"I Can Swim." No, You Can't.

Does someone have to know how to swim to go swimming?

Before my sister and brother and I learned to swim, my mother would take us to the Y to go swimming. Does that sound fishy to you? You might not notice anything. But it's the crux of the global drowning problem.

We say "swimming lessons." What are swimming lessons? Are they for learning to swim? What does learning to swim mean?

In August, 2010, six teens at a neighborhood picnic in Shreveport, Louisiana drowned in the same spot within a couple of minutes. Did the parents—some of whom were helplessly watching—ever ask their kids if they could swim? Of course they did. We can only presume that they would never allow their children to go swimming if they thought they would be unsafe. On the other hand, parents who can't swim have been known to give their kids permission to go swimming on the heels of a fervent prayer. If it works out well a few times, it becomes less frightening to let them go. But the confidence is baseless. If the kids said yes they can swim, did they know the meaning of "knowing how to swim"? Did the parents? I say no.

It's not that someone who knows how to swim can't drown: of course they can. It's not that we're sure that all those kids didn't know how to swim: maybe they could. But chances of that are rock bottom. Because the only thing that went wrong for the first kid is that he stepped off a ledge. He had no idea how to save himself. As if stepping off a ledge is something you have to save yourself from.

The rest drowned either for the same reason, or due to the double drowning scenario, repeated.

The first child, and perhaps others, didn't know that the water held him up or how to come up for air. In fact, he may have been someone that the water didn't hold up. Many kids aren't buoyant because they're so lean. But every child and adult who has any business being in water of unknown depth knows how to come up for air, even if they're sinkers. Have all of your friends, family members, and swimming students learned that? If not, you're not alone!

If you ask one hundred people what their definition of "I can swim" is, you'd learn that there are two. One relates to safety. It goes: "I can hang out in deep water for as long as I want." The other relates to going somewhere: "Being able to swim a length (or a mile) with strokes and breathing." You'll probably find that the majority of people will say the latter. But the latter has nothing to do with safety in deep water. I maintain that this is the reason the drowning rate worldwide is so high. Yet this is the message the public has gotten. Is this what we, as aquatics professionals, want to say? I say no.

If you, too, have ever shaken your head reading about a local drowning, or if you have felt frustrated that a student just "isn't getting it" then you know there is something missing. But what? Could it be that we are thinking about Learn-to-Swim incorrectly? Don't we want our students to demonstrate peacefulness and mastery of water over one's head as part of learning to swim—and passing a swimming test?

It's time to take the bull by the horns. Lovingly. The crux of the global drowning problem is that we haven't agreed that the definition of "learn to swim" includes mastery of deep water. To end drowning (in other words to virtually end preventable drowning), peacefulness in deep water must be the goal. For beginners, it's the goal. Once beginners get that, they're no longer beginners. Then you can teach them other things.

There must come a day when you can ask anyone if they can swim and they will answer accurately: "Yes, I can. I'm comfortable in deep water as long as I need to be there." Or, "No, I can't. I'm not comfortable in deep water." Once someone can swim, it only takes a week to learn a stroke or three.

When my mother took us swimming before we knew how, she taught us to swim without a thought of strokes. When we had "practiced" (played) enough times, we could rest in water over our heads on our own. "Jump in and swim to me! Then rest on your back." And we did.