S/o how did you learn to swim

[mccallister84]

Can you swim?
How did you learn to swim?
Do you consider yourself a proficient swimmer?


I can swim. I remember taking lessons every summer - they would be every day for a two weeks. I probably took lessons for three or four summers? They were group but as the level progressed they got smaller just because fewer kids were enrolled.

While I’m not going to drown if I’m knocked off a boat or anything I don’t consider myself a proficient swimmer. I’m sure I could make it a lap of the pool but I honestly never figured out the whole breathing thing. I am batting around the idea of taking a few lessons myself now because we joined a gym with a lap pool and I think it would be a good exercise to incorporate now and again

[nicolewi]

I took periodic rec department lessons throughout my childhood, all through the levels except lifeguarding. I'm a good swimmer and was on swim team in high school.

[icedcoffee]

Yes--Lessons at the local YMCA. I can swim, but I'm not a strong swimmer. I prefer to float with a tube or stand. If I had to save myself I'd float on my back until someone came to rescue me (if it was far).

[TR]

I don’t really remember. I know I took lessons, but my grandparents also lived on a lake so I’m sure I was in the water before that. I quit lessons when we got to diving because no way was i going into the water head first. I still can’t dive. I don’t know what the definition of proficient would be. I feel comfortable in a pool or the ocean. I don’t swim in a structured way like with face in the water and to the side in time with my strokes. But I feel very confident in the water.

[hocus2]

I took lessons at a community pool and at camp. I took lessons as an adult which was helpful since I really only learned to swim freestyle as a child.

I can swim fine. I can do laps and know 3 stokes well and have passing knowledge of butterfly. I have no endurance which is more part of my sedentary life style and limited access to a pool. 

[goldengirlz]

I learned at summer camp. What’s weird is that most camps here don’t offer swimming as a default. It seems like the traditional “summer camp” has been replaced with super specific camp, like coding camp, science camp, tennis camp, etc. Maybe that’s #regional

I consider myself proficient although my default stroke is sidestroke because I don’t enjoy putting my face in water anymore. Or I’ll do breast or backstroke. I haven’t done the crawl in agggges. I only swim on vacation these days.

ETA: I also had to pass a swim test in college or we had to do a mandatory semester of swim for our PE requirement.

[justemily]

My mom started me in lessons at the YMCA before I could walk, really. And then we all took lessons every summer til high school. So, I feel like I'm a pretty strong swimmer.

[lust2hart]

Hijacking this to ask -

My DH can't float. So much so that when we took our first deep-water aerobics class on Tuesday, he couldn't stay up even with the float belt on - he had to have a noodle under his arms in addition to the belt around his waist/chest.

I've known of others who can't float but they can swim. Anyone here like this? If so, how do you swim? I'm a good swimmer but also have zero trouble floating, and when my DH asks me for how-to-swim help, I don't know how to help if he can't float! (He took an adult swim class 3 years ago, but I don't consider him to be "able to swim.")

[Jalapeñomel]

I lived in AZ, so everyone had a pool. I learned to swim really young, and everyone knew how to swim from a very young age.

[rosiebear]

I really don’t know how to swim. I took, and failed, lessons as a kid. I tried to learn as an adult and it was a shitshow, lol.

I can tread water and move in a modified breaststroke but that’s it.

[nicanmatt]

I took lessons throughout the summer. My older sisters did the same and both became lifeguards and then swim instructors. Having an older sister fail your swim test is really embarrassing!!

Our parents put all of us into swim team too. I swam for years and paid for college teaching lessons and lifeguarding. I'd consider myself a good swimmer, but I'm seriously out of shape to swim fast or for long distances!

[sarahswim]

I can't remember not swimming. I swam on a competitive team from the time I was 4 until I graduated from college. A swimming scholarship partially paid for college so I'm at least proficient. I haven't swam competitively since college (20 years ago, now that I do the math), but I still do triathlons occasionally so I know I can still swim pretty well.

[gastro]

Yes, I can swim. I was a competitive swimmer from middle school through college. Also a competitive water polo player from high school through college.
I learned at a local pool from lessons starting from about three years old.
In high school my summer job was as a lifeguard.
I grew up and live by the Pacific. Being a strong swimmer is really important. One of the beaches near us is known for rogue waves and rip tides that pull people out.

[jeaniebueller]

I'm not a good swimmer. I took swim lessons forever but never lost my fear of the water. We had a mandatory swim section in 8th grade that helped me learn the strokes but I'm marginally proficient. Wasn't for lack of trying.

[halfpint]

We had a pool for a while when I was like 4-6. I learned to drag myself around the pool edge first, then just kind of figured out dog paddling. I think I maybe took one session of lessons as a kid, but hated it. I basically was a "strong dog paddler" for most of my youth. We lived on the lake for a lot of my childhood, and spent a lot of time in the water.

When I was a senior in high school, I decided I could probably be on the swim team. So I was like 16 when I actually learned proper swimming strokes. I was not good, I still can't do a flip turn.

[circa1978]

My mom threw me into the pool at the Y when I was 18 months old or so? LOL. That's what she says anyway, and that I was half fish. I took to it really naturally and can't remember a time when I couldn't swim, though I didn't get formal lessons the way DS and lots of kids do today.

