By USA Swimming Foundation  | Tuesday, March 26, 2019 

Funding for free or reduced-cost swim lessons to help children across the country

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The USA Swimming Foundation announced today that it has awarded $507,461 to learn-to-swim programs across the country through its first-round of 2019 grant funding for Make a Splash Local Partners. The grants will go towards swim lesson programs, providing 25,705 children with the opportunity to learn how to swim.

The USA Swimming Foundation vetted more than 240 applications through a competitive annual review process and chose 85 programs to receive funding, 26 of whom are first time USA Swimming Foundation grant recipients. Since 2007, the USA Swimming Foundation has awarded more than $6.2 million dollars to help fund learn-to-swim programs across the country. 

“It’s an incredible feeling to know that USA Swimming Foundation funding will be used to create a valuable swimming experience for tens of thousands of children who may not have had the opportunity to learn how to swim,” USA Swimming Foundation Executive Director Debbie Hesse said. “We are thrilled with the depth of this year’s Make a Splash Local Partner applicant pool and we couldn’t be prouder to support these exciting and lifesaving opportunities for children across the country. We owe a tremendous thank you to our partners and donors, who continue to make a difference.”

In 2018, through its Make a Splash Local Partner network, the USA Swimming Foundation helped provide more than 1.3 million children with swimming lessons. Together, the Foundation and their network of 1,000 swim lesson providers across the country are helping to spread national awareness on the importance of learning to swim and bringing together strategic partners to end drowning. More than 7.5 million children have now been served since 2007.

The following USA Swimming Foundation Make a Splash Local Partners will receive funding through this first round of 2019 grant awards: 

The USA Swimming Foundation works to strengthen the sport of swimming by raising funds to support programs that save lives and build champions, in the pool and in life. To find, get, or give a swim lesson visit: www.usaswimmingfoundation.org

To learn more about the USA Swimming Foundation and the Make a Splash initiative, including grant opportunities, please visit www.usaswimmingfoundation.org/makeasplash, or follow us at http://www.facebook.com/SwimFoundation

By USA Management

We have all seen the cliché of the lifeguard sitting in the stand with dark sunglasses, relaxed, a rescue tube nearby and twirling their whistle. The chances are strong that you may believe that is the job of a lifeguard. Well, the times have changed. Newton’s First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest, unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion will remain in motion.  Our understanding of the physiological impact of motion as it relates to water safety and lifeguards has evolved. We believe that lifeguards can help drastically change the drowning statistics using three primary tools.

1. Active lifeguarding
2. Parents Supervising their children
3. Risk management – (Who can/cannot swim)

The overwhelming reality is that nearly 3,600 people unintentionally drown annually in the United States alone. One in five drownings are children under the age of 14. Children between the ages of 1-4 years old are the second leading cause of death. The lifeguard industry must adapt and get Serious On Safety™ (SOS). Research and training enhancements are leading aquatic professionals to embrace a new lifeguarding mantra that is called ”Active Lifeguarding”. What is Active Lifeguarding? A certified swimmer who constantly is in a state of motion enforcing water safety rules and ready to assist patrons that have a need.

A lifeguard’s main responsibility is to enforce water safety rules by encouraging parents to be responsible for their child’s safety. If an incident were to occur around water or at an aquatic facility a lifeguard training is in proving first response to a victim. Parents Supervise – Lifeguards Save Lives!  A lifeguards success deeply depends on having a fresh mind and a constant awareness of who can and cannot swim. Children are not the only high risks around water. Many adults are non-swimmers or have poor swimming abilities. Understanding that a lifeguards focus is observing swimmers within their zone requires regular awareness and parental supervision. Historically lifeguards sit in a chair and watch. Now Active Lifeguarding relies on the physical movement of a lifeguard as well as the changing of body position while moving their eyes along every square foot of their zone to maintain focus on each swimmer as well as identifying their highest risk. Each lifeguard should take measured deliberate paces from their station, 20 paces to the left and 20 paces to the right, while scanning their zone.  Most importantly a lifeguard must always identify their highest risks and address each risk in a proactive manner. EXAMPLE: If a lifeguard is actively scanning their zone and identifies a non-swimmer without a parent or a guardian providing touch-supervision than that lifeguard would take action by having the identified non-swimmer removed from the water until proper touch-supervision is provided. Lifeguards are NOT “water-sitters”. Active lifeguarding techniques help to keep lifeguards in an alert and ready position allowing them a quicker response time should an incident arise. As the lifeguard actively moves within their station while scanning their zone with full body motion of pacing, counting swimmers, identifying who can swim and locate their highest risk water users breaks up the monotony of a rotation and allows their mind to remain focused on task of enforcing water safety rules. It is imperative for children that cannot swim or are poor swimmers to be properly supervised by their parents at all times! This active approach has drastically reduced the need for lifeguard stands and, in most cases, eliminates the need for one.

