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February 3, 2012

Thanks: Coaches helped him overcome fear of the water

To the editor:

This letter is about how I learned to swim while a student at Tufts University.

I was a non-swimmer until about 1952, but Tufts had a policy at the time requiring all students to be able to swim two laps in the pool prior to graduation.

I'd had a fear of the water ever since I was swept up by a large ocean wave in Florida when I was 5 years old.

The Tufts swim coach created a class for about 10 of us who did not know how to swim.

We were taught the art of breathing in, then exhaling, with our faces slightly underwater. That was the main skill I needed to overcome my fear.

Another coach showed me how I could still breathe with some water in my mouth.

I swam the required laps and was off to the races.

Now that I'm retired — after receiving a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1956 and a master's in 1958 from Northeastern, then working in circuit and logic design — I enjoy swimming regularly at my local Y.

I think many New Englanders don't learn to swim because the water up here is so cold. (I'm all for global warming.)

But I want to thank those Tufts coaches who helped me conquer my fear of the water.

N. Paul Galluzzi

Beverly

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