At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

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At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Under 5
4
17%
5-9
13
57%
10-14
5
22%
15-18
0
No votes
19+
0
No votes
Never learnt
1
4%
 
Total votes: 23

firemonkey
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At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by firemonkey »

At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim? Although described as poorly coordinated I first learnt to swim at the beach at Pataya when I was 6. I mainly swim slow breaststroke only, very occasionally doing front crawl. I swim with my head above water. I don't like swimming underwater.
Lucy
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Lucy »

Around age 9 or 10, I think. Possibly I could swim a little bit at a younger age, not sure. Definitely couldn't swim out past where my toes could touch the floor safely until age 10/11. Still a very slow swimmer!
Mr. Higgles
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Mr. Higgles »

I barley swim, basically just flailing my arms around to stay alfloat :/ I just found this board, idk if I even have dispraxia but it really seems so. I’ve always wonder what was wrong with me and why I struggled with things. Been researching and this is the only thing that seems to actually make sense!
Henry
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Henry »

keeps your pulse up yet takes a portion of the effect worry off your body, fabricates perseverance, muscle quality and cardiovascular wellness, keeps up a solid weight, sound heart and lungs, tones muscles and assembles quality...
Jim
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Jim »

I can’t swim.

For me, swimming is one of the few things which I’ve never been able to successfully learn to do. Oh, I can flail my arms and legs around in a vague approximation of swimming but after a couple of strokes my swimming has magically switched to unintentional scuba diving and/or drowning #-o

I’ve never been able to physically comprehend the art of keeping afloat and honestly my head dipping below the water is a phobia of mine which I have no drive to conquer. I’m quite content to paddle and splash about.

It’s odd. Because other things, like riding a bike, driving a car... being relatively good at go karting etc are things that I took to quite well.
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Andrew_S_Hatton
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Andrew_S_Hatton »

I was about 8 or 9 and enjoyed a lot of swimming in the past>

I could never quite coordinate the strokes where legs and arms need to sychronise apart from front & back crawl.

So I was never going to win any races doing breastroke or butterfly or dolphin butterfly or even sidestroke - which is about the most graceful to swim even though it does not look very good.

I have never seen it demonstrated but I found a video online - I only watched the first bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heKKhNBHp98


Image
kombatwombat
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by kombatwombat »

Not till I was 13. My mum organized a friend of my relatives who happened to be a swimming instructor, to teach me.

It took me quite a few lessons to pick it up but I am really glad I did saw it through. Not being able to swim as an adult would be another drag on my self-esteem, especially as I really enjoy being in the water.
hellfire
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by hellfire »

My mom had been trying to teach me how to swim since around 3 it finally clicked one day when I was 8
Willr0490
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Willr0490 »

I learned to swim when I was 10 as my primary school had weekly compulsory swimming lessons, which took place on Friday mornings.

Unfortunately I only achieved 10 metres because when I was in Year 6 the school modified its policy so that the older Infants (Year 2) and younger juniors (years Three and Four) went instead of years Five and Six. This meant I never learned to swim (and still cannot) any longer than ten metres.
Ram
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Ram »

Strangely enough, I was the only person in my class at primary school who could swim when I was 7. This is the only time that I've been above average at sport in my life. :-)

I should say that this situation was not down to me having a special talent. It was simply that my father, being a sailor, had taken me to a pool every week since the age of five- something that my classmates hadn't benefited from!
Tom fod
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Tom fod »

Willr0490 wrote: Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:17 pm I learned to swim when I was 10 as my primary school had weekly compulsory swimming lessons, which took place on Friday mornings.

Unfortunately I only achieved 10 metres because when I was in Year 6 the school modified its policy so that the older Infants (Year 2) and younger juniors (years Three and Four) went instead of years Five and Six. This meant I never learned to swim (and still cannot) any longer than ten metres.

I was lucky that mum liked swimming so took us regularly then enrolled me and my brother in Saturday lessons as soon as we were old enough (age 6 iirc). and we were both content to jump off 5M board into 5M deep water at age 7 or 8.

It gave me advantage of much increased confidence when I later had school lessons in year 6 (or whatever Yr 6 was called back then. Was 1985). I was only person who passed ASA Stage 2* in my class as was able to swim the half a width or so underwater and retrieve a rubber brick from bottom of 'deep end' (1.8M) with relative ease.

Please don't be overly constrained by the fact you only achieved 10M badge. That said, I would avoid unaccompanied open water swimming and consider looking for lessons to help build your confidence in the water should you ever find yourself in a swim to survive situation. (assuming that interests you?)


*ASA's Stage 2 attainment requirements are much changed now.
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DyspraxicPhilip
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by DyspraxicPhilip »

I tried to learn to swim at the age of ten. I was hopeless! I was in a one to one swimming class with an autistic boy who learned much quicker than myself. I could swim by holding a poodle (floating thing) and by holding to something else but I gave up in the end. The only good thing I could do was the dog paddle :)
Bay
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Bay »

I learned to swim 3 times. I could swim (frogstyle) when I was about five, but afterwards we went 'swimming' with school, where we were only allowed in the shallow pool, where proper swimming is quite impossible, and I forgot how to swim. So I had to relearn, and then some years later I got trapped under a raft and took a scare from the water. So I had to overcome my fear and learn all over again. I could never do the crawl style though, which was a problem because it was required to be allowed to learn sailing, which I wanted to try.
Tom fod
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Tom fod »

I've always struggled with front crawl and can't really coordinate or sustain it so generally stick with my uncoordinated, but sufficiently effective breast stroke
Tom
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With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
Muninn
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Re: At what age did you learn to swim , or can't you swim?

Post by Muninn »

My mother took me swimming from a very early age and I earned a fair few of my swimming badges.

However, after primary school (and the closure of a big swimming baths near us) I dropped off of swimming and only did it occasionally at the beach or when I found myself at a pool on holiday.

This Monday before work I got back into the water properly for the first time in many years and while I did struggle, I still remembered some of the skills and swam for half an hour - front crawl there, back stroke on the way back. The exercise was invigorating and I think I will make it a weekly thing from now on.
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