Learning to swim at 25: How I Went from Struggling Beginner to Falling in Love with Water

My First Attempt at Learning to Swim (And Why It Failed)

One summer during school, our campus organized a sports coaching camp where students could try different activities. Naturally, I signed up for swimming.

In my head, I imagined gliding effortlessly across the pool.

Reality was very different.

I kept my head completely above water, flailed my arms wildly, and ran out of energy within seconds. Swimming even 25 meters felt like an Olympic event.

While other kids floated across the pool with ease, I looked like someone negotiating a personal battle with water.

That summer ended with a clear conclusion:

Swimming and I were not meant for each other.

For years afterward, I continued playing other sports while swimming quietly disappeared from my life.

The Unexpected Moment That Brought Swimming Back

Fast forward several years.

I was twenty-five years old when swimming unexpectedly returned.

One weekend morning, I had just finished my usual cycling route when I bumped into a friend outside the gymkhana. She was heading to the pool for her first swimming session and asked if I could join for moral support.

Now imagine a hot summer morning in Mumbai.

The sun is already intense before noon. The air feels heavy. And in the middle of all that heat sits a calm, cool swimming pool shimmering in the sunlight.

Even though I had no intention of swimming, sitting beside the pool sounded perfect.

So I said yes.

By the time we left that day, we had already decided to come back the next morning.

Neither of us knew it then—but that simple decision would quietly change my daily routine.

Starting Swimming Again as an Adult

The moment I stepped into the pool again, one thing became obvious.

I was still terrible.

Actually, worse than terrible.

I couldn’t even put my head underwater without pinching my nose. Being submerged felt unnatural and slightly alarming.

And when I finally became comfortable putting my face in the water, breathing while swimming felt like solving a puzzle while running out of air.

But we kept showing up.

Day after day.

How Lifeguards Helped Me Learn the Basics

After watching our clumsy attempts for a few days, the lifeguards took pity on us.

They started teaching us the basics:

• How to breathe properly
• How to tread water
• How to relax instead of fighting the water

One of their favorite exercises involved throwing a stick into the deep end—nearly 15 feet underwater—and asking me to retrieve it.

If I didn’t get it, they would have to jump in.

So naturally, I made sure I got it.

Progress was slow. Sometimes ridiculous.

But week by week, something changed.

The water stopped feeling like an obstacle.

It started feeling familiar.

The First 25 Meters That Changed Everything

Soon the pool became part of my routine. Every evening after work, I would head straight there.

Eventually I started attempting laps with a flotation belt.

At first, I stayed very close to the wall. Deep water takes time to trust.

Then one evening it happened.

I swam 25 meters without touching the wall.

It sounds small.

But it felt enormous.

That single lap flipped a switch in my mind.

I wasn’t just splashing around anymore.

I wanted to actually learn how to swim properly.

Teaching Myself How to Swim

From that moment, I became slightly obsessed.

I began studying swimming technique wherever I could:

• Watching instructional videos online
• Observing experienced swimmers
• Practicing body position and breathing

My office overlooked a community pool. During breaks, I would stand by the window watching swimmers below—the smooth rhythm of their strokes and the timing of their breathing.

Later in the evening, I would go to the pool and try to replicate what I had seen.

Most attempts failed.

Some worked.

Slowly, almost invisibly, my technique improved.

Training With Competitive Swimmers

Around the time I usually swam, half the pool lanes were reserved for competitive coaching.

Occasionally I would ask the coach a few questions.

At some point he began taking a genuine interest in my progress and started coaching me alongside the kids he trained.

In return, I helped pace some of their workouts.

Racing children half my age turned out to be incredibly motivating.

They were fast, disciplined, and fiercely competitive.

Trying to keep up with them forced me to become better.

Much better.

When Swimming Became a Passion

As I got more serious about swimming, I started collecting the gear swimmers inevitably accumulate:

• Fins
• Hand paddles
• Pull buoys

My workouts became structured with drills and lap sets.

Somewhere along the way, swimming stopped being something I was learning.

It became something I loved.

Occasionally people watching me swim would ask if I had been a national-level swimmer.

That always makes me smile.

Because the truth is much simpler.

I was mostly self-taught—helped by generous lifeguards, a patient coach, and countless hours of observation.

Eight Years Later: Falling in Love With the Water

It has now been eight years since that morning when I casually accompanied a friend to the pool.

And I never really stopped going back.

These days, I’m what people would probably call a water baby.

There’s something deeply peaceful about swimming:

• The rhythm of breathing
• The quiet focus of each stroke
• The feeling of moving smoothly through water

Sometimes I think about how strange it is.

The sport I struggled with the most as a child eventually became the one I fell in love with the most.

All because of:

• A chance meeting
• A scorching summer morning in Mumbai
• And a swimming pool that looked too inviting to ignore.