SamVsSports – Adult Swimming Lessons | Wednesday on ABC 10

MARQUETTE — It’s no joke. ABC 10 / CW’5’s Sports Director Sam Ali doesn’t know how to swim. He simply never learned.

Living in the Upper Peninsula, it’s a rarity. Surrounded by Great Lakes on the North and South Coast, many Upper Peninsula residents find it necessary to learn how to swim at an early age. For mere safety and survival, we learn at the local beaches, natatoriums, and on many of the inland lakes in the area.

Swimming is a fairly privileged societal recreational activity. In inner cities, states without aquatic resources, affordable water parks or beach front, learning to swim isn’t a priority. Some adults never learn.

In a 1994 CDC study, 37 percent of American adults said they couldn’t swim 24 yards, the length of a typical gymnasium lap pool. A 2008 study conducted by researchers at the University of Memphis found that almost 54 percent of children between 12 and 18 can do no more than splash around the shallow end of a pool.

ABC 10’s Andrew Lorinser is an experienced swimmer. He learned how to swim at an early age. With guidance and help from the swim instructors at the YMCA of Marquette County, Andrew will teach Sam to swim, live on Facebook at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday July 20th. Tune in!