Swim Lessons
Maybe you remember the swim class names when you were a kid, something like minnow, guppie, goldfish, dolphin, and shark. I mostly remember having to jump in cold water when I really didn’t want to and feeling like I was drowning. Not sure I ever made it to shark, but some of the basics must have stuck as I can swim, just not very well. My town’s community pool had a color-coded badge system. Yellow was beginner, and you had to stay in the shallow section. Green was adult, and they could swim anywhere. In-between there was red and purple, where tweens and teens could pass a swimming test to be allowed in the deep section. I can still feel the anxiety before my swim test, worrying that I’d be the only one among my friends to fail and be stuck at the shallow end of the pool.
I’m not sure of my mom’s intent, but for me, taking swim lessons as a child had nothing to do with wellness or well-being, the focus of this Bulletin issue’s State of the College Union series article. I didn’t recognize or care about the health benefits and was more worried about survival, both physical and social acceptance. As an adult, I’m starting to feel differently. It’s all about the health benefits of swimming, especially as I age.
I’m someone who likes to set goals for myself, and this summer, my goal was to take an adult swim class, and subsequently to add swimming into my regular workout routine. Cognitively, I know the physical benefits of swimming—getting a full-body workout builds endurance, strengthens muscles, and improves cardiovascular health. It’s a low-impact form of exercise that I expect is going to be better for my aching joints and aging body. As I’m really not a fan of swimming, I guess I approached this goal with a wellness mindset, thinking about the long-term physical benefit of adding swimming to my exercise repertoire.
My lessons were at the Indiana University Outdoor Pool, home of many swimming Olympians. Fortunately, the class instructor was not expecting students in the class to become Olympians and wanted us to achieve our identified goals. Mine was to relearn and improve my swim strokes well enough to become a regular swimmer. Nicholas, the instructor, just finished his master’s in music, and with few full-time jobs available, he was teaching swimming and saxophone for the summer.
As expected, I was the oldest in the class, but there was no generational baggage as everyone was friendly and attending for a similar reason. There were three other students: an IU faculty member who taught English literature, an IU graduate student in macroeconomics, and a graduate student at Julliard who was visiting her parents for the summer in Bloomington. We all wanted to learn, to get better, and we were not forced to be there by our parents. And we all encouraged each other throughout the two-week class.
The first lesson from Nicholas was to jump right into the water rather than easing your way in step by step. Yes, it might be cold, but get it over with right away and keep your shoulders underneath to stay warm. He was right, and how I wished I learned that as a kid. Nicholas was a good instructor, and I and the other students substantially improved in our swimming, and we had fun in the process. By the end of the session, the big surprise for me was that learned I kind of like swimming!
In hindsight, I think I entered swim lessons with a wellness mindset to be healthy, but experienced those lessons as a form of well-being, bringing me to a happier and healthier place. Taking the class increased my skills and self-confidence, and it was a positive experience socializing and learning with other students. The physical benefits of swimming are clear, but the additional benefits for me include lessening my general stress, incorporating a fairly relaxing activity into my exercise routine, and leaving the pool feeling a sense of accomplishment.
I am optimistic that swimming for me will become a life-long practice, and I won’t be surprised if the pool becomes a new place of comfort. Next summer, I anticipate taking swim lessons again because I can always improve, I’ll gain more confidence in my abilities, and I’ll value being in community with other swimming students. Additionally, I’ll have to set a new goal for summer 2026. Maybe it’s time to try out pickleball!
