Swim Doctor Testimonial - Andrew's story.

About 

I'm not sure exactly what gave me the idea to start. Maybe it was the customer at work who asked me what I'd do if I fell off a boat into the River Fowey; she followed that question up by saying, "Everyone should learn to swim." (The context for this conversation was that they'd just come back from a sailing holiday.) It might've been the brave couple who’d decided to go for a dip at Readymoney beach when the water was freezing, yet still appeared to enjoy themselves. But I think the main reason why I decided to learn to swim was simply because I wanted to see if I could do it. My Dad was once a SCUBA diver, and my brothers learnt when they were younger, so why not me? 

I didn't manage to learn at school because I was too afraid of drowning in the water, even getting my face wet caused me to panic. Luckily most of these fears had subsided by the time I'd started the Swim Doctor sessions, although I did find water going up my nose quite startling the first few times. It had been over 20 years since I was last in a swimming pool.

 Journey

I am pleased with the progress I've made so far. I started out with no balance in the water whatsoever, often tripping over my feet. My throat would involuntarily close up whenever I tried to blow bubbles, and most of all I thought it'd take me months to learn to float on the water unaided. My legs would always sink to the floor even when using buoyancy aids. The penny dropped during the third session when Helen got me to plank (the exercise position) in the shallow baby area, then hold my arms out. When I realised I could float after all, that the reason why my legs sank was because I hadn't submerged enough of my head, I was able to swim for the first time. I can currently front crawl 10 metres.

The swim doctors have been very supportive. Alice is very knowledgeable and Helen clearly loves to swim herself, which is a sign of a great teacher. Denise was also kind and helpful when I arrived late to my first session. The best part is that it's all in good humour, and nobody is forced to do anything they're not comfortable with.

Goals

My current goal is to swim a length unaided. I would also like to spend more time getting used to the deeper end, and perhaps try diving from the edge of the pool in the future.

I'll also be back in on Wednesday (of course)!

If you want to learn to swim, we run our Swim Doctor Learn session every Wednesday evening 7.15pm - 8pm - Book your space on the Better UK App.