Leonard Morse 12/21/2010 ? Personal Narrative Short Paper How I had to learn to swim. Learning something new for me can usually be somewhat of an experience that’s frightening for me at various times in my life. One of the most difficult things that I had to do was learn how to swim because I was pushed into a pool when I was around 12 or 13 years old and it scared the daylights out of me. I was afraid of deep waters, but after being pushed into the pool as horseplay from my friends, I came to the conclusion that I ad to learn to swim to remove the fear and phobias that I had.
I also started to lift weights and exercise to help me to become physically stronger as I was a very skinny kid growing up. As I began to learn how to swim, I became more confident in myself as a person. As I stated earlier, situations new to me always make me a bit nervous, and my first swimming lesson was no exception.
After I changed into my swimming trunks in the locker-room, I stood by the side of the pool, cold and scared waiting for the physical ducation teacher who was teaching us the swimming lessons and the other students to show up. After a couple of minutes the teacher came over. He introduced himself to us, and to the other students who were waiting. As I remember, there were girls in my class and many of them knew how to swim and I felt kind of embarrassed because they knew how and I didn’t.
I began to feel more at ease once I started to focus on what the instructor was saying to all of us and not being easily distracted by looking at the other advanced swimmers.
As we were all in the pool getting our swimming lessons using the rubber floats to help us stay afloat, I remember one of the other students had already taken the beginning class once before, took a kickboard and went splashing off by himself. I was told to hold on to the side of the pool and shown how to kick for the breaststroke. One by one, the teacher had us hold on to a kickboard while He pulled it through the water and we kicked. Pretty soon I was off doing this by myself, with confidence but still knowing that this was only a board holding me afloat and not the real eal yet. I still had some resistance about going under water and holding my breath , but the teacher was very patient with me and the other students that were just learning how to swim. After a couple of weeks more weeks, when I seemed to have caught on with my legs, she taught me the arm strokes. Now I had two things to concentrate on, my arms and my legs. I felt hopelessly uncoordinated. Sooner than I imagined, however, things began to feel “right” and I was able to swim! It was wonderful free feeling – like flying, maybe – to be able to shoot across the water.
Learning to swim was not easy for me, but in the end my persistence paid off. Not only did I learn how to swim and to conquer my fear of the water, but I also learned something about learning. Now when I am faced with a new situation I am not so nervous. I may feel uncomfortable to begin with, but I know that as I practice being in that situation and as my skills get better, I will feel more and more comfortable. It is a wonderful, free feeling when you achieve a goal you have set for yourself. (GE-102)-12. 20. 10 ENGLISH/WRITING COMPOSITION (ICDC. GE-102-12. 20. 10) > UNIT THREE ?
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