Help me learn to swim as an adult

SPEAKER: We're going to turn now to our series on Minnesota Now called Professional Help. We all need a little help to get through life sometimes. From everyday questions to more complex problems, we're asking the experts to lend us a hand. Today, we're talking to an expert about how to learn to swim as an adult. Here's Minnesota Now producer Ellie Roth.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

[CHILDREN PLAYING]

ELLIE ROTH: What does this sound remind you of?

[LAUGHING, YELLING, SPLASHING]

For me, it's a summer sound. There's nothing quite like dipping in the pool or a lake to cool off on a hot summer day. But for those who haven't had the privilege or opportunity to learn how to swim, enjoying the water during summer can be challenging, even scary.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 million adults in the US do not know how to swim. How do you learn to swim as an adult? I reached out to Molly Belk, the Aquatic Program Manager at V3 Sports, a North Minneapolis organization that teaches families to swim and aims to close the racial gap in swimming safety.

I wanted to start off by talking about learning how to swim as an adult. I have a friend who's in her 20s who never learned how to swim. And it seems like it's a little bit different to learn as an adult. I mean, how do you get started if you didn't learn to swim when you were a baby or a child?

MOLLY BELK: It needs to be intentional, slowing down that process. So sometimes, as an adult, we don't always learn new things as much as when we were kids, right. We're enrolled in all these sports. We're doing all these things as youths.

But when we're adults, that can be a little bit more uncomfortable. There's a lot of different barriers that come into play, especially with aquatics. There's not a lot of pools. That accessibility is an issue. And then, you have to get into a suit.

There's a lot of different things. Maybe you don't want your hair to get wet, maybe your skin reacts differently to chlorine. So I think we try to provide as much information for those barriers and also address them head on.

So we do something in our lessons that I think is extremely effective with our adult populations. And our adult classes are full, so I think that word is being spread. But we do our "swim beliefs." So we actually sit down with our swimmers and talk about what is swimming to you, do you float, can you float, do you know how to swim, do you have enough air in your lungs to swim well, and let them just open up that conversation.

There's no right answer to these questions. It's just opening that discussion so that they can kind of think about their body in water and that relationship with water before we start our first session. We also do something called our "swim story." And that could be, I've never swam.

So we've had people come, adults that this is maybe their first time even being in a pool. So giving them the time to comprehend that and get to the point where they're like, OK, now I'm ready, I've reflected on my experience and I'm ready to reconcile. I want to do this.

ELLIE ROTH: And what about the fear factor? I think, when you learn to swim as a kid, you kind of forget that. So how do you coach people through overcoming that fear?

MOLLY BELK: A lot of people have traumatic experiences. Maybe they were taught to swim like, hey, just got thrown in. And it didn't work out, and it was really scary. So addressing those, and then really going slow with that.

So maybe today, we're not putting our face underwater. And guess what. It's still a win because you're here, that positive reinforcement. We've had people that maybe the first lesson they just, they're sitting on the edge and they're listening. And they're just taking in that instruction.

So meeting the person where they're at with the fear, addressing the fear is very important, being able to talk through that with your instructor. And really, opening up, what's the cultural socialization of this? How can we use this?

You want to go in the ocean? Let's try this. You want to go scuba diving? Let's try this.

You want to enjoy our lakes? So knowing there's so much to do in water, especially where we live, so you have that goal or that carrot. And that's what drives a lot of people to overcome those fears.

ELLIE ROTH: When it comes to swimming, I think there's a lot of privilege wrapped in learning to swim. It's often really expensive. There's a lot of equipment. Even just finding access to a pool can be really difficult. How do you think we close that gap when it comes to privilege and learning how to swim?

MOLLY BELK: That's the reason-- one of the main reasons V3 Sports exists is to give that accessibility. And swim lessons are extremely expensive. So at V3 Sports, we are constantly looking for ways to subsidize lessons, give lessons away for free, get schools in partnerships in that way. The overall solution to this, I don't what it is exactly.

I look at countries like Australia, they learn to swim there, everyone. So obviously, I think that would be a phenomenal push for us. I mean, St. Paul has done some amazing things. If you live in St. Paul, you can get access to free swim lessons.

We've been able to subsidize almost all of our public lessons. We've give over 200 free lessons away this year, thanks to a partnership group called Outdoor Afro. And the attendance for those has been phenomenal.

ELLIE ROTH: You've taught a lot of people how to swim throughout your years. Is there a moment that sticks out?

MOLLY BELK: There's a group that about three years ago, we started doing some swimming at Franklin Middle School before we had this facility. And we worked with a family. And they had-- well, they have nine kids, but five of the kiddos came and started swimming with us. And then we got the mom to come swim with us.

And then, it was like, we're family swimming now. And just teaching them the skills, getting them going, and then we were like, all right, let's do some pre lifeguarding. So we actually built a program, a pre lifeguarding program. It's called Atlas.

So we had five of them, and now, three of them are lifeguards and swim guides at V3 sports. And in that three years, they developed their skills. I mean, they're all in. And I think just seeing that love of water and them interacting with other kids now, now that they're a bit older, has been just a wonderful experience to see that full journey.

And even the mom, she's going to take the lifeguarding test as well. So I think it's cross generational. The youngest sisters, I've heard say, oh, I can't wait to be a lifeguard. So seeing that whole family grow within aquatics has been really special. And this is their community space now.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

SPEAKER: That was producer Ellie Roth chatting with V3 Aquatic Sports Manager Molly Belk. Are you interested in learning more about V3 Sports or taking a swim lesson? They're hosting the Northside Jamboree this Saturday at their facility in North Minneapolis. You can find more information on our website, mprnews.org.