There are lots of reasons people of all ages and abilities haven't learnt to swim. For a portion of those people the issue is a fear of water in varying degrees. In the worst cases the mere thought of entering the water may manifest physically into nausea, dizziness, numbness, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, sweating or shivering. Extreme anxiousness or panic attacks are not uncommon. If you are unfortunate enough to be one of these people or are trying to teach an adult or child with a fear of water, all is not lost, these fears can be overcome.
The first step in doing so is to acknowledge the fear and develop an understanding of where it may have come from. Sometimes there is no known cause, but in our experience most of the time it stems from one of two scenarios.
The first scenario relates to a traumatic incident. It may have been something experienced or it may have been something witnessed.
The second scenario relates to their upbringing and the parent or carer's views around water and subsequent influence over the child's relationship with it.
Despite considering myself a strong swimmer, I admit that when it comes to the ocean, I have a fear of large waves. I believe my fear stems directly from an incident when I was a small child. My father loved the ocean and was at times perhaps over-confident in it. One hot Summer’s Day we went to our local beach and conditions were great. I was around 5 or 6 and couldn’t swim, he scooped me up and carried me on his hip right out the back. The water was calm and sat around his chest. The waves would roll in and we’d bob over the top before they broke behind us. All was great until a bigger than usual wave was rolling in toward us and we clearly weren’t going to be bobbing over it. I’m sure it wasn’t, but to me at the time, it felt like a skyscraper, it crashed right on top of us knocking me out of my dad’s arms. I just remember being under the water, arms and legs everywhere, all I could do was hold my breath. By some miracle my dad’s hand found my ankle and locked on like a handcuff. I was still flailing around under the water caught up in the turbulence but I was anchored. When the wave finally cleared he reeled me back in to him. I’m pretty sure he realised his mistake straight away and we returned to shore.
My fear of big waves hasn’t kept me away from the beach, over the years I’ve taken small steps to face it head on. I enrolled my children in Nippers, became an age manager and educated myself on the ocean and wave management. I still get a bit anxious when my husband invites me out past the breakers, but I go.
My father taught me to swim in the river near my granny’s house. His method was a little old fashioned and consisted of picking me up and throwing me in. I had no choice, I had to figure it out and really quickly. I don’t necessarily agree with his methods and it’s certainly not something I’d recommend today. Fortunately, his methods worked somewhat and didn’t scar me for life. The one thing I do commend him on is how he led by example. He didn’t just watch me swim, he was in there, laughing and playing, under the water and on top of it. Jumping in, fooling around, giving piggy backs, throwing me in the air. Any fear of the water was quickly washed away by observing his love of it. How could I possibly be afraid of something that was so much fun.
These days as a swimming teacher I regularly have the opportunity to hear how parents talk to their children about the water and chat to them about their experiences with their children in the water. It is not uncommon to hear things like. “don’t go near the edge”, “stay on the bench or you will sink” or in the worst cases, “don’t go near the water, if you fall in you will drown”. Messages of fear are being instilled. Often is the case that mum or dad had a bad experience or aren’t confident swimmers themselves. These are the parents who might sit on the sidelines or when they do get in the pool, they don’t go under the water, citing reasons such as not wanting to get their face or hair wet. How we think about things affects how we feel about things. All these negative connotations can be changed with a positive mindset and by surrounding the student with supportive and encouraging individuals who believe in their ability to conquer their fear.
No matter the reason, be it a bad experience, learned behaviour or something else, depending on the age of the student I like to try and rationalise their thoughts with them. Let’s put everything aside for a second and think about the worst thing that can possibly happen? We are in shallow water where we can stand, I am trained in rescue and resuscitation. My job is to keep you safe. Do you trust me? The way I see it the worst thing that can possibly happen is that you might get a little water in your mouth or up your nose…sure it might not feel that great but at the end of the day that is not so bad is it? When forced to think about what they are really scared of, most times they realise that maybe their fears are a little irrational in the current situation.
One of the first things I like to work on when dealing with fear is buoyancy. Many of these students have the perception that they will immediately sink to the bottom of the pool and not be able to get up. Most times they don’t realise how buoyant their bodies actually are. Once faces can go in the water, I like to practice some fun front floats in really shallow water. When they are able to lay out on the top of the water, you can sometimes see the fear in their eyes just wash away.
I remember one such memorable experience with a pre-teen boy who until he came to me had little to no experience with swimming. He was terrified, from the second he sat on the bench till the second he got out he was filled with tension and fear. We worked for some time on blowing bubbles and gradually getting the eyes in for short stints until he was putting his whole face in for around 10 seconds. We talked a lot. About what I was going to do, what I wanted him to do and how I was going to keep him safe. Eventually he trusted me enough to remove his feet from the bench and lay out on his tummy with his face in the water whilst I held his hands. A couple of sessions later he allowed me to briefly let go of his hands. He didn’t struggle, he didn’t panic, he just lay there, on top of the water. When he returned to the bench, that face I was so used to seeing was gone. He was smiling, the fear in his eyes had disappeared and his face had softened. That was it, the breakthrough, the one defining moment that just changed his future forever. From then on there was no stopping him, within a week or two he was swimming freestyle. A whole heap of patience and breaking the tasks down in to small achievable goals paid off.
Some people can conquer their fears on their own, in their own time, others might need professional help. Be it a qualified instructor, someone who can help practice relaxation techniques or a psychologist who might help work through any unresolved feelings. There is no shame in this. Nobodies past experience is the same.