Teaching Sal's Girls to Swim

Nickie wanted to learn how because she was invited to a swim party by a middle school friend and didn’t want to go if she couldn’t swim. Martha tried teaching them by shouting instructions from the lounge chair she was sitting on at the side of the pool. She had just had eye surgery and couldn’t get chlorinated water in her eyes.

“Kick your feet”, she yelled. “No, no you have to move your arms too!” The girls grew anxious with all the shouting and scolding. “Don’t splash me, you know I can’t get that water in my eyes”. They wanted to give up and go watch TV in the hotel room.

My heart went out to the girls in their predicament. I knew this would never work so Ish and I jumped in the pool, swam around them and demonstrated how to float.

“Would you like me to teach you how to float?” I asked Ariana and Nickie.

“I can’t,” said Ariana. “I’ll just sink”.

“Nooo you won’t, I’ll hold you up, I promise I won’t let you sink.”

“OK,” she said reluctantly.

I held Ariana up in the water. Ish did the same with Nickie. “Just relax your legs and arms like cooked spaghetti. Go ahead and let your head tip back your nose and mouth will be out of the water”. We did this until they could relax and float as I let go gradually one hand and then one finger at a time. After a while, smiling, they could float on their own. I remember being taught this way. It’s the same way I taught my own children who all turned out to be very good swimmers. My youngest son was nicknamed “Otter Boy” because of his effortless ease of movement in the water.

Then I showed her how to dog paddle kicking her feet and paddling with her hands. Ish did the same with Nickie. Next was holding their breath under water. After a little practice taking a deep breath and then blowing bubbles under the water, they each grew in confidence. They giggled and laughed in triumph over their fear of the water. They could swim a few feet under water and come up for air without swallowing any water. Next the breaststroke. Ish was better at it than I. He had learned to swim the hard way. His brothers threw him into the water at Hansen Dam when he was only ten. He can swim like a fish and made it look easy. He showed them how to coordinate the strokes with the breath and leg kicking.

“Swim to Ish,” I said. “Let’s see who wins the race. Ok, now swim to the volcano under the waterfall.” They were having fun racing each other.

So now we added a fun challenge. Ish threw quarters into the shallow four-and-a-half-foot end of the pool and said they could keep whatever they could bring up. Squealing with pleasure the girls dove in without hesitation. They had lost all fear and went after the coins happily. After only a couple of hours they could both swim. Sal and Martha could relax by the pool and Nickie would be able to go to the swim party.