Why we Stopped Trying to Teach Adults to Swim the Same Way We Taught Kids to Swim
Teaching kids to swim is all about the physical motions and actions required. It is a system of repeat, repeat, repeat until they have the actions in their muscle memory.
This system is how many swim instructors, including ourselves, were taught to teach adults. It was a system of short lessons week after week trying to teach the students all the parts of swimming in each session. Little progress was made and often the student gave up with another failed attempt at learning to swim.
The one-on-one adult learn-to-swim sessions we do now look nothing like a kid’s session.
There are many levels of aquaphobia. They are all real and affect people differently and to varying degrees. Knowing this we have a very different approach. We have some adults who have tried to learn to swim for much of their adult life swimming a short lap after one long session. At the other end of the scale, other students, although not swimming, have made more progress towards swimming than they have in many years of trying.
The first big difference is that the first session runs for up to three hours. We start outside the pool area by sitting and talking. Here we discover the reasons you have not learnt to swim. From this conversation we get a picture of your fears and insecurities about swimming and what hasn’t worked for you. Now we can form the best approach for you, and we can move forward at your pace.
This is a step-by-step system and we do not progress to the next step until you are comfortable and confident on the current step.
This system is how many swim instructors, including ourselves, were taught to teach adults. It was a system of short lessons week after week trying to teach the students all the parts of swimming in each session. Little progress was made and often the student gave up with another failed attempt at learning to swim.
The one-on-one adult learn-to-swim sessions we do now look nothing like a kid’s session.
There are many levels of aquaphobia. They are all real and affect people differently and to varying degrees. Knowing this we have a very different approach. We have some adults who have tried to learn to swim for much of their adult life swimming a short lap after one long session. At the other end of the scale, other students, although not swimming, have made more progress towards swimming than they have in many years of trying.
The first big difference is that the first session runs for up to three hours. We start outside the pool area by sitting and talking. Here we discover the reasons you have not learnt to swim. From this conversation we get a picture of your fears and insecurities about swimming and what hasn’t worked for you. Now we can form the best approach for you, and we can move forward at your pace.
This is a step-by-step system and we do not progress to the next step until you are comfortable and confident on the current step.
It is a matter of trust.
It all comes down to trust. To a small degree you need to trust us but much more importantly, it is about you learning to trust yourself in water.
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