blip. After 10-15 mins I tried adding a noodle which really seemed to help as it supported my middle and brought my legs higher in the water which again helped but I was still struggling to get my legs to get me to the other side. Also I am sure there is a slope on the water. It seems easier to go 'downhill' and a slight struggle to go back 'uphill' again. I know that that is impossible but I want to believe it. I still don't seem to be able to keep kicking all the way across and stay in a straight line. It is like my body is twisting too much, hmm!
I decided to discard the float, maybe for good, and with 2 noodles I started to, ahem, swim across. Well it took 2 goes to get the hang of what the arms should do but they kind of figured it out. I had another 2 lengths without putting my face in the water just to sort out my arms and legs.
Reasonable success, I must have got carried away and one of the noodles shot off up in to the air bouncing off one of my surprised co-learner's face, much to his shock. I just kept going with the head down pretending it wasn't me. I was then left with one noodle which I am pleased to say did not drag me down under the water to feed on me but kept me buoyant enough to enable me to carry on.
So Back to where we were in week 1 really, only this time with a kind of rhythm and system to breathing much improved on week 1. Sponsored by Adam. That is progress!
There were a few moments when it all fell apart, of course, usually when I got half way across and maybe began to start to think about what I was doing and then it went wrong. I suppose it's like telling someone who is a bit scared of drums how play drums. It's too complex to think about all the things you have to do AND do them all at the same time. You just feel it and ride with it. That must be what swimming is like. When I just went for it without thinking it seemed to work. Remember to do Adams breathing and just ignore the arms and legs, hopefully they will do the right thing.
So after a week where I was thinking about getting lessons elsewhere I am pleased to say that progress was indeed made. Still much work to do however. Legs need to get with it next week.
So, thanks to Adam, in summary here is how it worked for me this week.
Blowing bubbles for a count of 4.
Blowing bubbles, face in water count 1-2-3-head out water -4- breath in and repeat.
Simples!
Practice that folks in and out of the water.
"Practice, practice, practice and have fun."
A few wise words.
Things to remember, still blow out as you lift head out of water and make sure you are blowing again as head goes back in. As long as I remember to do those 2 things then there will be no spluttering and fizzy nose syndrome (F.N.S. for short).
Oblivious to any spectators this week, too busy concentrating on the job in hand to care. Success!
So looking forward to next week again.
3 comments:
G'day Tom,
Awesome work, i'm glad I was able to help out a bit.
First up, relax about the lessons for your lad. Most 3 year olds are not ready to be swimming by themselves. Even here in Australia where kids basically grow up 'wet', swimming at three is unusual. It's a physical thing, like walking, when they are ready it happens. In the mean time you just get in the pool with them and have fun so that when it comes time to swim, they don't have any fear of the water. Don't get me wrong they do learn lots of valuable stuff in this period before 'swimming'. One prime example is how their body moves in the water and balances. This is the exact same bouyancy issue you are struggling with in your lessons.
Now, onto the big kid. Whilst I am very happy the goggles thing worked out for you, I am a bit dissapointed that you didn't report back on the state of Scottish legs in your 'puddle'. I expect a bit more effort than that next post.
Just to confirm the breathing routine, face in the water slow relaxing breathe out 1-2-3-4 then lift your head for a breath.
Ok, lets deal with this bouyancy issue. Here's the physical facts you need to keep in mind.
When we walk or run, we can get along at a similar pace irrespective of our technique because air is very light and offers minimal resistance. Water on the other hand isn't anywhere near as light and offers substantial resistance. That means the more techniqually efficient we can be in the water, the faster we can move through the water (swimming).
What all that rubbish means is that body position in the water is very important to how well you can swim.
Picture this. In water your body is like a see saw in a kids playground. If you lift up one side, the other drops to the groud. So with swimming, if your head is out of the water or even just slightly raised for whatever reason then your legs are going to dragging on the bottom.
The perfect body position for swimming is dead flat. That means face in the water looking straight down. Now this does pose a slight problem in that we need to breathe, sometime. We can deal with that next time.
So here's what I want you to do this week. NOTHING! That's right. Ditch all the floats and noodles, on with the goggles, take a big breathe and lay face down in the water. No arms, no legs just float face down. Just get used to how your body floats around.
Look straight down and notice how your bum and legs come up. If you get keen, very gently move your arms and legs around to start to move through the water. No trying to swim, just float around like you're snorkeling on a tropical reef in Fiji checking out all the fish.
Mmmmm relaxing already.
Good luck for the next lesson.
Thanks for your advice and for reading my blog.
Please tell me more about yourself, how you came to find me and what your story is, I would be delighted to read all about it.
Cheers
Happy_tom
G'day Tom,
I'm glad the tips are helping. I found your blog from Aquamille blog.
I live on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Just South of Brisbane. 40 years old with 2 kids, blue one and pink one.
Basically born in the ocean, swimming and surfing all my life. Have a real interest in teaching kids to enjoy swimming in the sea.
In Australia we have volunteer lifeguard clubs called surf lifesaving clubs. They provide volunteer lifeguard services to local beaches around Australia.
Many of them have a junior activities program for kids (nippers) from 5 years old to 14 that teaches them all about swimming, surfing and saving people in the ocean. Our club has about 500 kids in the program. I help out with that.
www.bmdnorthcliffe.com.au is our club site and www.sls.com.au is the national surf lifesaving site. Gives you an idea about what we get up to.
Over the years I have done some swim coaching so know a little about it. But my experience with my kids in swim programs has been similar to yours. It's hard to find a decent swim school/instructor.
With that in mind, I have a good friend who is an excellent swim coach and teacher who has put together a DVD for parents to teach their kids to swim. We hope to launch that soon.
After 25 years as a lifesaver / lifeguard on the beaches here I have rescued plenty of people with the very same fear in their eyes as you describe. Fear of the water and drowning. I have had some close calls and lost a couple as well.
The more people that learn to swim the better. I applaud your efforts even at this late stage. It sets a great example for your young bloke and opens up many opportunities for you to have great fun with him in the water. Congrats.
The least I can do is write a couple comments on your blog to hopefully help you along.
Kind Regards,
Adam
Post a Comment