Current Events > Is the absolute inability to SWIM real?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can swim great right now, but I remember that even at my worst, I could at the very least do the dog paddle. The point is, even when I wasn't good at it, I don't know the feeling of being unable to stay afloat in the pool.

Is it possible for a person to be completely incapable of swimming, despite have a competent body, and being able to do every required action correctly? Can there be a physical flaw in an otherwise perfect body that makes the person incapable of keeping themself afloat? Or is it truly because they simply did not learn how to yet, and the same for all people who can't swim?

Not everyone floats. Some people do just sink.

You'd think everyone would float. But it's just not the case.

go flat. you will float

It's still something you need to learn and not everyone lives near water.

If you're caught off guard with no air in the lungs when submerging then you'll sink easier.

One has to be able to float (even if it means having to learn how to tread water if they are not naturally buoyant) before they can swim.

Just_a_loser posted...

Not everyone floats. Some people do just sink.

You'd think everyone would float. But it's just not the case.

The human body floats. I think its all psychological. I don't believe anyone is impossible to float. They just have to learn how to relax and not panic

Just_a_loser posted...

Not everyone floats. Some people do just sink.

You'd think everyone would float. But it's just not the case.

Everyone floats down here.

But seriously, I'm a poor swimmer and can definitely remember a time when I couldn't even manage a dog paddle or float.

But like ^ they said, a lot of that (non floating) is likely panic. Or water conditions or something.

I understand why this phenomena would be surprising to some people.

However, as someone who's swam like an otter since childhood I have also noticed hundreds of people who don't. I'm tall, athletic, with big feet for paddling. I can coast just by kicking alone. I have to try to sink, it's how my body is built. I also grew up in locations where there was plenty of lakes, rivers, and beaches to swim. Many people in the US don't actually have those traits or experience when it comes to swimming.

What I'm saying is life threw me a lot of reasons to become a better swimmer. By contrast, there's people out there, in big cities for example, who had very little initiative to swim throughout their whole individual existence. Really. They either had other things to do for fun or lived in conditions where it wasn't safe to stray far enough from home to find a swimming spot. Often the people in the latter situation also lacked the means or social connections where something seemingly as generic as a neighborhood swimming pool was an option. Plenty of poor inner city folk who never learned how to swim. Other times it wasn't a case of class, but availability. Some people didn't have the time or convenience for swimming experience. It happens.

This was a discovery for me when I was younger. It didn't really hit me that some people manage to go through life without any motivation to learn how to swim. This included some of the men I dated who sank like rocks or had phobias of drowning. Many of them grew up under conditions I mentioned above. Couple of them practically considered my ability to swim well like a superpower, which to me was as ridiculous as it sounds. I tried to help them gently learn, but their fears often won out. Thankfully there's plenty else to do in the modern era.

I learned how to swim once but I would probably sink if I tried now. The sea is cursed and I hate the idea of public pools ever since I saw an old man's crack at one. Nasty.

ClockworkHare posted...

I understand why this phenomena would be surprising to some people.

However, as someone who's swam like an otter since childhood I have also noticed hundreds of people who don't. I'm tall, athletic, with big feet for paddling. I can coast just by kicking alone. I have to try to sink, it's how my body is built. I also grew up in locations where there was plenty of lakes, rivers, and beaches to swim. Many people in the US don't actually have those traits or experience when it comes to swimming.

What I'm saying is life threw me a lot of reasons to become a better swimmer. By contrast, there's people out there, in big cities for example, who had very little initiative to swim throughout their whole individual existence. Really. They either had other things to do for fun or lived in conditions where it wasn't safe to stray far enough from home to find a swimming spot. Often the people in the latter situation also lacked the means or social connections where something seemingly as generic as a neighborhood swimming pool was an option. Plenty of poor inner city folk who never learned how to swim. Other times it wasn't a case of class, but availability. Some people didn't have the time or convenience for swimming experience. It happens.

This was a discovery for me when I was younger. It didn't really hit me that some people manage to go through life without any motivation to learn how to swim. This included some of the men I dated who sank like rocks or had phobias of drowning. Many of them grew up under conditions I mentioned above. Couple of them practically considered my ability to swim well like a superpower, which to me was as ridiculous as it sounds. I tried to help them gently learn, but their fears often won out. Thankfully there's plenty else to do in the modern era.

