Top Water
Swimming
From the time my
children were only a few months old, they were taken to the pool where they
were gently placed under the water and somehow, with some miraculous protection
from above, they opened their eyes wide and began to naturally move through the
water. Perhaps it was
genetic memory. Perhaps it was
dumb luck, but those babies could swim and had no fear of going under the water. As I stood at the edge of the pool,
nervously praying for their safety, my husband would cradle these tiny swimmers
in his palms and gently blow a puff of air into their face. Instinctively, they would inhale and
that is when their underwater adventure began. I had seen it before and I knew
exactly how it would occur, but the thought of placing a baby under water is
more than a young mom can bear. Those underwater
babies became powerful swimmers and our hearts swelled with pride as we had
taught our children well.
As
toddlers, they could jump in and swim back and forth across the pool. Other families looked on in awe, as
these tiny children had no fear of the water. The problem, that we did not notice, was that they were
skilled underwater swimmers and knew nothing about the top of the water. Somewhere along the line, we forget to
teach them about the breaststroke or the butterfly, because it was obvious they
could cross an Olympic size pool with no problem and we were comfortable with
the skills they had.
The first
realization that I may have forgotten a key part of the swimming program was
when I entered my son in a summer swimming contest. At the age of six, he eyed the lanes wondering what the
black lines were for. I was
unaware that his view of the pool had always been from under the surface. The children lined up with one goal of
crossing to the other side. I knew
my dolphin child would excel at this race across the pool and I had already
cleared a spot on the shelf for his trophy. When the whistle blew, the children dove in and traveled in
perfect breaststrokes down their lanes of pool traffic. My son swam straight, about ten feet,
disappeared under the water and took a hard left across the lanes. He came up only to realize he was
headed in the wrong direction. He
took a breath, reached across the water with arms wide open and sank back down
under the now empty lanes of swimming children. I knew we would never make it to the other side without some
lessons on top water swimming.
Ten years later,
my daughter enrolled in lifeguard certification training. She’s tiny, but she’s solid
muscle and I knew floating might be an issue, as she has not an ounce of fat to
help her float. At the age
of 50, I’m perfectly suited for bobbing in the pool with drink in hand and
never having to actually move my feet.
I wished her luck and left her at the pool. I had, once again, forgotten that my children were underwater
swimmers. When she texted me and told me she had to
swim ten laps, I could only imagine a dog paddling girl flailing her arms in
every direction, swimming directly into those who were making their way back
and forth across the top of the pool in straight lines. It didn’t take her long to
realize that the kids wearing the suits, which read “Swim Team” had skills, she
did not possess. These kids moved
in unison as they flew across the pool, hitting the wall with their feet in
perfect underwater somersaults that catapulted them halfway across the pool
for their next lap. My dolphin
child employed her underwater swimming skills to knock out the ten laps with
ease and only broke the water a handful of times for a breath of air.
So, this summer,
when I challenge my children to swim laps across the pool, they will have no
idea that I’m secretly trying to squeeze in a chapter on swim lessons that I
apparently forgot. The
breaststroke and the butterfly are definitely in our future.