Swimming And Me

For the last, roughly, 5 years, I have loved to swim, I find it so relaxing, and not being a naturally sporty person, it has been a great way to get out and do exercise! However, my love of swimming hasn't come to me easy, and there has been lots of hard work to get to loving this wonderful sport.


I think my earliest memory of being in water was when I was 3 in the blow-up mini pool in the garden, which I enjoyed jumping around in. I'd probably only be in it for a short time though, as I would want to get out and do sometime else!

When I was around 4, I went to the town pool (indoor) for the 1st time. I'd spend the whole time clinging to my parent and not really moving freely in the water. This may have been due to the fact I didn't like the loud noises of the pool, or I found the water being deeper an overwhelming experience. Whatever reason it was, I wouldn't swim freely at all. After a few months, I was given some armbands to help me with my confidence in swimming, however they didn't really help either. I just wasn't a naturally sporty person and wasn't ready to swim!

Around the time I was 5, (or maybe 6, sorry the story of my swimming is based on loose fragments of my memory from many moons ago, some things may be inaccurate, and that is why!) I joined some swimming groups with other kids. It was to gain confidence in the water, and, of course, eventually learn to swim. We would play games like going down a tiny water slide and fetching objects from under the water. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I remember getting really upset, because I didn't enjoy it and wasn't gaining anything useful from it. After a week, they stopped, and let's just say, I was very happy about that!

For the next 4 years, it was just me not really swimming properly and the same thing happening as I have mentioned above (don't panic... the happy stuff is near!)

When I was 9, we were doing swimming classes at school, and I could remember how good everyone else was at swimming. This motivated me to finally be able to swim, so one day, I finally let go of my float, and swam without help! I felt so proud of myself, and like I had conquered and overcome a brick wall that had been in my way for ages. I can still in my head hear the cheers of my parents and family, and, at the next school swimming lesson, how impressed my teacher was with how I had improved.

From there, it was a case of improving my technique and swimming more and more. I think my favourite stroke at one time used to be the butterfly! I never forgot how to swim, and just kept going and going.

Now, 5 years on, swimming is one of my favourite things to do. Now the summer is here, I try to go to the pool once a week, and swim 500m (20 lengths) I also try to go down the water slides, however the last time I went down the slide, I got foot cramp in the middle of the slide, which was very painful!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this story, and you can sympathize with me on how you have to persevere to achieve something awesome, whether it be swimming, riding a bike or learning any other new skill.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Noah :)