Am I the only one in this board who's actually played organized tackle football before?

Like half of the comments I've seen on this server are so obviously written by non-athletes that it's almost humorous.

When I was in high school (3 year starter for our varsity football team) I would get a full-on sprint going and clock the shit outta whoever had the ball. My coaches called me "speedhawk" as a nickname cause I had such a nose for the football and for those three seasons I was considered the most feared safety in our conference. Senior year I led my team to the state semifinals only to get fucked over by the refs in the 4th but that's another conversation (DM me if you're interested in hearing about it)

So, yeah. I hope yall can understand why I feel like there's such a big disconnect between myself and your typical CE user. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way lol

ThisUsersAlt posted...

Am I the only one in this board who's actually played organized tackle football before?

Like half of the comments I've seen on this server are so obviously written by non-athletes that it's almost humorous.

When I was in high school (3 year starter for our varsity football team) I would get a full-on sprint going and clock the shit outta whoever had the ball. My coaches called me "speedhawk" as a nickname cause I had such a nose for the football and for those three seasons I was considered the most feared safety in our conference. Senior year I led my team to the state semifinals only to get fucked over by the refs in the 4th but that's another conversation (DM me if you're interested in hearing about it)

So, yeah. I hope yall can understand why I feel like there's such a big disconnect between myself and your typical CE user. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way lol

What's this got to do with swimmin

To me, swimming and driving are two of the most important skills that everyone should learn

gmanthebest posted...

To me, swimming and driving are two of the most important skills that everyone should learn

I can't do either

not everybody grew up and lives where they gotta worry about floods or hurricanes lol
i know how to swim, but i get why bunch of people today never bothered to learn how

they live in parts of the world where the odds of drowning are like 0%
some of us live in parts of the world where we gotta worry more about dying to guns and traffic than water

Is "swim" real? He sounds like a dumbass drug user lol.

frozenstar posted...

Is "swim" real? He sounds like a dumbass drug user lol.

Heh

=P

I forgot to mention, I'm thinking about my childhood friend as an example. She and I, and our friends, used to hang out and go to the rec center swimming pool every two weeks. We tried to teach her, but well into her teenage years, she couldn't learn how to swim, and still can't.

No fear of water, no panic, and no lack of chance to practice. It just really does look like she can't, no matter what. And though she was always pretty poor at sports, she had no real significant physical disability.

I made this topic about people who have had the opportunity to learn how to swim in mind, but seemingly can't after what appears to be more than enough time.

I assume the people that can't swim, can't because they get afraid of the idea of not being able to swim (possibly drowning) Literally everyone floats, so it is definitely not an issue with that.

I think the main problem from what I've seen is that a lot of people first learning how to swim or even first trying, all seem to lack the swimming dexterity or whatever to balance themselves in the water.

Tenaku posted...

I forgot to mention, I'm thinking about my childhood friend as an example. She and I, and our friends, used to hang out and go to the rec center swimming pool every two weeks. We tried to teach her, but well into her teenage years, she couldn't learn how to swim, and still can't.

No fear of water, no panic, and no lack of chance to practice. It just really does look like she can't, no matter what. And though she was always pretty poor at sports, she had no real significant physical disability.

I made this topic about people who have had the opportunity to learn how to swim in mind, but seemingly can't after what appears to be more than enough time.

Maybe she just couldn't ever fully relax, despite her seemingly sense of no fear. If you still talk to her, you could ask her about that.

Paragon21XX posted...

One has to be able to float (even if it means having to learn how to tread water if they are not naturally buoyant) before they can swim.

As somebody who has taught many people to swim, I wouldnt agree with that. Maybe its your wording rather than your point though.

I am not good at treading water but I can swim.

I rely heavily on my legs and can only really float on my back.

gmanthebest posted...

To me, swimming and driving are two of the most important skills that everyone should learn

Swimming isn't even top 10 if your work doesn't even involve it or you don't live say...on a riverbank, venice, and the like.

I can swim but not paddle

I can swim but not float.

My body just has some kind of density to it, regardless of what weight I'm at. I could be 135 or 170 lean, sink all the same.