Re: Swimming (Long)

Laura Hix wrote:
He is terrified of the water. He has had professional swimming lessons,
amateur swimming lessons, lessons from friends, parents, other scouts.
Has anyone had any previous experience with a totally non-swimmer and
how did you get him to swim without scaring him to death.

Laura,
I teach swimming to Non-Swimmers in a BSA program in Tulsa, OK. I have
dealt with such youth before. You CAN at any time allow him to wear a
life vest; this will increase his confidence in his ability to stay
above water while he is learning any of these steps.
First, get him a pair of goggles, if he can see the bottom when he is
in the water it will make him more comfortable. Most non-swimmers will
not open their eyes underwater and are busy holding their noses. Now
teach him to do a jelly fish float or a dead man's float with his eyes
open. Most non-swimmers do not like to hear dead man's float so instead
call it a jellyfish float.
Once he has learned the float, teach him to glide. With his hands
above his head and his face in the water with eyes open, have him to
push off the wall with his feet and glide until he has to stand up and
take a breath. Do this until he is comfortable, now add a kick when
that glide starts to slowdown. He should go five to ten feet farther.
You can get a kick board and teach him to kick with his head above
water.
Now teach him to bob. Go underwater with the eyes open and blow
bubbles, come up for air, take a breath quickly and go back under. The
trick here is to limit his time above water taking his breath. Water
will run down his face into his mouth and sometimes cause him to cough,
give him time to adjust, but keep him bobbing up and down. This teaches
him to breathe without holding his nose and to keep his eyes open
underwater. Now go back to the kick board and add breathing with the
kick.
Go to the side of the pool and teach him the arm stroke. Now add
breathing to the arm stroke. Go back and review the glide, then the
glide and kick, and finally the glide, kick and arm stroke with
breathing. You can at any time allow him to wear a life vest; this will
increase his confidence in his ability to stay above water while he is
learning any of these steps.
If he chooses to wear a life vest then he must agree to practice
without the life vest. The life vest in the beginning should be for the
learning stage only. Later allowing him to wear a life vest while using
the kick board and practicing his breathing will lengthen his practice
time. Also as he finally puts the stroke with the kick and breathing,
allowing him to wear life vest will calm him down as he swims towards
the deep water and the thought of drowning still race through his mind.
Allowing him to practice swimming with a life vest will increase his
practice time and improve his confidence. Have him swim in the shallow
end without a life vest to build confidence in his stroke.
Soon it will time to take a swim test. I can say this because I use to
be just like him. Above all, please do not allow him to cop out on a
disability. I learned to swim from a one legged man associated with
scouting. I later swam the butterfly and distance on the high school
swim team. Just do not give up on him. Show this to the person
teaching him and maybe they can get some ideas to use with their own
methods.

--
"Thanks"
Ron Ferguson
Troop 222
SA for New Scouts
WB SR-187 (Pooh Bear)
TA TSU HWA Lodge 138
Adult Advisor to the Web
Brotherhood Member
Indian Nations Council
Tulsa, OK
http://www.ionet.net/~ferguson/oa/index.html
http://www.ionet.net/~ferguson/OKP&FT.htm
http://www.ionet.net/~ferguson/fergusontrading.html

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message

What's become of SCOUTER Magazine, the print publication?

Buy the Back Issues