By Nicole E. Johnson, Swimming World College Intern
When I was 4 years old, my mom took me to my first swim lesson. Ready to go with my goggles in hand, I eagerly entered the cold water with my instructor. Most of the other kids my age were shy and didn’t want to get in the water unless they were holding their mom’s hand– but not me.
I had always looked forward to swim lessons and wanted to finally know how to swim so that I could go into the deep end of my grandma and grandpa’s pool without being scared. My mom took me to swim lessons so that I could become “water safe”, but swim lessons ended up having a more sprawling impact on my little 4-year-old life.
After taking swim lessons for a little while, my swim instructor told my mom that she thought I had a lot of potential and that I should be on a swim team. Since I was only 4 at the time, my mom hesitated before signing me up for a competitive team.
My mom described the day that my instructor approached her. I had swum backstroke across the Olympic length pool– something most 4-year-olds do not do. Although she knew I could handle a swim team physically, she told me that she wanted to wait until it was my decision to join the team.
A few years later, when I was 7, I was watching the summer Olympics and was in awe of the big and strong swimmers that I saw on TV. In that moment, I decided that I wanted to swim on a swim team and be like those swimmers someday.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Fast forward more than 10 years– I now look back and know that taking swim lessons when I was 4 was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. If I hadn’t taken lessons, I might not have ever joined a swim team and gone on to swim in college. Swimming throughout all of my elementary and high school years was extremely beneficial. I was able to make so many friends. I had practice after school– I always had something to do and didn’t have time to get bored. Now that I’m swimming in college, I am even more thankful for the introduction of swimming into my life.
Having swimming a part of my life has been such a blessing because I have a great appreciation of the sport and now have the amazing opportunity of teaching other kids how to swim. This summer is my fourth year teaching swim lessons, and I seem to love it more and more every year. I have a lot of swimmers that come back each summer and tell me all about how they have been practicing their “big arms” so that they can continue to get better. One of the best feelings was when one of my swimmers came up to me and told me that he was going to try out for the swim team after lessons.
Being a swim instructor, I know that I can have an impact on the lives of the kids I teach because they could be just like me. I can be that instructor that sees potential in a swimmer and encourages them to continue in the sport.
Learning how to swim means so much more to me than just becoming “water safe”(albeit that’s a pretty significant skill to possess!). When I was little, learning how to swim helped me overcome my fear of the deep end. Now that I’m older, knowing how to swim has given me the chance to be good at something. Taking swim lessons helped me to discover and pursue my passion in life.
I always encourage parents to sign their kids up for swim lessons because I know that their children will benefit in some way from learning how to swim. They will learn everything they need to know about how to swim as well as water safety. They will be helped and pushed and might even continue on and join a swim team someday.
Although I am not one of the swimmers on TV in the Olympics, I am forever grateful that my swim instructor encouraged my mom to put me on a swim team, because without her, I don’t know if I would be swimming today.