Ginno Learns to Swim

For 2016 I have teamed up with Highlife Highland to take part in their Learn to swim programme.

Published 19th Jan 2016

By Ginno Conti | Ginno @ Breakfast

For 2016 I have teamed up with Highlife Highland to take part in their Learn to swim programme.

I have been paired with an instructor, she’s called Kelly and with 22 years of experience under her belt (or should that be armbands?!) I’m sure I’ll be a natural in a few weeks.

So, where do we start, yes of course it’s in the pool but the first thing that Kelly needs to gauge is how I am in the water. The less scared the more we can start doing.

Lesson 1

My first lesson is simply me getting familiar in the water.

Before we start I’ll be very straight with you, this is probably the most nerve wrecking thing I’ve ever had to do, I’m not 100% comfortable in water but there’s added stress to and that feeling that I should be able to swim at my age.

Take a listen and find out how I got on!

Lesson 2

I’m two lessons into learning to swim and already I’m feeling a lot more confident in the water. Probably not at all confident to go anywhere near the deep end yet but my instructor Kelly says that will happen later on. For this lesson it’s really to see how I’ve progressed after learning to relax in the water and kick to propel myself. I got promoted this week and was given my very own pair of goggles!

The goggles are to help me put my face in the water but it took more than goggles for me to get the courage to do it. Amazingly, I also managed to swim unaided with my head in the water by the end of the lesson, did 5M!!!! My only worry now, there might be some sort of set back next week as I move onto breathing in the water and improving my overall technique, so we’ll see.

Lesson 3

Halfway through learning to swim and I feel that I’ve been doing well, my confidence is up but I have a massive obstacle to overcome. That’s learning to breath in sync with my strokes. Toughest thing I have ever had to do and I feel this will be something that will take a whole lot of getting used to in the coming weeks.

:: Find out more about Love To Swim from Highlife Highland.