I started learning swimming in my early 40s. Apart from swimming, the training process taught me quite a few lessons for life. Swimming is one physical activity which cannot be taught by a physical instructor. It requires actuating your mental faculty  as well-- body and mind together make you swim. In very convention sense,  teacher shows you how to acquire certain skills or knowledge. You follow him/her and  in a few efforts, you acquire what you had intended to. Teaching is over and improvement on newly acquired knowledge/skill is left to you. Where as in swimming teacher can only guide. You cannot immitate him to learn swimming properly. The substance has to come from within you and on its own. To me completing a 20m freestyle swimming was a big challenge. Used to get tired quickly, after crossing a few meters. Watched my coach innumerable times; went to Youtube and surfed through many training session videos over the net. But could not move an inch ahead. ...