We Learn By Messing Up

I dabble in about everything, but one of my truest passions is teaching (well, and writing). Beyond just teaching, I love teaching swim lessons. (It's been two decades and I am still doing it - so I must love it right?) I have had the same swimmer since May and he is a child who is a) an extremely good listener and b) quite insightful for his age.

Rotary breathing is probably the most difficult skill to teach a swimmer. Other issues, such as relaxing enough to float or putting your face in the water come with exposure and a true acceptance of the water being helpful for you. But rotary breathing is a different story. It is hard. It is hard to teach because there are so, so, so many things for your body to remember before you move from the cognitive stage of learning to the autonomous stage of learning.

Tonight, we worked on the very beginning piece of rotary breathing. It was a lot of imagination - talk to the fish, listen to the fish. Use a blowing arm and a breathing arm. I demonstrated. I let my swimmer try. I knew he wouldn't be perfect, no one is on his/her first attempt.

I looked at him and said, "I'm glad you tried." His look told me that he was trying and knew that it was messy.

He said, "We learn by messing up."

Yes, kiddo, we do. And you will too. Rotary breathing takes practice, but once you get it - you will have the hardest part of swimming mastered and I bet that you'll be doing flip turns like the swimmers that you are fascinated by when you walk out of the pool.