How did you learn how to swim?
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I never was taught how. I wish I had been. Although I can swim, I've never been a strong swimmer. I pretty much learned on my own. I got to where I was at the pool a lot with friends (growing up my parents never swam with me) so I would just get in gradually deeper and deeper and I eventually learned how to wade, and then got more comfortable from there.
When I was little I learned to swim at a highschool near by my preschool would go their to swim and one day we were jumping off the diving board. So I jumped and the ladie pushed me under the water and I couldn't get back up the water was about 8 or 12 feet. After everyone went they forgot about me and left. I was screaming and finally someone heared me and jumped in and got me. So I never really learned to swim at that place and it took me years to go back in the water but I never use a diving board again.
You should def look into lessons. It is probably scarier as you get older, but it will come in handy.
I started competitively swimming at age 3 in swim meets! Young, but I LOVED it. Right when I learned how to swim I never left the water. I learned around age two...
I started competitively swimming at age 3 in swim meets! Young, but I LOVED it. Right when I learned how to swim I never left the water. I learned around age two...
I've taken one children's class as a pre-teen (so embarrassing back then being older than all the other kids) and failed. I took an adult class 2 years ago and also failed (failed on front crawl, I was fine for everything else).
I'm planning on going on my own for a little while when it gets too cold to run outside before taken classes again cuz there's no time to practice during classes because they don't want you to do anything on your own when they're teaching someone else.
I can do the breast stroke and back stroke, but not front crawl. Somehow my head always tries to turn the opposite way it should to breathe, so I sink. I would love to learn to tread water but still haven't figured it out enough to do it longer than 2 seconds (i.e. it takes 2 seconds to sink).
I'm also terrified of water though I'm a lot better about it now. My dad threw me off a boat in the middle of the ocean as a kid and figured I would just learn. It apparently worked with everyone else he tried it on, but not me.
I'm planning on going on my own for a little while when it gets too cold to run outside before taken classes again cuz there's no time to practice during classes because they don't want you to do anything on your own when they're teaching someone else.
I can do the breast stroke and back stroke, but not front crawl. Somehow my head always tries to turn the opposite way it should to breathe, so I sink. I would love to learn to tread water but still haven't figured it out enough to do it longer than 2 seconds (i.e. it takes 2 seconds to sink).
I'm also terrified of water though I'm a lot better about it now. My dad threw me off a boat in the middle of the ocean as a kid and figured I would just learn. It apparently worked with everyone else he tried it on, but not me.
wow megs! that's very cool. i bet you had a blast!
i'm so jealous of your pool and that you're near the ocean. i hope SOMEDAY to live near the ocean. We're 3 hours from it now and that's too far.
My grandmother was thrown into a lake to learn to swim... didn't work for her either. she never learned after that experience.
wow megs! that's very cool. i bet you had a blast!
i hope SOMEDAY to live near the ocean. We're 3 hours from it now and that's too far.
I don't always like ocean swimming, but I am pretty good at it. But we have an Olympic size swim pool about 5 minutes away right across from the beach, REALLY nice! Vlad and I are getting back into it now!
My mother was pushed into the swimming pool at a young age which was why my father taught myself and my brother to swim from a young age so we never got the chance to be afraid of water. I learned to swim in the sea and even now given the choice would rather swim in the sea than a pool.
i know i went to baby swimming when i was really teeny, i don't remember not being able to swim. i definitely didn't compete at three though, that's impressive 
i love swimming in the ocean or in a lake, we have a pool at our summer house but i still prefer going in the sea, much to everyone else's amusement.
i love swimming in the ocean or in a lake, we have a pool at our summer house but i still prefer going in the sea, much to everyone else's amusement.yeahhhhhhh, ocean swimming freaks me out now that i'm older. i guess i was oblivious when i was younger. i love swimming IN the ocean...i just get freaked out by the thought of sharks (sharkweek always gets me!).
I took lessons at the Y when I was a kid. My mom never learned to swim, so she made sure my brother & I did!
i grew up in the Midwest (in Ohio) and was about 5 when i learned how to swim. took swimming lessons for a few years at a local pool.
for the longest time, i always assumed that *everyone* knew how to swim (esp after moving to California where pool parties, beach parties are so common). i was so shocked when i went to MIT for graduate school, and i met so many students who did not know how to swim. i guess i noticed because MIT requires its undergraduates to pass a swim test in order to graduate--you have to swim 100 meters (4 lengths of the pool i think) without stopping or touching the ground, etc. i remember the PE department had to hold tons of classes just for those who did not know how to swim at all, and needed to pass the swim test.
that being said, i am glad i learned to swim as a kid, b/c nowadays i pretty much hate swimming in general, and would not have the patience to stick with it and learn. i'm on the thin side, with skinny legs and arms so i always feel like i have to work like crazy to keep myself from sinking. when i was a kid i was a lot chubbier and i think that is what helped make learning to swim easier, since it was easier to float. plus, back then i don't think i was as easily bothered by water in my ears (nowadays that bugs the h*ll out of me!)
and to answer someone else's question-- CA does not have rule requiring to know how to swim before graduation. my high school didn't, neither did my brother's. it would be a good rule to enforce though, IMO. i think the issue is (like someone else mentioned) mainly funding, b/c if they impose that rule then they have to provide swimming lessons, etc, which cost $$$
for the longest time, i always assumed that *everyone* knew how to swim (esp after moving to California where pool parties, beach parties are so common). i was so shocked when i went to MIT for graduate school, and i met so many students who did not know how to swim. i guess i noticed because MIT requires its undergraduates to pass a swim test in order to graduate--you have to swim 100 meters (4 lengths of the pool i think) without stopping or touching the ground, etc. i remember the PE department had to hold tons of classes just for those who did not know how to swim at all, and needed to pass the swim test.
that being said, i am glad i learned to swim as a kid, b/c nowadays i pretty much hate swimming in general, and would not have the patience to stick with it and learn. i'm on the thin side, with skinny legs and arms so i always feel like i have to work like crazy to keep myself from sinking. when i was a kid i was a lot chubbier and i think that is what helped make learning to swim easier, since it was easier to float. plus, back then i don't think i was as easily bothered by water in my ears (nowadays that bugs the h*ll out of me!)
and to answer someone else's question-- CA does not have rule requiring to know how to swim before graduation. my high school didn't, neither did my brother's. it would be a good rule to enforce though, IMO. i think the issue is (like someone else mentioned) mainly funding, b/c if they impose that rule then they have to provide swimming lessons, etc, which cost $$$
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