The Looks on Their Faces
By Gene Aronowitz
I will never forget the looks on their faces when fear had evaporated and the cool water enveloped their bodies. In the summer between my junior and senior years in college, I was a swimming instructor at a residential camp for children in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.
I asked the camp Director if three counselors could join me at the waterfront while teaching a non-swimmers class. He agreed. When camp started, I had all the non-swimmers come for swim instruction at one time, along with the three counselors. Essential beginner swim skills are as follows: getting in and out of the water safely, breathing, floating, kicking, and crawling. During the pre-camp orientation period, I taught the three counselors how to teach each of these skills.
We started by helping the campers learn to safely get in and out of the water. I explained that they would need to sit on the deck surrounding the swimming area, swivel, and lower themselves into the water while holding on to the edge. The kids were quite afraid, worried they would lose control once in the water. This did happen to one of them; his hands slipped while getting into the water. I jumped into the water, put my arms around the flailing child, and stood him upright. The child’s grimace became a broad smile as he stood up. As a lifeguard in previous years, I would react quickly and, usually, efficiently when swimmers got into difficulty. No one ever drowned on my watch.
Once the non-swimmers were in the water, I explained how to get out: pulling themselves up while facing the deck and turning to sit. Each child went through the getting in and getting out process several times until each was comfortable and proficient. That ended the first session.
The next session started with learning to breathe. Once again, the kids were initially scared, fearful about putting their heads into the water and holding their breath. Some swimmers never know how to do this, and I often see people swimming while continually keeping their heads out of the water. We divided the group into thirds, with one of the counselors working with each subgroup. We taught the campers to hold onto the edge of the deck while they stood in shallow water, bend over at the waist, breathe in, put their heads in the water, breathe out, turn their head to one side, breathe in, and repeat the process. Timing had to be regular and precise; improper timing could get a kid’s nose full of water and cause a loss of concentration. Some learned this quickly, and one of the counselors brought them to a separate area where they sat on the deck, waiting to learn to float. The others remained with the other two counselors until they could breathe correctly, and when they could, they moved over to the floating group, as did the counselors when they no longer needed to teach breathing.
Floating was also scary. The counselors brought each child into the water separately and held them as they lay on their backs. Their faces were invariably scrunched, particularly when the counselors let go, keeping their hands just a few inches underneath. Those who had difficulty returned to the dock. I would talk with them, usually asking them if they remembered falling off a bike and how it was necessary to get right back on. Children who could float safely were taught to float on their front. It was challenging and, for some, very upsetting because their heads had to stay submerged longer than when breathing rhythmically.
When the campers could float on back and front, they moved to another part of the deck and began to learn kicking. They had to hold onto the deck while their legs remained at the top of the water. That required the ability to float with their heads in the water and strong abdominal muscles. They had to bend their legs slightly at the knees while alternately lifting each leg and breathing rhythmically. We asked those who were successful to remain sitting on the deck until the end of the swim period.
Counselors who had finished their teaching tasks always moved on to another group wherever needed.
At the next swim period, each child returned to the group they ended with to continue working on that specific skill until they could move on. Those who had mastered kicking went to a separate part of the pool area to learn to crawl. The kids needed to float on their fronts, extending their arms alternately, palms down to catch the water, while breathing rhythmically and continuously kicking. Those who could do this moved out of the beginners’ class and into another I taught at different times focused on sidestroke, breaststroke, and backstroke.
The real pleasure for me of this whole process was seeing the faces of the campers as they mastered each task, changing from confusion, doubt, and disappointment to surprise and delight. Particularly pleasurable was the look of triumph when each of the non-swimmers could jump into the water, crawl to the other side, and pull themselves up on the deck.
Why did they swim to the other side? Because they could.
