As a swimming instructor and physical educator of 21 years, I have seen many children come to the pool for their lessons but never enter the water due to their heightened sense of anxiety. They spend most of their precious instructional time sitting at the edge of the pool, on a nearby deck chair, or crying out loudly to be taken home. If you are fortunate enough to have the facilities to teach swimming to youngsters at your school, you may be able to assist them in minimizing or overcoming their anxieties by understanding the origins of anxiety and developing new teaching methods to cope with their situations.
Individuals can experience either state anxiety or trait anxiety in a performance setting.
Hence, when children arrive at the pool for their swimming lessons, the mere sight of a large pool of water may begin to arouse increased levels of anxiety. Children with trait anxiety already possess varying degrees of anxiety before ever reaching the swimming pool area, however, once there, the anxiety levels may rise even more. The degree of anxiety non-swimmers experience will be determined by the amount of threat that is perceived by each individual. Minimizing Anxiety Methodology designed to reduce anxiety in non-swimmers can begin with prevention and awareness. Always supervise non-swimmers in, on, or around the water.