Parental supervision and identifying non-swimmers are critical to drowning reduction. As research has shown the majority of drowning victims cannot swim. When patrons enter a swimming facility a lifeguard team cannot assume that patrons will make safe decisions. Furthermore, lifeguards cannot assume that everyone can swim. Due to the aforementioned facts and statistics, it is recommended that all children under 14 years old must be tested to identify their swimming skills. After each child is tested for their swimming skills then each child should be “tagged” and recorded. A red or yellow armband tag usually denotes non-swimmers and therefore must have proper parental or guardian supervision. A green armband tag usually denotes unrestricted swimming and then should be within their parents or guardians site and swim with a buddy (the buddy system). This mandatory screening allows the lifeguard staff to manage the water responsibly by enforcing touch-supervision for non-swimmers. Equally important to incident response is incident prevention. This process of screening and identifying risk empowers lifeguards to be more effective in doing their duty.

These techniques allow lifeguards to make overall risk management decisions on how to safely protect swimmers and non-swimmers in and around water. Facility operators when equipped with these basic principles will be able to structure various areas to allow everyone to enjoy water safely. In order to assist facilities and promote water safety awareness in communities signage and literature should be visual posted and engaging to help explain these important methods.  To help promote water safety awareness aquatic facilities should have proper signage and literature to help explain the importance of these methods. Educating children and making parents aware of the dangers in and around water will help empower your lifeguard staff. Watch Around Water™ (WAW) is a good resource to use in helping raise awareness for the safety of children in and around water. Understanding that the solution to attacking the drowning statistics starts with awareness and compelling parents to be accountable for their children, especially around water. The old adage that “Safety starts at home” is very true. The undeniable solution for risk management is to test all children under 14, properly identify swimmer and non-swimmer, label them properly to allow for easy identification, mandate parental supervision by enforcing touch-supervision, support the buddy system (no swimming alone), and finally implement Active Lifeguarding practices for your lifeguards/first responders to manage swim zones in an alert, focused, motion driven, actively engaging water scanning routine.

USA Managment

usamanagement.com

A Sandbar Beach lifeguard was recognized Tuesday night for rescuing a 20-month-old boy at the beach in July in South Glens Falls. Post-Star file photo

SOUTH GLENS FALLS — A toddler nearly drowned at Sandbar Beach last month, but was rescued just in time by a lifeguard. The incident happened July 21, just after 3 p.m. A boy, 20 months old, was playing in the water with his mother.Lifeguard Sabrina Quintois, 19, had suggested that the boy wear a life jacket or puddle jumper. But his mother said he could swim — an unlikely feat at his age. Sure enough, as Quintois scanned the water for any signs of distress, she saw him slip under and not come back up. She blew her whistle and dove in. On the other side of the beach, another lifeguard saw the same thing and also ran for the water. Before he could get there, Quintois had reached the boy and lifted him out of the water. His mother was standing nearby but hadn’t realized the danger. “The child was not coughing or breathing,” said Supervisor Todd Kusnierz, reading from the report Quintois wrote. She administered three back blows in an attempt to restore breathing, since his heart was still beating.   READ MORE….

Source: Lifeguard saves 20-month-old at Sandbar Beach in South Glens Falls | Local | poststar.com

Savannah, Ga. (WTGS FOX28) — After two separate drownings in area waters over the weekend, a YMCA of Coastal Georgia lifeguard wants to make sure every child and adult that gets into any body of water comes out alive.Patrick Glenn has been a lifeguard with the organization for six years and said he is sad to hear a 19-year-old man drowned in the Ogeechee River and a 29-year-old man drowned in a Liberty County pond, both on Saturday. Read More…

Source: http://fox28media.com/news/local/savannah-lifeguard-shares-swim-safety-advice-after-two-weekend-drownings

The Duluth Fire Department and Great Lakes Unmanned Systems tested a type of drone that can perform water rescues on Lake Superior, Tuesday afternoon.  The water rescue drone is called the EMILY, which stands for EMergency Integrated Life-saving LanYard.It is only about 25 pounds and goes up to 22 mph.  The equipment is made by a company out of Arizona, but is being used all around the world.  READ MORE…..

