Pool Panic - teaching a phobic how to swim

For hydrophobes, the deep end of the pool is as vast as the Pacific Ocean--but this fear can be conquered.

Teaching an adult hydrophobe to swim requires a unique brand of patience and understanding. While you may navigate like a fish in water, being submerged above chin level can spell panic for others.

Hydrophobes who decide to take the plunge have usually weathered many disappointments, including abrupt introductions to the deep end. Some have not worn a bathing suit in years and feel like an outsider at pool parties. Others own a pool and are embarrassed by being the only ones who never take a dip. Many have had traumatic childhood experiences and avoided pools, boats, the beach and even cruises throughout their lives.

Students will have varying degrees of fear. Some feel comfortable enough to dive in a pool's deep end and swim to the shallow end. Others won't go into ocean water above their knees.

"You have to do the extraordinary to help students get past a lifetime of apprehension," says Paul Lennon of Glendale, California, who's been teaching hydrophobes to swim for 20 years. A hydrophobe who's reaching out for help is usually very motivated, he says. The decision to finally face the fear requires bravery and commitment.

Lennon stresses he never begins with a swimming lesson. Teaching hydrophobes to propel themselves through water is not the point. Instead, students are taught to swim with their heads (figuratively speaking). Before students even get wet, Lennon's instructors talk about the physics of floating--keeping lungs filled with air an body parts submerged to reduce body weight. According to Lennon, even an advanced swimmer can get a cramp and drown if he or she doesn't know how to float.

First Steps

Water is kept at a womb-like 92 [degrees] F to 94 [degrees] F for beginners who need to feel comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. Lennon uses a lot of equipment, including goggles, nose clips and fins. Students are taught to open their eyes underwater and move without getting water up their noses. "Take away any animal's vision, put it in an alien environment, and you'll create anxiety," Lennon says.

After learning to put their faces into water, students are encouraged to explore the shallow end however they wish. They can touch the bottom if they want or just maneuver around.

Floating

Learning to float is an excellent next step. Many students are not even aware they need a full draft of air in their lungs to float. Learning to float both on one's stomach and back is important, along with learning transitions between the two, says Lonnie Deckel, owner of Beverlywood Swim School in West Los Angeles, California. (Deckel says his school, founded in 1951, is the oldest privately-owned swimming school in the United States).

Deckel also teaches students how to stand up from a float. "We always work with students in the shallow end," he says. Examples of techniques are given slowly by instructors at Beverlywood, and students are encouraged to perform them in the same careful fashion. Rushing only creates sloppy moves.

As confidence builds, paddling and kicking are taught. Since some students' legs drift downward during a float because of low body fat, both Deckel and Lennon use buoyant float devices such as neoprene cuffs worn around the ankles. The devices do not turn into crutches, but rather lend immediate comfort to beginners. After three months of lessons, students learn to tread and master a few simple strokes. At that time, cuffs are removed, often with students detecting little difference in their maneuvering ability.

These teaching techniques are designed to help students work with water instead of fight it. "A hydrophobe feels out of control in the water," says Lennon. "Their muscles become tensed and flexed, which works against them. We need to do everything we possibly can to aid them in feeling comfortable."

For many, a first float or a 15-minute session of doing simple moves without touching the bottom is a breakthrough. The gentle patience of the instructors is often appreciated by students, some of whom have experienced traumatic situations in the past like being tossed into the deep end by other instructors.

Getting Around

In addition to floating, Deckel teaches simple propulsion moves which emphasize efficiency. Hands become fins that move the water. Instructors demonstrate how even a minor deviation in arm position can create drag, or even cause a swimmer to back up instead of move forward.

After these moves are mastered, most students progress to the deep end. While in the shallow end, Lennon tells his students to begin and end their passive strokes by placing their hands and feet on the pool's edge and side, not the bottom. They are also told to traverse the width of the shallow end without touching the bottom. Should a student get confused in the water, "recovery" techniques such as reverting to a float are also taught.

In theory, maneuvering in the deep end will be exactly the same as in the shallow end. Of course, that's only a theory. For some, the deep end can appear to be a vast aquatic chasm. While some students may be eager to duplicate their efforts in the deep end, others are mortified. However, all exercises are optional. "If a person isn't ready, a person isn't ready," says Lennon. "Forcing them only creates additional stress, fear and panic."

Getting to the Bottom of Things

After students repeat their initial efforts in deep water, Lennon introduces "confidence builders," one of which involves shimmying down an aluminum pole held in place at the deep end. Students are encouraged to take a few seconds at the bottom to look around. For some, the experience becomes the first time they've touched the bottom for any length of time.

Lennon uses fins to teach freestyle--the first real stroke his students learn. The tremendous propulsion fins enable students and instructors to perfect arm movements, he says.

Once that's in place, fins are removed and students go on to master as many strokes as they wish--conquering their fear and enjoying the deep end for the first time.

R. Daniel Foster is a Los Angeles, California-based writer whose articles have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Men's Fitness, Men's Health, Allure, Cosmopolitan, Details and Cooking Light among others.

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