Do You Know, What You Don't Know?

Two weekends ago I participated in the Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety course, delivered by Austswim.

This is the course that gives you the knowledge and skills to become a swim teacher.

Now, you might be thinking ‘how does Andre not have his swim teacher certificate after running OceanFit for eight years!’ (the short answer is that we hold surf lifesaving awards)

I did a quick count, and I reckon I’ve held three different swim teacher certificates in my lifetime, and I’ve achieved them on two continents, and my home Island nation.

When I thought about it, this was really just scratching the surface of the 100’s of aquatic and safety-related qualifications I’ve held over the years, many of which I’ve also re-qualified for, over and over and over again.

I used to get annoyed at having to repeat all these courses, surely you just learn it all once, and then your experience takes over and you’re done, right?

Well, that’s how I used to think, anyway.

I really enjoyed completing the swim teacher course again, and, contrary to my pre-course beliefs, I learnt new content and new ways to teach, by different teachers, with different teaching styles.

At the end of the day, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and it was a refreshing realisation, and I’m a better instructor for it.

The reality is, most people would be like the old me.

We tend to think we know everything (males especially), and, if we have learnt something once before, we don’t think we need to learn it again.

I come across lots of swimmers thinking like the old me – fighting the ocean, believing that this is just how it is. They learnt once back in the day, and now that they’ve been swimming for a while, they’re too proud to find out if there’s a better way.

They don’t know, what they don’t know.

If there’s one thing you should do this spring in preparation for the ocean swims season, it’s to retrain and refresh. Go and find out what you don’t know!

Here are some ideas you might like to try: