Was doing 2 lengths of the swimming pool before you were allowed in the deep end standard practice across the UK?

Posted by peeiayz@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 71 comments

I'm an 80s scottish baby that grew up in the 90s and we would visit the local swimming pool at least once a week, twice if the inflatables were out that week lol.

Anyway before you were allowed to go in the deep end of the pool you had to show you could swim. This involved swimming 2 lengths of the swimming pool with no break. As a young child doing your 2 lengths was 1 of those achievements you wanted to get quickly lol.

My questions are-

1) was this common practice across the UK? Did everyone have to do some kind of swim test, whether it was 2 lengths or something different, to be allowed in the deep end?

2) Is there still some sort of test involved to prove you can swim or can you just go in the deep end whenever?

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hengehanger@reddit

How can you swim 2 lengths of the pool without going into the deep end?

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FryOneFatManic@reddit

England. Our pool was 1 length back in the 70s/80s, no idea about now.

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craftyorca135@reddit

Only when I was doing tests for my certificates. I did it no problem as a hobby. School swimming was a nightmare though. They made my swimming lessons a horrible experience and I'm still not sure why. We had to do a certain number of metres before we could not do swimming anymore and have a break class where the swimming lesson would've been. Despite me having literal certificates saying I could do it, they still made me go. I had done it in their pool as well, but it wasn't good enough.

In the end I'm sure they just gave up and let me go to the break class.

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Queen_of_London@reddit

My daughter's school made her go to basic swimming lessons starting from the basics. She had been comfortable with swimming lengths since she was 3 years old and had completed every stage of the swimming scheme, and they made her sit on the side for ages, shivering, and then get a 5m badge to add her to her five metre badge from years earlier.

She got told off for doing things that were beyond the ability range they wanted, like being able to dive to the bottom of the pool and pick up a dropped locker key. It encouraged kids who couldn't swim to try the same, because they didn't differentiate based on ability.

I did eventually persuade them that it wasn't helpful. She needed extra maths classes, so it was better do that at that time, or anything rather than not actually swimming. It even put her off swimming for a while and made her feel like she was doing something wrong by being good at it. Sad considering that it was something she should have been able to shine at.

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craftyorca135@reddit

Well at the time I had ear plugs for an ear problem and they wouldn't let me wear the custom ones, so I was stuck with ones that I was convinced were gonna fall out. It basically came down to a lack of trust in my teachers, so instead of focussing on swimming, I was making sure my ear plugs were still in.

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kebabby72@reddit

Same here. I passed my Honours when I was nine and was already competition swimming when I joined High school at 11 and had my 1 mile badge. But I was still made to swim widths in a pool half the size of an Olympic pool, despite swimming non-stop every morning for an hour in the same fucking pool.

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Queen_of_London@reddit

Two lengths as in one to the deep end and then one back to the shallow end? Yeah, still used a lot. I sometimes see kids going to the pool and being made to do the lap test, even if they have a parent with them. Young teens swimming for fun with other kids seem to get asked nearly every time, and fair on them, they just do it without arguing.

If the lifeguard remembers them then they won't be asked every time.

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maceion@reddit

Standard practice in Edinburgh in 1950s when I learned to swim.

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Green-Dragon-14@reddit

My dad made me swim two length of the shallow end & them put me in the deep end to swim back (my brother was to swim back with me). Turns out I'm a great swimmer.

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