How the hell can you not know how to swim?
Let me preface this diatribe by saying the people who are retorting in this manner are not four years old either. As much as I like to roll with the youngin's, I tend to make the majority of my plans with people of the same age group. So I ask once again, how in the world can people claim that they don't know how to swim? Now I am speaking as one who did complete his aquaquest intermediate level swim lessons (jealous much?) but despite that I still don't find swimming that hard of a concept. Is it just me? Even if I had never taken a single swim lesson in my life I think confidently I would have the capacity to muster some movement to keep myself afloat. Seeing as how I have to move my legs to walk or run and bend my knees to jump, one would assume that I could apply these same principles when I am in the water. Plus I have these two other appendages that extend from my shoulders that might be able to help. Just a hunch. I don't get it? What do they do, not move at all? Do they keep their arms completely against their sides and not move their legs? "Like I said, I just don't know how to swim, not a clue where to begin, so I figure why try anything? Down I go."
Not knowing how to swim can not be compared to the likes of not knowing how to snowboard for example. Snowboarding includes equipment other then my body. It involves strapping a large piece of wood to both my feet as I go jetting down a mountainside. That is something that is not completely natural and needs a ton of practice and coordination. Swimming, though practice is necessary to get better, is more like running or jumping up and down. Not knowing how to swim is like not knowing how to throw a punch or do jumping jacks. Sure you might not have any practice doing either of those things or might not do them well, but I think we can all understand the basics of attempting them. I understand for those that say they don't how to swim may mean they can't do a breaststroke or backstroke, they may not properly know specific techniques, but is it that hard of a notion to guess that if you were in water you might have to kick your legs and move your arms? Dogs can naturally do it and I don't know many dogs that have completed aqua lifesaver 4.
I think the biggest roadblock to swimming for some people is the fear of swimming. Which is completely understandable. You may not like swimming, it may terrify you to be in the water or you may just not want to swim, but to say you don't know HOW to swim is somewhat ridiculous. You might not feel very confident about your swimming technique, but I think you could do it if necessary. And for those that have never taken a lesson, I will give you the basics here for free:
1. Don't panic
2. Move your arms and kick your legs.
Done. There you go…you
have just completed aquaquest intermediate level 1. You'll be a lifesaver
in no time!
...but that's just
my opinion.
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