I'm sitting in a hotel conference room in Sicily with a dozen or so people I've just met, and their expectant faces have locked on to mine. The glorious spring sun is shining and the lemon trees are swaying gently in the warm breeze outside, but my business, for now at any rate, is inside. My moment has arrived. I squirm a little in my chair and smile thinly to the group as it's my turn to introduce myself. My girlfriend clasps my hand and smiles at me with a look that says, 'You can do it'. I clear my throat: 'Hello everyone, my name is Mark and I'm a non-swimmer.'
This is not a therapy session, this is the first day of a six-day swimming holiday in Sicily and I'm releasing a small part of the burden I've carried with me since childhood - the fact that I am scared of the water and I swim like an anvil.
The holidays are run by swimming guru Steven Shaw. A former competitive swimmer, Shaw is widely regarded as one of the best teachers in the world. His unique method has helped everyone from non-swimmers to Olympic hopefuls gain 'efficiency' and confidence in the water. He even taught comedian and aquaphobe Frank Skinner how to swim. If he can't help me, no one can.
I hail from a long line of sinkers - my dad was in the Navy, yet he couldn't swim a stroke. Through a mixture of lack of confidence and at one stage lack of trunks - mum sent me to my first lesson in underpants - I fell behind in school swimming lessons and never caught up. While the other kids were diving for bricks in their pyjamas, I was shunted to the paddling pool with only a large rubber ring and a skinny kid called Nigel for company. Holidays became an exercise in cunning as I desperately tried to conceal my secret. I would look on enviously at the pool-based frolics while claiming I had a bad back. 'Just let me finish this Jeffrey Archer tome and I'll be right in,' I'd say. But there's only so much Jeffrey Archer a person can read. The time had come to take action.
The Shaw Method was devised by Steven and his ex-wife, Limor. It takes the breathing methods and posture principles - neck, back and head alignment - of the Alexander Technique, in which Steven is a qualified tutor, and transfers them to the water. As I am a complete novice, he recommends I book some private lessons with him in a pool in London, before signing up for the holiday.
I spend the first 10 minutes of the half-hour lesson clinging to the side of the pool unable to overcome a dizzy feeling - similar to vertigo - as I look out across the expanse of water. 'It's an irrational fear,' I say, apologetically. 'If you've never swum before, fear of the water is totally rational,' Steven reassures me. We concentrate on walking and breathing exercises and by the end of the first lesson I'm beginning to make a little progress.
Steven runs courses and workshops throughout the UK, but the holidays tend to take place overseas. The venue this year is the Kempinski Giardino di Costanza, a luxurious hotel surrounded by olive groves in the northwest of Sicily.
Our group encompasses all ages and abilities, ranging from novices who want to build their confidence to expert swimmers looking to fine-tune their technique. We are divided into two groups, depending on ability, and given personalised timetables, which include two one-hour group lessons daily, and some half-hour one-to-one lessons.
Surrounded by large windows, the indoor pool looks inviting even to me. As I dip a toe in, I'm relieved to find that it's around the same temperature as that one stretch of water I'm comfortable with - a bath. I'm also relieved to discover that not all the tuition is water-based. Our work in the pool will be complemented by daily dry-land sessions where Steven breaks down the stroke into its components, explaining the mechanics and the correct breathing, and we practise until it comes automatically. It feels a bit like a tai chi class as we swim through the air.
Through a combination of this 'virtual swimming' and Steven's Zen-like calm and patience in the pool sessions, I find my confidence growing. So much so that by the middle of the week I'm gliding face down, moving with a breaststroke kick with a degree of confidence.
To celebrate this watery breakthrough, my girlfriend and I go for dinner that evening in the nearby town of Mazzara del Vallo. It's a sleepy little port but is home to Marmoreo, one of the best fish restaurants in Sicily. By day it's a fish market, in the evening they pull out tables and cook whatever's left over. After six or seven courses - I lost count - of fish so fresh it's practically alive, washed down with much grappa and wine, I'm ready for anything in the pool the next day. 'Toodle-oo, Mr Rubber Ring,' I think as I drain another glass of grappa. 'Bring on Michael Phelps!'
Blame it on the grappa, but next day I quickly turn from Mark Spitz to Mark spits out a lot of water. In other words, on the penultimate day I take a backward step. 'A friend of mine says there is no such thing as failure, just feedback,' Steven says to reassure me as I climb out of the pool somewhat dejected.
