Why is swimming difficult?

[Interloper]

There is much more to "drown-proofing" than simply sticking one's head in a bucket of water and holding their breath.

Your version of reality sounds good to me, 'loper, but such amazing articles as the one I posted can be found on any topic, on any day.

True, Michael!

[Steve James]

The best way to overcome the fear of swimming is just to spend as much time as possible in the water. You can't drown proof unless you can relax. I couldn't learn to get comfortable in the water for a long time because I almost drowned when I was a kid. (Not that it was a bad experience per se, I just avoided deep water). Well, then I met this woman . She was a snow and beach bunny, who hated pools and loved to swim in the ocean. So, I started taking swimming more seriously --especially since this was after I'd seen "Jaws." Anyway, it worked.

If I were to start now, I would work on floating --which you can do in shallow water.

[Interloper]

My mom got me swimming when I was 2 or 3. When I was about 6, she signed me up for a kiddie class at the Y. The instructor was a burly former US Marine whose method was to make us jump into the pool, then he'd hold a pole just out of reach and tell us to swim for it... of course yanking it just out of reach as we got to it. Got us to swim the length of the pool without thinking about anything else but reaching that @#$& pole!