The New Swim Test
At the International Aquatics Meeting held online February 25, 2021*, Aquatics and Drowning Prevention professionals from fifteen countries** agreed that the most important outcome of swimming lessons is safety in water over one's head.
Toward that goal, wouldn't it be prudent to change the (U.S.) typical basic swimming test in pools to one that actually tests for safety in water over one's head? The current test —swimming 25 yards, no matter how tense, and floating for 1 minute no matter how nervous — is insufficient to prove that someone understands how the water works with his/her body and has mastered it: is calm. It also suggests that knowing a stroke is part of safety in water over one's head, which is debatable or plainly untrue.
I propose this:
Stand on the bottom of the deep end of a pool for 10 seconds, peacefully. Rise to the surface and float or play peacefully for 10 minutes at least 10 feet from the walls. That's all.
If someone cannot sink to the bottom, they will simply float or play for 10 minutes. En route to learning to do this, they'll find out that they can't sink, an essential piece of knowledge.
The depth should be at least 8 feet in the U.S. or 2.5 meters to assure that someone cannot depend on the bottom for safety. If no deep end is available, then the student can sit on the bottom for 10 seconds peacefully and rise to the top and float and play without allowing his/her feet to touch bottom.
Lastly, the swimmer needs to master this so that it's not forgotten. Some people can do it for a few months, but without practice, their fear returns, which is evidence that it wasn't completely learned.
Objections and Additions
There will likely be objections from swimming instructors and administrators who cannot pass this test, themselves. No one should be shamed for not being able to swim as a swim instructor. All must be supported. At the same time, they should learn immediately. It takes courage to tell the truth. This courage is needed for each individual's safety and self-esteem as well as to help the industry—and world water safety—take a leap forward.
Such objections to the new test would not be reasons to alter the test. Such objections are an opportunity for instructors to become safe in water, to learn what knowing how to swim feels like, to become better instructors and administrators, and to graduate more safe swimmers. Swimming instructors should be qualified: they should know how to swim. Stillness in deep water is what they need to learn.
There may be other objections and additions suggested, as well: no nose clips allowed; no goggles. Obviously, no flotation devices. Input from the industry is encouraged so that this test might be refined, made agreeable to all (?), and adopted as the new test of whether someone can swim.
It's time to get down to brass tacks about water safety around the world. We've lost too many, which I'm sure we can all agree on!
*Hosted by Melon Dash, Miracle Swimming School for Adults (Florida) and Andrea Andrews, Aquatics Specialist and Board Member, Lifesaving Foundation. (Wallingford, England)
**U.S., UK, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Grenada, Holland, India, Ireland, Lesotho, Norway, Portugal, Mexico, Trinidad
Clearbluewaterssmile
1 年don’t forget to equalize your ears
Founder and Director
3 年Love it - brilliant idea
Communications Manager
3 年I think this is an important idea to champion. I recently watched a well-known writer/poet learning to swim. And while she appeared to progress well, predictably, came a video of her treading water. She was tense and tired, while her instructor "encourages" her to "relax." I think she was expected to do this for 10 minutes. I sat there watching the video wishing her instructor would suggest that she could simply stop. But then I realized, after having thought about what I'd seen in her progress videos, she'd learned strokes but I had not seen any video where she'd learned to stop without being at the side of the pool. That made me sad. Because that is the kind of swimming that is never fun. That is the kind of swimming that people rarely do again even if they go to the pool a thousand times after they "learn" to swim.