I'm 27 years old,... and I can't swim.

[MotionMan]

17, was on HS swim team for past two years. My dad pretty much threw me in the YMCA pool when I was 5. It's an important life skill! Some of the colleges I'm looking at require swimming 200m (4 olympic lengths) to graduate.

My brother-in-law, his brother and sister were all on their swim team, so it was natural that my nephew and niece are on a team. We just signed up my daughter for the team, but she will not race for some time.

Eventually my other (younger) nephew and my son will join the team as well.

(I am out of shape, but I use to teach swimming at our local pool.)

In about 2-3 years, my family will be able to swim circles around all your families

MotionMan

 

[BoredWork]

eh. swimming is overrated.
im 38 and cant swim..

 

[MotionMan]

eh. swimming is overrated.
im 38 and cant swim..

Where do you live?

MotionMan

 

[The_Dude8]

It boggles my mind that people can't swim. Get in the water, move your arms and legs and bam, you're swimming! To me it's like saying you don't know how to breathe.

easy said than done.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Oh god I realized I posted in this thread almost three years ago. Let me go edit that swear out.

 

[moshquerade]

Huh? You had to pass a swimming class in college? I never heard such a strange requirement before unless you were in the Navy or Coast Guard.

not navy or coast guard.
and i've heard of other colleges that also had that requirement. hell, they all should!
(cornell university is one that requires undergrads to pass a swim test http://swimtest.cornell.edu/)

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I've never been a good swimmer, but people that can't swim at all are pathetic failures.

 

[quackagator]

I'm 74 and can't swim

 

[Bill Brasky]

I can't remember not being able to swim.

This.

 

[BoredWork]

Where do you live?

MotionMan

upper midwest near the missouri river. i go tubing down it..but, never learned to swim ^_^

 

[zinfamous]

My nephew learned to swim when he was 3. ...maybe 2.5, actually. He's now 5.

His biggest problem, actually, is that he has no fear. or so his swim coach tells us.

 

[zinfamous]

Huh? You had to pass a swimming class in college? I never heard such a strange requirement before unless you were in the Navy or Coast Guard.

Uh, it was a requirement at every college and university for the better part of the 20th century.

It's a damn shame, honestly, that it is no longer so. All part of being a functional human, if you ask me.

Though I'd say it's more a failure of parenting for not teaching their kids how to swim very early in life.

 

[zinfamous]

how do you not swim? i thought that was a basic instinct. all you do is kick your feet anyway... its not space science...

one has to learn how to stay on the surface to be able to swim. there is no instinct in that.

infants have the diving instinct, where if dunked in water, they will immediately surface (but can't remain on the surface, of course). One of the very few true instincts that humans have.

but this is not swimming.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

I was forced to do swimming in High School because the assholes there made it a requirement before I was able to finish my PE classes. I hated it and only learned to barely swim. If I tried now I would probably drown. Oh well. Glad that's over with though.

 

[Glitchny]

I was forced to do swimming in High School because the assholes there made it a requirement before I was able to finish my PE classes. I hated it and only learned to barely swim. If I tried now I would probably drown. Oh well. Glad that's over with though.

...? why did you hate it?

On Topic: I've known how to swim since I can remember. Used to take lessons at the local college when I was ~5. The funny thing to me about people who don't know how to swim is they still GO TO FUCKING WATER PARKS. When I was a lifeguard at a waterpark, we'd get people all the time who didn't know how to swim. Inevitably one of them would wade too far into the wave pool and get taken out by a wave or be unable to touch the bottom and we'd have to go get the idiot. The best were the people(grown adults) who would go down the water slides and fall off of their tube at the bottom and start spazing out. Apparently they didn't notice that the two lifeguards in the water were STANDING on the bottom while trying to help them. That was almost as entertaining as the kids who thought if they stacked 3 tubes up right and dove through the middle they could make a long raft to float inside, which always ended with them upside-down stuck in the tubes trying to drown themselves.

 

[pcgeek11]

If humans were meant to swim, they'd have gills.

And, no, I can't swim.

If they were meant to ride, they would have wheels on their ass...

Your logic is weak.

You don't need swimming lessons to learn how to swim.

 

[MotionMan]

upper midwest near the missouri river. i go tubing down it..but, never learned to swim ^_^

That is crazy.

MotionMan

 

[pcgeek11]

upper midwest near the missouri river. i go tubing down it..but, never learned to swim ^_^

I heard that Darwin is looking for you... something about an award.

 

[BoredWork]

I heard that Darwin is looking for you... something about an award.

yeah, i know its not the brightest thing..but, as long as you stay in the tube...your fine. i know that i should have some fear of falling in..but, it doesnt bother me. ....hey, never said i was a bright guy.

 

[adlep]

I swim at least 3 times a day. I self taught myself freestyle stroke and a flip turn watching goswim channel on YT.
http://youtu.be/YFQpLyihI5M

 

[BoomerD]

I'm 74 and can't swim

Are you afraid you're gonna break another hip?



I started swimming at a very young age. I loved swimming. Didn't matter too much whether it was a pool, lake, river, or the ocean...if I had the chance, I was in it. Never got SCUBA certified, but I did do some SCUBA diving in my youth. (before the regs were so strict)

Fast forward many years, and with my FUBAR'd back and knee, I can't swim worth a shit anymore. I can still use my arms just fine, but my kicking ability is gone.