At the start of March I got a message from Alexandra enquiring about adult lessons, nothing out of the ordinary there you may think - but little did we know the journey we were about to embark on.
I could see immediately that she was nervous and felt that the best option was to get her in as quickly as possible after a quick chat. Now it was this chat that was to open up her relationship with water.
13 years ago she went swimming with school in her native Romania and another child decided to grab her and pull her under the water, the next thing she remembers is waking in hospital and the Drs saying that she was lucky to be alive. Ever since she has had dreams where she sees herself sinking in water.
Just getting in contact and wanting to fight this and beat it is amazing, but she has a clear goal of a holiday in Egypt in May - I need to swim!!
Working through the Aquaphobic Learning Pathway we gently broke down the barriers, starting with floating on her back, standing and getting the ears in the water. Alexandra started to relax, but the drive to get it right in some ways was holding her back. Some sessions she would say I am proud and others she would not - it was then that I had to talk her through how well she was doing - her classic response, 'I pay you to say that' became a standing joke in our sessions.
The time came to get her onto her front and this was clearly going to be hard for her. We started off with me simply dragging her round the pool, her head was up and she slowly let herself relax enough to move onto the noodle and float. Kicking the full 10m holding the noodle and then her new best friend the float she was getting more and more comfortable, so the time came to address the elephant in the room and putting the face in.
Through shear determination and a will to do it, she did it. We started off simply holding the breath to release the sensation of having the water on the face, then we progressed to goggles, eyes open and bubbles. A huge step and one that by her own admission was difficult - but she did it....
And then it happened, Alexandra had been swimming using the float or my hands doing catch up and I knew that she could go solo, she just needed to be mentally there. I took her over the deep water and we did star floats with the eyes open and I felt the time was right, so on the next length I slowly moved my hands away from hers and she swam....
13 years after her terrible incident, after 3 and half weeks of intensive work, determination, guts and a never say never attitude Alexandra you are a swimmer.....
Both of us were so happy, she practically danced down the side of the pool after her session, her real passion, I was so happy for her and the process we had gone through and it just goes to show that no matter what, with the tuition, the right approach and the determination to succeed anything is possible.
I am just a simple swimming teacher, doing what I love giving people the love of the water that I was given as a child by my parents - but it is meeting people like Alexandra and having such a huge impact on their lives is something I never anticipated or knew I could do when I embarked on this journey.
Long may it continue......
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