Bad swimmer here, need some help?

Question

Okay, so I have swimming for my PE class and I'm failing spectacularly at it. After some analysis, I concluded that I'm having trouble with my breathing while swimming. That's kind of weird cause I'm an athletic guy (at least overland). Anyways, whenever I try to swim, everytime I surface and open my mouth to breathe, I panic and think "Holy sh#t, if water comes into my mouth I'm going to freakin' drown". And whenever I am underwater, I can't hold my breathe for more than 10 seconds cause it feels like my lungs are going to burst. Can anyone tell me what I could do to improve my breathing while swimming?

Answer 1

I used to have this problem, I found taking long deep breathes before holding very effective, I also found sucking a mint helpful lol

Answer 2

just relax and be the water im a swimmer and i love it make sure your head is fully out of water before you breathe and make sure that you dont open your mouthunder water.