Learn to swim & learn to dive

12.1. Preparation for diving

To begin with, the breathing technique is trained on land or in shallow water, to prevent anyone later choking on water during their first swimming attempts. Everyone accidentally “goes under” now and again when they first start learning to swim. To prevent the learner experiencing this as unpleasant or even panicking, the swimming teacher should take a lot of time beforehand to present diving as an enjoyable game. An exercise to do at home: Diving can be practiced at home by first trying to hold the breath out of the water for as long as possible and then blowing hard again. Anyone who can hold their breath for 3 seconds can also try doing it with their head under water. After that, the time can be increased step by step. Next step: Learn to swim - 12.2. The diving obstacle course and the initial successes