And we're off!

Jools Poker

Woo hoo - had my first adult beginner swimming class last night in the Markievic swimming pool and it was fantastic. There were maybe 9 or 10 of us in the class, a pretty even mix of guys and gals. It's funny, I'd spent so long imagining what it'd be like to actually learn to swim that I'd kinda built up a picture of what it's would be like in the class - for some reason I'd always assumed the teacher would be in the pool too!:-) (looking at him last night showing us the beginnings of the front crawl it seems pretty obvious now that they wouldn't be..)
I've never taken a swimming lesson before and initially I was kinda surprised that a lot of people in the class seemed to already be able to swim a bit but I was totally astounded at the progress they made with all of us in just one class. I had been preparing myself to find it frustrating and was steeling myself to stick it out but I walked out of there on air last night, thinking yeahIi can actually do this.
So now I'm all pysched up to practice - the only thing I'm a bit concerned about is that naturally enough I don't have the technique of the front crawl down yet - I know they're going to continue to working on that with us but I guess my question is should I practice my as yet flawed front crawl technique during the week (I'm afraid I'll get into doing it wrong - particularly the arms and breathing sequence bit -and it'll be more difficult to unlearn it) or should i just practice my kicking or something,

thanks in advance

secman

Walk before you run, let the lessons work for you, ask the instructor what you can do in between lessons, he has the knowledge and can see exactly what level you are now at, we don't have that info ! Best of luck, its a fab sport and some day we might even see you in the Open sea swims !

Secman

nicearbhaill

I was actually gonna post a swimmer beginner question myself so any advice would be great.

Have had 3 lessons so far and the last two have been terrible. I cant float and am the worst in the group. We were brought into the deeper end last nite and i was shaking so much that I couldnt let go of the wall. I am way behind everyone else in the group who all started swimming without aids last nite.

Looking for advice really. I have never swum before and didnt realise my fear was this great. I cant fault the teacher really as everyone else is flying. Its so disappointing really. I am seriously thinking of cancelling the rest of the lessons and getting a refund.

Cheers

hunnymonster

don't cancel. So what if it takes a while, it will be a great feeling when you do master it. See this current set of lessons through to the end. If you're still unsure, consider some one-to-one lessons where the instructor can concentrate solely on you.

Yeah, swim teachers have to stay on deck. In fact we were taught not even to hunker down on our knees when teaching kids.

Killgore Trout

nicearbhaill wrote: »

I was actually gonna post a swimmer beginner question myself so any advice would be great.

Have had 3 lessons so far and the last two have been terrible. I cant float and am the worst in the group. We were brought into the deeper end last nite and i was shaking so much that I couldnt let go of the wall. I am way behind everyone else in the group who all started swimming without aids last nite.

Looking for advice really. I have never swum before and didnt realise my fear was this great. I cant fault the teacher really as everyone else is flying. Its so disappointing really. I am seriously thinking of cancelling the rest of the lessons and getting a refund.

Cheers

It's interesting that you should mention this - as I was surprised at the amount of people posting here that were gettign such fast results. From my time working in a swimming pool and being about during adult lessons i can say that your experience is not unusual - three swims is just the beginning and perhaps the other students despite being non-swimmers have more experience/are more comofortable in the water

Don't loose heart - for many people picking up swimming is difficult - stick with it. You will get more comfortable in the water with time - and this will help with getting it all together.

Jools Poker

secman wrote: »

Walk before you run, let the lessons work for you, ask the instructor what you can do in between lessons, he has the knowledge and can see exactly what level you are now at, we don't have that info ! Best of luck, its a fab sport and some day we might even see you in the Open sea swims !

Secman

Thanks Secman -the instructor told us to practice what we had been doing in the class before the next class -we built up gradually from using the floats to eventually doing the front crawl on our own- at this point I can say for sure that I don't have the technique down but I can cross half the pool - breathing and arm position not 100% yet but I guess what I was really asking was will practising the crawl while perhaps using wrong arm position etc do more damage than good or is it better to fire away and get corrections at the lessons(ie are bad habits easy unlearnable if ya know what I mean:-))

cheers
PS next week I'll ask the instructor what he thinks I should do but I'm just so enthusiastic that I want to hit the pool a couple of times this week before I go back

nicearbhaill

actually thats another question I have - how are you meant to practice if you are a beginner. It doesnt feel very safe with a group of people and an instructor so I couldnt go alone.

I was super happy with my first lesson aswell. I thought I was signing up for beginners aswell and most of the people can float - one girl could defo swim kicking legs and everything. I dunno it really is so disheartening. I cant even get my legs off the floor.

hunnymonster

practise as best you can. Every pool will have a life guard who will have an eye out for you. If you are really worried have a quick word with the life guard when you are getting into the pool to say you are nervous. If you are lucky, (s)he might also be a teacher and give you some pointers.

nicearbhaill

thanks for the advice - best of luck jools with the lessons.

It is such a great feeling getting in the water so I know how you feel. Euphoric etc. I guess for me its just disapponting that already I am so far behind.

Best of luck

Jools Poker

nicearbhaill wrote: »

thanks for the advice - best of luck jools with the lessons.

It is such a great feeling getting in the water so I know how you feel. Euphoric etc. I guess for me its just disapponting that already I am so far behind.

Best of luck

Good luck to you too bud - I'm sure I'll have plenty frustrations too as it's goes along -think for the minute the fact that I finally got round to doing a lesson roughly ten years after I first wanted to learn to swim is what's given me such a high! But hey life begins at 30