As a parent, you may already know these staggering statistics: drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages 1-4 and the second-leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 14 in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. If you have already enrolled your kids in swim lessons, then you may also know that formal swim lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88%. While we tend to talk about these statistics during the summer months when families head to waterfronts for vacations or lounge by home and community pools, it is critical to remember that the need for water safety does not disappear with the warm weather.
That’s why on October 14th, 2020, USA Swimming announced the launch of a new campaign in partnership with Phillips 66 called Saving Lives is Always in Season. The goal of the campaign is to help prevent drowning by raising awareness around the importance of year-round swim lessons as life-saving resources. You can watch the kickoff to the campaign here, which features campaign ambassadors and legendary Olympic swimmers Rowdy Gaines (2006), Elizabeth Beisel (2008, 2012, 2016) Cullen Jones (2008, 2012), and Missy Franklin (2012, 2016).
This campaign is particularly important given that parts of the United States have seen spikes in drowning rates since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as kids are spending more time at home with distracted parents trying to juggle both working from home and caregiving. Knowing the risk that drowning poses for kids is why we at Big Blue Swim School have worked tirelessly on our added health and safety measures since opening our first Atlanta area pool in June. Every day, our dedicated, full-time swim associates teach life-saving skills to kids. Not only that, they provide an outlet for kids to expend energy and get away from computer screens, to explore and learn and grow in a safe environment. Public health professionals and researchers agree that there has been no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted through chlorinated water. You can read more about Big Blue’s ultra-clean water and swim lesson safety protocols in recent blog posts or by visiting the Health and Safety page of our website.
Big Blue is proud to be a trusted swim lessons provider and local partner of the USA Swimming Foundation and looks forward to amplifying the efforts of the Saving Lives is Always in Season campaign through the fall and winter months. If you aren’t already enrolled in swim lessons this season, sign up for a free trial lesson with Big Blue and get your kids started with year-round weekly swim lessons to make them safer around water today.