My feelings of disappointment are only heightened by the smiles of success beaming from the other members of the group as we meet for dinner and drinks that evening. Steven shows us video footage of our technique so we can see how we are improving. Everyone is making great progress. A man called Saul, who wanted to improve his crawl, is now swimming like Goodhew with hair, and my girlfriend, a lifetime 'dry-hair swimmer', is moving through the water like a seal rather than a cocker spaniel. I can't help feeling a little gutted.
'Frank Skinner was terrified at first,' Stephen tells me as we take to the pool for the final lesson of the trip and somehow that gives me a boost. Out there in Sicily, surrounded by olive groves and grapevines, I think: 'If he can do it, so can I.' With 10 minutes of the lesson to go, I launch myself into a glide with my head right under the water and suddenly I'm moving through the water unaided. For a second or two there is no help from Steven or anyone else, not even Frank Skinner. It's just me, head down, breathing out into the water and looking at the blue tiled floor. It doesn't last long, a few seconds or so, but it feels great.
'Leonardo da Vinci said that swimming is the closest we come to flying,' says Steven as we dry off. I smile because, for the first time in my life, I understand what he means.
• Steven Shaw's next swimming holiday is in Marrakesh from 9-16 November and costs £1,250pp based on two sharing, including half-board, flights, transfers and five days of lessons. Contact 020 8446 9442; artofswimming.com. He's also running a weekend course from 26-28 September at the Links Hotel in Norfolk, costing £495 half-board.
Make a splash in Britain
If you don't want to go abroad to learn to swim, the ASA, Britain's national governing body for the sport, has information on courses throughout the country, visit britishswimming.co.uk.
Alternatively, the Swimming Teachers Association has details of STA Swim Schools for children and adults: 01922 748381; sta.co.uk. Swimming without Stress runs intensive five-day courses for individuals and groups in Cardigan Bay, Wales, from £240 per person for two learning together (£320 for individuals), with accommodation extra: 01239 613789; swimmingwithoutstress.co.uk.
Swim Inns (01352 781666; learn- to-swim.co.uk) offers courses at the Springfield Hotel in Holywell, Flintshire, from £430 for five days.
Inspired by the Olympics?
Five more sports breaks
Sailing
Neilson has a range of sailing holidays for beginners. Choose a 'Stay and Sail' package, spending a week on land and learning to sail, followed by a week in a flotilla of yachts putting skills to the test.
• Prices from £440 for two weeks (with breakfast) staying at the Athos Hotel in Nidri on the island of Lefkas in the Ionian Sea and a week's sailing, including flights. Sailing tuition is extra, from £80; 0870 333 3356; neilson.co.uk.
Cycling
Saddle Skedaddle's introductory weekends to road riding offer two days in the Cotswolds or the Lake District, cycling through beautiful scenery, with the chance to try a high-end road bike and ride in a small group.
• Prices from £210 for two nights, staying in B&Bs, with breakfast and lunch included. Bike hire extra; 0191 265 1110; skedaddle.co.uk.
Running
Tempted to pull on those running shoes and hit the track? Run in the Sun offers running holidays in Spain for all abilities - beginners are welcome. Trips include training and escorted runs and are based in Moraira on the Costa Blanca, with accommodation in villas or hotels.
• Prices are from £120 for a two-night break, half board, excluding flights; 0844 734 4556; runinthesun.com.
Kayaking
Ardeche Adventures Kayak Clinic is a seven-day holiday for adult paddlers and suitable for beginners, with five days spent kayaking through beautiful scenery of this region in southern France.
• Packages run until mid-December and cost £595 for full board, staying in Lablachere (£395 non-residential), with tuition, equipment and transfers from Nimes, excluding flights; 020 8123 0076; ardecheadventures.com.
Riding
Equine Adventures's seven-day 'Train & Trail' holiday near Seville, offers lessons and rides in the countryside, staying in a 16th-century hacienda.
• Price is £920, including tuition and most meals, excluding flights. Alternatively Equine Adventures (0845 130 6981; equineadventures.co.uk) also recommend the Estancia los Potreros in Argentina (from £1,275 for eight days) and Price Canyon Ranch in Arizona (£970 for eight days, both excluding flights).
