Many people of a certain age learned to avoid drowning out of desperate necessity, tossed into a pond or pool by a parent and told to "sink or swim".

But for the past 100 years, millions of others have had one man to thank for their aquatic skills, and his basic principles are still practiced in group swimming lessons in YMCA pools from Casco Bay, Maine, to Chula Vista, California.

As families head out to area beaches this weekend with a picture perfect forecast, American's favorite swim instructor, as the Y is often called, is celebrating a century of crawls, backstrokes, and butterflies.  Among it's graduates is Mark Spitz, who won seven Olympic gold metals in 1972, setting new world records in each event. 

And although he wasn't Olympic caliber, an alumnus of Dixon, Ill., YMCA lifeguarding program achieved fame as an actor and later president of the United States.  That would be Ronald Reagan, who also played the drum in the Y's band.

It all started in Detroit, Michigan, YMCA in 1906.  An innovative Canadian named George Corsan began teaching people how to swim without even getting wet, practicing their strokes on dry land before getting into the pool.  

"It revolutionized the way people learned how to swim," said Beth Francis, director of product development for the Cabot Street YMCA in Beverly.

Corsan also championed teaching people in groups, a practice the continues to this day.

There's no way of knowing how many drowning YMCA lessons have averted or how many Y-trained lifeguards have prevented tragedies.  But the mass lessons developed by Corsan have an honorable place in history.

YMCA instructors worked with the Army to train doughboys to swim during World War I, and in World War II the Y published "Warfare Aquatics," a manual used to teach swimming skills to military personnel.  The Armed Forces credited the Y's lessons with saving countless lives.

Before Corsan developed his techniques, individuals hired swimming instructors for one-on-one lessons, but Corsan's method allowed him to teach many people at one time and very quickly.

Corsan was also the principle designer of many of the YMCA's pools in his day.

Built in 1911, the pool at the Cabot Street Y in Beverly is the oldest in operation on the North Shore. 

Across town at the Sterling Center, the Y opened one of the few Olympic-sized pools in the state several years ago.

Betsy Ways teaches swimming there, and she was recently recognized for her 10 years as an instructor.  Although she didn't learn to swim in a YMCA pool, her kids did.

"That's how most of us (instructors) get reeled in," she joked.

Ways teaches babies as young as 6 months old, and, at the other end of the spectrum, she has 90-year-olds in her water fitness class.

Always, the focus is on safety, especially for children, Ways said - and that extends beyond the waters of the pool.

"The Coast Guard gave us a grant years ago as long as we would teach boating safety," she said.

For kids who aren't too afraid of the water, learning how to swim is a great confidence booster.  But for others, "sometimes you have to build the confidence just to get them in the water," Ways said.

Ways also looks for opportunities to stress the YMCA's four core values during lessons: caring, respect, responsibility and honesty.

Distance matters

Every week at various pools of the YMCA of the North Shore, 2,500 kids are taking swimming lessons.  With this weekend's kickoff to the summer beach and pool season, the Ipswich YMCA is using the 100 year anniversary to promote its "100 years, 100 yards" program.  

It's aimed at educating parents that just because a child can keep his or her head above water doesn't mean the child can swim.  If a swimmer can't make it the length of a football field, "they're not quite waterproofed," said Merri-Lynn Lathrop, the director of aquatics in Ipswich.

Kids have a lot of sports they can choose to play, Lathrop said, "but swimming is the one we think everybody should know."

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