When Guirlene's boat capsized in Mexico this past December her fist thought was that she couldn't help her family.
She had been out on a dingy – a small floating raft – with her daughter and her husband in Mexico. But when the boat unexpectedly flipped and dumped the family into deep water, Guirlene panicked – she had a fear of water and couldn't swim.
"All I remember saying to my husband was 'save the children save the children,' she recalled. "I was quite embarassed not knowing how to swim and floundering around."
Guirlene (who wished to only use her first name) isn't the only Cochranite who has a fear of water and lack the skills to stay afloat and to address that, Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) hosted a one-time learn to swim event, ‘For the Love of Water,’ on June 28.
About a dozen people in total showed up at the sports centre pool for the one-night lesson. Each participant had one on one coaching with a swim instructor.
"I decided to join this awesome program because i want to get more comfortable with water," Carleen said. "i decided, if I would have stayed calm, probably i would have been better to handle it but I wasn't calm so that's my motivation – learning how to stay calm under a tense situation in water."
John Napier, director of aquatics at the sports centre said he believes people can learn to swim at any age though it can be more of a challenge for adults.
"We find it's the mental game with adults - we all have that fear that gets ingrained in us from either past trauma or experiences," Napier said, adding that it's still possible to learn at any age.
"We feel swimming is a life skill," Napier said.
Valentina Fenton, 39, said she also decided to give the lesson a try.
"I'm here to kind of get over the anxiety of water so I can enjoy it with my children and my husband and go on boat rides – we own a boat," Fenton said. "I've gone on it twice and that was a nightmare."
Fenton said as a child she had several negative experiences and decided to never participate, until now.
"I was never taught any lessons as a child, I wasn't encouraged to go in water," Fenton said. "I was kind of coddled with my fear for 39 years...I don't want to pass that fear onto my children."
