The Social Aspect

Ever since I can remember I have pestered my parents at any given chance to take me to the pool, I just always loved being in the water. It was then a clear indication was given that enrolling me in swimming lessons would be an obvious choice to further my passion as well as improve on my existing skills and abilities. 

 

Going to swimming lessons was a key part of my childhood and I still have so many fond memories of them to date. Even though it was only for half an hour once a week, it was just enough to keep me healthy and active for around five years. From this experience I was able to form a close bond with my instructors and make lots of new friends who I got to progress through lessons with. 

 

From this point on and having my interests and passion nurtured in the sport, I was even more keen to keep it up. I joined a local swimming club where I learned many of the social benefits that swimming can bring you. At this point I was training 3 or 4 times a week, surrounding myself with all the familiar faces I quickly got to know and became embraced within the community. This for me is a really important attribute of being involved in the sport as it massively helped my confidence and social skills by constantly being introduced to new people and helping them integrate themselves in the team. 

 

I think that being part of a team can bring huge social benefits for an individual. Speaking from experience, I can certainly say it has worked wonders for my confidence as I can easily make conversation with new people and I was able to represent my team in various locations across central Scotland. In my opinion, having these social groups is so important for a persons development and can transfer these social skills to other areas of life. I fully believe that swimming is a great way to form these groups and it is crucially important that we remind ourselves that this sport is not simply exercise, a huge part of it is all the people that you are involved with.