A good thread. I appreciate Trace starting it because it has brought out some good discussion. I find myself in agreement with his views in part, and divergent (not necessarily disagreeing, just holding a different opinion) in part.
I fully agree with regard to the value of swimming. And, if participation in the course enhances their existing skills, or creates excitement for pursuing swimming activities independent of diving, that is a good outcome. Honestly, I prefer that someone who cannot swim comfortably – even if they manage to complete a 200 yard swim – not pursue scuba training until they improve their swimming skills. Yes, I can understand the comments that scuba training may actually encourage individuals to continue swimming. That’s great. But, if someone comes to the class with marginal swimming skills, I have to wonder if they will get maximum benefit from the course.
To be fair, I have a possibly distorted expectation with regard to swimming skills. I think everyone should know how to swim (however unrealistic that may be
). I grew up in a coastal community, in a social group where swimming was simply an unspoken but consensus expectation. ‘You can’t SWIM???? What’s wrong with you?’
I was a late starter in learning, and I think my parents put me in swim lessons because a) as a non-swimmer / weak swimmer, I was materially hindered in my summer social activities, and subjected to some generally good-natured ridicule as well, and b) they believed that swimming was an integral part of living – one of those basic life skills. It does concern me that there doesn’t seem to be a pervasive level of encouragement present today that leads a substantial number of young people to learn to swim. There seem to be more public-access and community pools available than ever (I learned to swim by taking lessons in a university pool, the only one available beyond the neighborhood Boy’s Club, and the local country club where we were not members). And, lots of competitive swimming goes on in middle and high schools. Yet, there is a large group of youngsters that never learns to swim. However, I am not in a position to correct that at a societal level. I made sure that all of our 4 children started with Water Babies, continued with swim lessons, and pursued water activities as possible. And, three are certified adult divers today. But, the important part was learning to swim, which all did long BEFORE they ever pursued dive instruction.
But, where my views may diverge: from my perspective, taking scuba lessons is NOT the place to learn to swim. I am not a swim instructor, I am a scuba instructor. If you are inspired to begin / resume regular swimming by taking an OW course with me, fantastic. But, don’t expect that I will teach you how to swim, or help you learn how to swim. I don’t really care whether you can crawl, and/or backstroke, and/or sidestroke. If all you can do is breast stroke, so be it. I DO care if you can 'survive' on the surface, by treading water / floating / swimming around. And, more to the point, you do have to be able to propel yourself from one point to another, in case you need to swim into shore, or to a boat. I don't care which stroke. BUT, I am particularly interested in how well you can propel yourself through the water in scuba gear, which includes mouth-breathing underwater, even though you’ve been a nose-breather all your life, and involves moving through the water with those big things that go on your feet - fins. So, I do not consider the 300-yard mask / snorkel / fins swim to be a ‘cheat’ by any stretch. (Actually, I do care if you know how to frog kick – it is a big help, because that is what I prefer students to use in my courses.) In fact, I require my students to do the 300 yard swim. The 200 yard ‘ungeared’ swim is not an option that I offer. I want to see how the student handles those big swimmy things on their feet (if they struggle with using fins in the water, the course is possibly going to be a challenge for them). I want to see how they handle breathing through their mouth (ONLY) for 300 yards (if they struggle with snorkel breathing on the surface, the course is possibly going to be a challenge for them). I want to know from day one what I am dealing with. I had one adult student, who had been on a high school swim team, struggle throughout the course with using fins. He finished. And, he developed some finning skills during and more after certification training. But, I was able to help him complete the course because he was a private student. If he had been in a group class, I would have asked him to withdraw, and consider private lessons.
If a student struggles to complete the 300 yard mask / snorkel / fins swim, and I have had a few that have, I will most likely recommend that they practice or pursue swim lessons before taking a course with me.
