Why would an adult want to learn how to swim?
For lots of different reasons, most of which are very personal. The most common reasons are: overcoming a childhood fear or some negative experience, a desire to put yourself to the test and finally learn how to swim, in other words challenging yourself to overcome your fears and limitations.
The first thing you need to do is make that physical-sensorial and psychological adaption to water. The latter plays a key role: fear, emotionality and embarrassment can block you and make you feel over-anxious. Adults, however, can rely on their experience and fully developed motor gestures. They know that the body’s centre of buoyancy is at lung-height and their centre of gravity is near their hips, nevertheless fear and anxiety can prevent you from thinking clearly and rationally.
The key word is “familiarity”: it means feeling at ease and gaining confidence with the water. The first step to be taken is to learn how to relax in the water and then how to breathe properly, adopting the right body positions/postures and learning the right movements. There is no doubt that taking up any sport as an adult means setting yourself a goal and having the determination, dedication and patience to achieve it.
You can…
