Adult Swim Lessons…For You or For Them?

Which school of thought are you? Would taking adult swimming lessons be for your benefit only? Or would taking adult swimming lessons be for the benefit of the children in your life? As an African-American woman who has been an Aquatics Supervisor, had swim lessons as a child, had swim coaching as an adult, and competed in a couple of half-Ironman triathlons, I’ve seen and experienced the spectrum of water competency.

Adult Swim Lessons Are For the Adult

Let’s talk about you first before we talk about them. As an individual autonomous being, how would swimming lessons benefit you? It adds a life skill if you don’t know how to swim. It adds improved proficiency if you’ve had a few lessons but take a few more to reach water competency. It’s a confidence booster. It could make you more comfortable in water aerobics and overall potentially reduce fear-of-water based anxiety. 

Still talking about you: consider the bonuses from the social aspect. Water aerobics is a must-try if you’ve never attended a class. Those ladies and gentlemen have a great time in the water, laugh, get a good workout, and laugh some more. There are also adult swim teams (yes that’s a thing!(, and swimming competitions are a category in Senior Games. Training isn’t just for high school swim teams. There are whole groups of adults that splash together, from open water swimming groups to water aerobics at your local pool. Fair warning though, you have to be quick to book a spot in water aerobics classes because they fill up fast.

Still talking about you: consider the employment aspect. High swimming proficiency places you in an elite class eligible to work as a lifeguard. Some think of lifeguard work as a summer only job. It can be year-round depending on where you live. It’s also a gateway to becoming a head lifeguard, swim instructor, pool manager, and water aerobics instructor. There are also full-time aquatics positions such as aquatics programmer, aquatics coordinator, and aquatics supervisor which are built on the experience of swimming. Consider also that artificial intelligence (AI) can’t teach swimming lessons yet and I expect it to be a while before aquatics purposed robots are trusted to do lifeguard rescues.

Adult Swim Lessons Are Also for The Children in Your Life

Now, let’s talk about them - the children in your life. That category includes your nieces and nephews, grandkids, kids, neighbors’ kids if they’re in your social circle, and any other child who has a meaningful place in your life. Would you know how to retrieve and start rescue breaths if you found one of them floating face-down in a backyard or community pool? Do you swim well enough to at least successfully get them to the edge of the pool? Maybe their Christmas gift should be you taking swimming lessons so that your supervision includes higher levels of water safety. Watching them at the pool on summer vacation is not the same as being comfortable swimming in to assist if they get into trouble in the water.

And don’t underestimate the example you set by taking lessons as an adult. When the children in our lives see us working on our swimming skills, it demonstrates that you’re never too old to learn and that it’s okay to ask for help. 

A Final Thought

Even if you don’t want to be an Aquatics Coordinator, what if the path to that fulfilling career for one of those children is sparked by seeing you take swimming lessons as an adult? Whether it’s for you or for them, we all have a reason to get in the water.

About the Author

Jeneea Jervay-Bush Recreation Coordinator (Sports) and works for a municipality in Arizona. She lives for all things recreation, however aquatics is her passion. She left corporate America to chase her recreation dreams, one of which is to enable access to the magic power of the water to those communities traditionally underserved. You can connect with Jeneea at JJervayBush@glendaleaz.com

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