Learning how to swim in the 1960s

Way back in the time before computers in the 1960s when most of us had only one television in the house and only two television channels to watch from 6:00 AM in the morning till 12:00 PM at night and spent most of our time in public school from 8:00 AM until 3:00 PM during the week and had to be in the house before dark which was usually about 6:00 PM we still had fun and enjoyed life the best we could.

If we were lucky there was something on TV to watch but most of the time it was news and sports with a few soap operas and game shows tossed in and we had homework so our time was filled with very little to do except read and do homework during the week.

My parents both worked long hours so we did not get out much other than to play after school in the neighborhood before dark. If we had any real fun it would be on weekends when our parents were not working but most of the time we spent our time at home or around home.

My family did not live near a swimming pool, and my Mother did not swim so she did not want me to swim either, so learning to swim was not on my list of things to do until I was about 12 and became a Boy Scout (BS) where we had to learn how to swim.

I have written many stories about my time in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) so it should be no surprise I learned how to swim at a BS summer camp in Central Texas called Camp Tahuaya.

http://www.longhorncouncil.org/camps-properties/boy-scout-camps/camp-tahuaya/

Learning to swim was no easy task for me, but I read the books, practiced the skill in principle without water and was determined to master the fun of swimming at summer camp in 1962. On my forth day at Camp Tahuaya I was scheduled to practice for the BSA swimming merit badge at the Tahuaya outdoor pool along with about fifty other guys. 

On arrival at the large cement pond surrounded by a tall fence it was obvious folks were getting ready to swim, the entire pool was full of guys practicing their swim skills in preparation for the swimming merit badge.

These folks were serious or as serious as I was about obtaining the swimming merit badge, but they seemed to already know how to swim, could I have missed that part of the qualifications for the merit badge? Maybe I embellished my floating and water walking skills when applying for and answering the questions for the swimming merit badge, or maybe my swim skills were better than I thought, but hey I was 12 so life was an embellishment at times.

https://www.meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Swimming

I should point out all of the knowledge requirements for the swimming merit badge were completed with a merit badge counselor at the camping area prior to arrival at the pool, all we had to do at the pool was swim and get our merit badge book signed.

Since everyone else was in the pool treading water, practicing their kicks, flutters, strokes, and ability to enter the water correctly along with a few breathing techniques I jumped in and started my own warm ups for the swimming merit badge.

The swimming merit badge required the following:  

1. Jump feet first into water over the head in depth. Level off and swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: sidestroke, breaststroke, trudgen, or crawl; then swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke. The 100 yards must be completed in one swim without stops and must include at least one sharp turn. After completing the swim, rest by floating.
2. Swim continuously for 150 yards using the following strokes in good form and in a strong manner: front crawl or trudgen for 25 yards, back crawl for 25 yards, sidestroke for 25 yards, breaststroke for 25 yards, and elementary backstroke for 50 yards.
1. Demonstrate water rescue methods by reaching with your arm or leg, by reaching with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects.
2. With a helper and a practice victim, show a line rescue both as tender and as rescuer. The practice victim should be approximately 30 feet from shore in deep water.
3.  
1. Float face-up in a resting position for at least one minute.
2. Demonstrate survival floating for at least five minutes.
3. While wearing a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard–approved life jacket, demonstrate the HELP and huddle positions. Explain their purposes.
4. In water over your head, but not to exceed 10 feet, do each of the following:
1. Use the feet first method of surface diving and bring an object up from the bottom.
2. Do a headfirst surface dive (pike or tuck), and bring the object up again.
3. Do a headfirst surface dive to a depth of at least 5 feet and swim underwater for three strokes. Come to the surface, take a breath, and repeat the sequence twice.
5. Following the guidelines set in the BSA Safe Swim Defense, in water at least 7 feet deep*, show a standing headfirst dive from a dock or pool deck. Show a long shallow dive, also from the dock or pool deck.

The requirements look and sound like a lot to accomplish but in reality we covered the small stuff in groups, then did the major swim task by jumping into the pool at the deep end and swimming to the shallow end, turning and swimming back to the deep end using various swim strokes along the way. Senior Water Safety Instructors were on all sides of the pool evaluating us as we swam, if we met the requirements we passed and if not we got to come back the next session and try again. Lucky for me I was able to get all the swimming merit badge requirements accomplished in my first attempt and get on with other fun aquatic fun stuff.