Not knowing how to swim

Inner city people in the US dont have access to pools and thus dont often learn how to swim

Same reason i never learned. I'm not explosive though
Gotcha
 
I'm 24 and have no idea how to swim. I'm probably on a boat or the beach 30 times throughout the summer, plus all the times at a pool. Not knowing how to swim has not had a major impact on my life.
 
Inner city people in the US dont have access to pools and thus dont often learn how to swim

Same reason i never learned. I'm not explosive though

That's not even close to the full story, tho. There are a lot of cultural reasons why blacks can't swim, starting with the fact that the few public pools available to people who grew up in the city were segregated and off limit to blacks right up until the 1960s. There are plenty of stories from the 60s of people demanding swimming pools be drained and cleaned because they let a colored kid in the pool. There are a bunch of posters here in Sherdog who are old enough to remember that era (not me, haha).

Most people learn how to swim from their family and friends, at least initially. I learned from my dad and my family from hanging out at swimming pools and swimming holes. Likely, if your dad and your cousins don't swim, you don't swim, either.

And kidding about hair aside, there are a LOT of black hairstyles that are completely incompatible with swimming. Especially women's hairstyle.

And yeah, it is effectively discriminatory to have swimming as a requirement for a job that has nothing to do with swimming. Swimming used to be a stand-in for general fitness, that's it. There are other ways of testing that. And while you could conceive of a one in a million hypothetical scenario where a firefighter might be required to swim, the overwhelming majority will never be in a situation where it's an issue. Unless it's harbor/river unit or something.
 
I'm 24 and have no idea how to swim. I'm probably on a boat or the beach 30 times throughout the summer, plus all the times at a pool. Not knowing how to swim has not had a major impact on my life.

Swimming in the sea is awesome and my favourite thing to do when i go to the beach. If you can't swim you might as well go sunbathe in a field.
 
I'm a great swimmer. Made it to the county championships a few times when I was young. I refused to wear a speedo when I turned 11 and quit. My nieces have been taking lessons starting at two.

You wanted to go commando?
 
Perhaps where some people grew up, the only water available is not something you want to swim in.
 
I worked on a lobster boat for a while and you'd be shocked how many fishermen say they don't know how to swim.

A guy drowned one day right next to the docks. Fell off the dock and couldn't swim well enough to make it a few feet to the shore.
I don't like to be insensitive in such grave matters, but to me, the idea of professional open-sea fisherman drowning next to a dock or in calm waters deserves its own category at the Darwin awards.
 
I couldn't imagine not being able to swim. It's right up there with riding a bike.
 
Can't remember a time when I couldn't at least dog paddle from the middle of a pool to the ladders. Swimming out to the ends of the surf lines by ten. Grew up on the beaches, though.
 
My brother can barely swim. I'm no Michael Phelps, but I know how to swim. You don't want to be a real life GTA character do you? Learn how to swim people.
 
Swimming should be instinct. Everyone can do it. Anyone who can't swim, can't do it because they tell themselves they can't. It's all in their head.... Unless they are handicapped or something

It always came natural to me. I remember taking a few lessons at a YMCA as a kid, and that's about it. I was lucky enough to have a pool growing up, and I remember my dad just tossing me in after that. I also grew up near the Great Lakes in Canada, so I was always at beaches on lake Erie or Huron.

I never understood how people can't swim. I mean, at the very least if you're not morbidly obese you should be able to tread water for a few minutes until someone can come get you. Drowning 5 feet from a dock or 20 feet out from a beach in calm waters is something I simply can't wrap my brain around. I guess people just panic, or it's a mental thing where they for whatever reason convince themselves they can't swim.
 
That's not even close to the full story, tho. There are a lot of cultural reasons why blacks can't swim, starting with the fact that the few public pools available to people who grew up in the city were segregated and off limit to blacks right up until the 1960s. There are plenty of stories from the 60s of people demanding swimming pools be drained and cleaned because they let a colored kid in the pool. There are a bunch of posters here in Sherdog who are old enough to remember that era (not me, haha).

Most people learn how to swim from their family and friends, at least initially. I learned from my dad and my family from hanging out at swimming pools and swimming holes. Likely, if your dad and your cousins don't swim, you don't swim, either.

And kidding about hair aside, there are a LOT of black hairstyles that are completely incompatible with swimming. Especially women's hairstyle.

And yeah, it is effectively discriminatory to have swimming as a requirement for a job that has nothing to do with swimming. Swimming used to be a stand-in for general fitness, that's it. There are other ways of testing that. And while you could conceive of a one in a million hypothetical scenario where a firefighter might be required to swim, the overwhelming majority will never be in a situation where it's an issue. Unless it's harbor/river unit or something.

Car drives into a body of water. Not exactly a 1 in a million situation in many places, happens all the time. People may need to be rescued. No problem with it being a requirement for the fire brigade, they do more than fight fires.
Soldiers need to be able to swim right? How often do they actually swim in the line of duty?
 
I couldn't imagine not being able to swim. It's right up there with riding a bike.

I got a new staff in September, 22 years old Burmese, just graduated with a civil engineering diploma. He had never ridden a bike in his life.
I was speechless when he told me that...and quite sad.

He has since learned because using a bicycle instead of walking is very useful in his job.
 
Car drives into a body of water. Not exactly a 1 in a million situation in many places, happens all the time. People may need to be rescued. No problem with it being a requirement for the fire brigade, they do more than fight fires.
Soldiers need to be able to swim right? How often do they actually swim in the line of duty?

Not in the US Army they don't. I knew plenty of guys who couldn't swim. They'd end up on the kiddie side of the pool whenever we did those water confidence jumps and water treading and how to take off your pants and use them as a flotation device and shit. I knew how to do half that stuff from my swimming merit badge in the boy scouts but that's when I really noticed that a lot a black dudes just don't swim.

I got a new staff in September, 22 years old Burmese, just graduated with a civil engineering diploma. He had never ridden a bike in his life.
I was speechless when he told me that...and quite sad.

He has since learned because using a bicycle instead of walking is very useful in his job.

Yeah, there are parts of Burma where there are literally no roads, just a vast network of interconnecting waterways.
 
Swimming is as easy as riding a bicycle. Don't panic and you're halfway there basically.
Gotta be careful when swimming in the sea though.
 
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