I am a very strong swimmer and am really happy in the water for hours, floating, doing laps, whatever. My body is kind of built for it - I have very broad shoulders and a long torso - DS is the same.

I don't have really pretty strokes, I will say that, I guess from being self-taught but it's never really impacted me since I never swam competitively.

[arielroux]

I can swim - My dad taught me when I was kid in my grandparents' pool.

I'm definitely a proficient swimmer. When I was about 8, my dad had a pool put in at our house, so I grew up swimming, diving, etc. We also went to the beach a lot, so I got used to swimming in the ocean, as well.

[cjcouple]

I think I had a session at the Y but mainly, I grew up with a pool so it was just a sink or swim deal. I am an extremely strong swimmer. I can hold my breathe a very long time and can float/tread endlessly.

I remember literally holding my breathe and swimming in my friends and aunt inground pools from one end to the other (the long way) and back without a single breathe.

I had access to swimming pools daily my entire childhood.

[ssmjlm]

Swim lessons at the local pool plus spending a shit ton of time in and around the water from infancy.

I swam competitively in the summers from elementary through middle.

I’m a proficient swimmer, both pool and ocean.

[cleo29]

I remember my dad teaching me, so at least 4, maybe younger. Then i took lessons. I was a pretty strong swimming as a kid and then was on the swim team in high school, which really helped me be more efficient with the breathing and proper technique.

I think lessons again is a great idea.

[Leeham Rimes]

I've been swimming as long as I can remember, I don't really remember lessons except once my mom hired an instructor and the whole neighborhood split the fee and sent their kids to our house. I'm sure I had them, as we had a pool all through growing up, but I don't specifically remember the lessons.

I used to be on the high school swim team. I was never the best but also never the worst, so I guess I'd say I'm proficient. I'm certainly out of shape, I get pretty winded on a 100m free, which is honestly embarrassing. lol. I should go do laps right now! (I suck at butterfly, but I always have. I never had the upper body strength.)

Lessons are always a good idea. Swimming is a great workout.

[madringal]

We love right on Lake Michigan and we always had a pool growing up. My dad has us in the water all the time and we just learned that way. My sisters and I would be in the pool from 8 am until well after dark all summer.

[bex1973]

I took swim lessons at the local lake when I was like 5-7. Seeing the swimming threads got me thinking about the fact that my mom would drop us kids of at the lake and leave & come back and get us a few hours later. How the AF did she think that was a good idea? I can't imagine doing that with my kid! I mean I guess parenting was different in the 70's but come on!

[fumbalina]

Sink it swim. My parents left us unsupervised in swimming pools. L learned to dog paddle this way. I had one lesson today taught me nothing and then a friend who helped when I was out of high school.

[mcsangel2]

Jun 7, 2019 14:53:47 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

Hijacking this to ask -

My DH can't float. So much so that when we took our first deep-water aerobics class on Tuesday, he couldn't stay up even with the float belt on - he had to have a noodle under his arms in addition to the belt around his waist/chest.

I've known of others who can't float but they can swim. Anyone here like this? If so, how do you swim? I'm a good swimmer but also have zero trouble floating, and when my DH asks me for how-to-swim help, I don't know how to help if he can't float! (He took an adult swim class 3 years ago, but I don't consider him to be "able to swim.")

Is your DH super skinny? I've heard lots of random stories about people with low BMIs not being able to float.

[nessness]

I took swim lessons through the city and swam regularly in my grandma's pool. We lived walking distance from a pool and went there pretty often. I swam competitively one summer when I was about 12.

As an adult, I rarely swim, and now that I have little kids who can't swim yet I'm pretty much
always holding one of them in the pool. So I've lost much of my swimming ability, but I can still doggy paddle and tread water okay. I could probably swim properly if I tried, but I'm more sensitive to chlorine than I used to be so I prefer not to put my face in the water.

[kadams767]

Yes, I can swim. I took lessons at the YMCA starting with the first baby and parent class they offered and continued until I was 5 or 6. I became proficient because a family member had a beach house and my BFF growing up had a pool, so I spent a lot of time as a kid in the water. I re-learned all of the actual strokes in middle school, we had a required swimming unit each year which lasted about 8 weeks. I swam laps for exercise starting in college and only stopped within the past two years.

Yes, I am a proficient swimmer now. I still really enjoy swimming and would like to find the time again to swim laps.

[liverandonions]

Yes I'm a strong Swimmer. I had lessons when I was 18months old, in my home pool. The instructor just threw me in - literally. He was there, but I guess it was basically like a puppy, see if the natural instincts kicked in. Thinking about it now it sounds horrifying, and I guess my grandpa happened to be there and couldn't watch, but it obviously worked.

ETA I was also on swim team and diving team.

[verycontrary247]

I took group lessons at the YMCA for a few years as a kid, I'm a decent swimmer now, both in a pool and the ocean.

I am embarrassed to admit I do still have to hold my nose to go underwater most of the time.

[notoriousmeg]

I can’t remember learning but was on a swim team from age 4 until I graduated high school.
I was good then but haven’t kept it up. I would say I’m more than proficient but not necessarily strong.

H grew up surfing and can swim, but his stroke is not pretty. DS has taken lessons the past few years. It’s hard to have him practice between lessons since we live in a city with very little pool access. My parents have a house with a pool a little over an hour away so we go there occasionally.