Teaching people to swim
- By Richard Branson -
- Apr 04, 2012
Spent some time on Necker with a group of entrepreneurs to help share some advice with them, and we’ve raised some good money for Virgin Unite in the process.
Also taught three adults to swim this week, one of favourite things in the world. It’s such a simple thing to do, it’s just a matter of getting people over their fear of putting their heads under water. Get their nose under, get them blowing bubbles, get their mouth under water, that is the hardest part.
You can actually teach somebody in about 20 minutes if you can gently help them overcome their fear. Once you’ve got them over the fear of getting their heads under water you teach them to hold their breath for a while, and then you’ve got to teach them to blow out of their nose and their mouth. Once they can do that, they’re effectively away!
It’s incredible how few local people swim in the Caribbean and we also do regular sessions on Necker to teach kids to swim.
Arch is one of those we taught to swim on Necker a few years ago, as you can see from the photo above. It’s an incredibly fabulous thing to see somebody achieve.
By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
