William Douglas had been a hydrophobic after meeting with two misadventures in his life especially the latter one wherein he was thrown into the deep end of the YMCA pool by a big bully. In order to overcome his fear of water, he hired a personal instructor who put a belt around his waist that was connected to rope and ran on an overhead cable through a pulley straight into the hands of instructor. When Douglas was about to drown, instructor would pull the rope which made Douglas come to the surface of the water. When he swam confidently, he would loosen the rope to let him free. This went on for few months and Douglas got to learn a lot with the help of his instructor. Besides, he learnt side stroke, breast stroke, paddling, inhaling and exhaling which made him more confident in water.