Saw a person who’s taller than me almost drown in front of me.

It happened in my university’s swimming pool. Our pool is designed to be just like the Olympic swimming pool. So we have all the 50m length and the increasing depth from one end to the other end.

The standard Olympic pool.

I was teaching a university student on swimming. And we started from the shallow end of the pool.

Because of how tall he was (180-185 cm), it was a funny sight from other people’s point of view.

Me a short 158 cm teaching a 180 cm guy. Some more, I’m a girl and he’s a guy. It looked like I was standing beside a basketball player or something.

Anyway:

He was a 180cm-tall guy standing on a ~120cm deep pool.

So image my shock when he almost drowned because he couldn’t stand back up himself after I taught him how to float.

He kept flapping his arms on the water, his legs unable to touch the ground, and frantically tried to ask for help so that he could grab on something. ANYTHING!

I gave him my arms and finally he stood back up.

After getting a few deep breath, he felt much better.

When I asked what’s wrong, he told me this:

“I don’t know what happened. I just suddenly couldn’t feel my legs… I think I just panic.”

So here’s the question:

How can a person seemingly unafraid of water panic this much to the point they drown in a water level that’s shorter than them?

We have already had the answer in that question itself.

Panic.

A sudden uncontrollable fear which often creates irrational and unthinking behaviour.

What we commonly called as a “Flight and Fight” situation.

When we’re put in a life threatening situation, we will panic.

When we’re put in an unfamiliar situation, we will panic.

When we’re in the “Flight and Fight” situation, it’ll trigger the adrenaline flows in our bodies. which may make us overcome incredible odds, like lifting enormous weight, with some superhero strength.

That’s why we saw that video where a mom can lift up a truck to save her kids when time is dire and she’s pushed to a brink of acting in a very unusual, not-ordinary way.

But, this “powerful adrenaline flow” can create more problems for a drowning victim.

Like the 180cm guy, the “Fight and Flight” response makes him start flailing his arms harder, splashing and sputtering water.

Which suddenly the most viable option — standing up in a shallow water — makes no sense to them because of their “fight” mode.

There are few prevention tips for this, eg. swim under supervision, always have floatation devices, do not swim under injury or under exhaustion, and more.

But the best way is what the 180cm guy did: learn swimming skills and water safety.

Because the more people know about something, the less scared they’re, and the less they will do the “Fight and Flight” mode.

Remember: swimming is more than just a sport. It’s a life and death survival skill.

If you learn it properly, you will get to own a lifelong skill that makes you feel more confidently and independently moving in the water.

Our 15-year teaching experience in the swimming industry might come in handy for you.

Just come to any of our centres in Klang Valley, book an appointment for a 30-minute trial, then our professional coach will show you how to get comfortable about water, water survival skills and the basics of swimming knowledge that you may not know.

Book your free trial here: https://optimumtrain.com/

Scroll to the bottom of the page, fill out the form, and our customer service team will contact you as soon as possible.

Vivian Ho
Former Swim Coach
Optimum Train Swim School

P.S. Do you have interesting stories about swimming, water parks, or playing water? Reply to me and I’ll feature them in the next email.

Special Shoutout: Coach Nicole & Coach Jia Min

This video shows how our two female coaches conduct a Young Swimmer class (aged between 3-5 years old) with 6 active babies 🧒 

In our swim school, we believe that teacher-students communication is as important as learning to swim, especially for kids as young as 5 years old. See yourself in the video below 👇️ on 5+ tips to manage a bunch of kids without losing their attention for 60 minutes.

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