Treading

A few posts away, I talked about back floating on the water as a survival technique. This time, I am going to talk about treading, which is another way of staying afloat in the water. Some warning though, if you don’t know how to swim, don’t practice (water needs to be higher than you) this unaccompanied.

I was introduced formally to treading when I took a swimming class in college. We were already taught basic strokes in swimming when one particular session our instructor led us to the deepest side of the pool. We were told to jump in the water and stay there for three minutes. Some of us got scared because even though we already knew how to swim, others could just not stand the fear of having their feet not touching the floor. However, since that was part of learning, all of us attempted. We all jumped in the water and stayed floating for three minutes except for a few who were lifted out of the water by our instructor through their hair. That was an embarrassing situation especially for the ladies.

Treading is basically a technique of staying vertically in the water, keeping the head above the surface of the water. I did not know that until our instructor told us during that day. I was able to float in the water because of the experience I had before. When I was a kid, we made fun of emulating different animals how to swim, particularly that of a dog and duck. I guess at that early age I got the technique without actually knowing how it was called. Thus, I first learned how to tread from these animals.

When I am in the sea, I would always walk through the water until I would reach the portion where my feet could no longer touch the floor. From there, I would swim back to the shore, but how do I manage to stay in the deep water? What I would usually do is move my legs under in different directions. Usually, I would do pedalling like riding a bicycle. If I get tired, I would shift to flutter kick, and then to other leg movements I learned from swimming such as the frog kick. In any other ways, I would stay afloat if I move my legs underneath. At the same time, my arms have to move too to balance myself or to stay vertically.

I think treading in the water is instinct to us. We could observe that from the babies thrown in the water but stay afloat. We could actually observe that too from drowning individuals. They actually drown not because they don’t know how to swim but because they panic and do not realize the instinctive or reflexive movement of their bodies. Discovering or teaching the technique would make them aware of that and could eventually save their lives.

That is how I survive the water when I am already tired or wanted to rest in the water when I am swimming. It is my own technique and I am sharing it here. I am not teaching it because there are other techniques that are more efficient like the ones used by the synchronize swimmers and polo players. It is called the eggbeater kick.

When someone knows how to swim, it doesn’t mean that he or she is drown-free. Surviving in the water is only guaranteed when one knows the technique and most importantly, has the presence of mind.