Developing a culture of trust among novice swimmers

Abstract

Novice swimmers often relate stories of being thrown into the water or pool to either "sink or swim," while others saw or had nonfatal drowning experiences. These experiences contribute to an individual lacking confidence in their swimming skills and may limit their participation in swimming and water activities. Establishing a culture of trust is important toward developing a student's competence in the water. Trust is developed by the novice swimmer through the instructor, classmates, themselves, and water through orientation, a safe environment to learn, individualizing instruction, and giving specific, corrective, and positive feedback on performance. This article provides swimming instructors at various professional agencies (physical education, recreation, community, and university settings) with a unique approach by targeting acclimation activities/games, personal safety/rescue skills, and paired practice specifically for teenage (high school students) and young adult (college coeds) novice swimmers. This article guides an instructor in different ways instruction can be adapted to different contexts in teaching novice swimmers how to swim. © 2012 Human Kinetics, Inc.