A Real Lack of Depth

Trying to remove ALL risk with inflexible blanket rules can place a genuine ceiling on learning for some.

How much access do adults and children have to crown depth water when they are learning to swim? In the UK learners are not routinely encouraged to use such deeper water because it is not considered to be safe for them to do so and anyway it is often taken up with semi-permanent lanes cutting across it. This is a sad loss to those in lessons who need to safely explore how their bodies and the water work together in the vertical plane. This may sound counterintuitive and even hazardous but when the rules are followed about only being with an experienced instructor, safely guarded and remaining within the learner's controlled comfort zone it is infact an important part of the learning to swim process. Being in crown depth water the learner can exchange the safety of the floor with the safety of the side or they can play with their feet being on the floor while their head is submerged safely next to the wall or a ladder. Many learners find it fascinating that their expectations of what will happen at this depth are all wrong. Many find a new sense of comfort that they do not plummet to the floor and stay there looking up at the underside of the water surface. Some also find that they feel more buoyant in deeper water because they know that the floor is out of the equation and their heightened psychological attachment to it evaporates. I note that water is a 3D environment and can't always be shallow enough to stand up in.

So whenever I teach people to swim I help them take safe and comfortable visits to deeper water so that they can explore monkey walking, anchored floating, uplift from the floor, vertical floating, bobbing, bouncing, treading and so much more. It is sad however that the space I need to do this in is often inaccessible to me and my students. I find this frustrating and long for a measured seed change. How wonderful it is to see the light of understanding come on in learner's eyes as they experience something that has held alot of fear for them! All it takes is a little deeper consideration by those who control pool usage to perhaps realise that what is not available may be causing more harm than good in the long run to some users. The same thoughts cross my mind about diving from the pool side too. There are so few swimming pools now where you are allowed to dive in because of some terrible accidents in the past that have led to a closing down of opportunities to experience something exhilirating. I know why this is so and I cannot disagree with sensible health and safety policy but.......properly guided deep water access is needed by learners and many more new designed pools need to have areas deep enough for new divers to try out safely or a disproportionate fear of deep water will only continue to spread far and very wide.