Source: Duluth Fire Department Tests New Water Rescue Equipment | www.WDIO.com

May 15th is International Water Safety Day.  International Water Safety Day is designed to help spread global awareness of the ongoing drowning pandemic, and educate the youth in becoming safer in and around water. May 15th is a day to spread drowning awareness and water safety education by any means possible. The lack of water safety education has propelled drownings worldwide. Through interdependence, we can change that.

Source: http://internationalwatersafetyday.org/

Photo: Alma E. Hernandez /For The San Antonio Express News

Kylin Balin, 10, will be receiving a livesaving award from the Girl Scouts of the USA for rescuing a boy at a swimming pool.Kylin Bain was sitting at the edge of the pool at a family gathering in Port Arthur last October when she noticed that a younger child had strayed into the deep end and appeared to be in trouble.“He kept going under,” said Kylin, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at St. Monica Catholic School.Though she felt pretty comfortable in the shallow end of the pool, she had never had formal swim training, much less lifesaving lessons. Even so, when she saw that little boy struggling and heard his grandmother scream for help, Kylin sprang into action.“I slapped down my phone and I dived in and I pulled him until he could stand up,” she said.It was a tough thing to do. Though the boy was a year younger, he was taller than her. And he was frightened.“He was kind of grabbing me and trying to sink me in (the water) because he was scared,” Kylin said. “He was holding on to my waist and I had to go under water and swim.”MOST POPULAR1 Exxon chooses site near Corpus for massive $9.3B petrochemical…2 Popular anchor exits S.A. TV; likable vet in her place3 Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki cheers Spurs playoff push, is…The incident was scary for the adults, too.“Everybody was in shock because she just dove in,” said Kylin’s mom, Felicia Bain. “I’m like, ‘She can’t swim.’ It definitely shows you how somebody can drown in a split-second because we were just kind of standing there with our mouths open.”Kylin, who is an active member of Girl Scout Troop 1318 in Schertz, will be recognized for her bravery at a ceremony in May. She will receive the Lifesaving Bronze Cross from the Girl Scouts of the USA. The award is given to scouts for saving or attempting to save someone’s life while putting their own lives at risk.Kylin’s troop leader, Angela Roundtree, said she was surprised when she heard about what happened — “Her mother had said Kylin is not a good swimmer” — but she’s also proud.“It shows these girls can do anything,” she said.After this summer, the list of things Kylin can do will grow by at least one: Her mom and her dad will be signing her up for swim lessons.Formal swim lessons are a key to water safety, said Crystal Vega, association aquatics director for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio. Lessons ingrain skills so that if a swimmer finds herself in trouble, she knows what to do, decreasing the odds that a tragedy will occur.“I just had a mother tell me that she was at the lake with her daughter, who is 4, and she fell into the water,” Vega said. “She just rolled onto her back.”More InformationWater safety tipsKnow what you’re doing, and make sure your kids do, too. Enroll the little ones in swim lessons and, if you can’t swim, sign yourself up, too. The YMCA offers parent/child classes for families. It also offers scholarships for those who need help covering fees.Supervise youngsters in the water closely. The YMCA, for instance, requires that a parent be within arm’s length of any swimmer age 6 or younger.Start early. Babies can begin building the foundation for water skills as early as 6 months. Those classes emphasize play and comfort in the water and progress from there as the youngsters develop their skills.Hire a lifeguard for pool parties. If that’s not possible, make sure someone will take responsibility for keeping an eye on those in the water. That person should make sure that they scan the pool carefully, focusing not just on the surface but below it, too.Make sure that life jackets and other flotation devices are Coast Guard-approved. That designation indicates that it’s actual safety equipment. Without it, the device “is not certified to save your life,” said Crystal Vega, association aquatics director for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.Deborah MartinSource: YMCA of Greater San AntonioThe little girl, who has been taking swim lessons at the Y, didn’t seem shaken by what happened, the mom told Vega. Instead, she said, “she was mad because she got dirty.”The national YMCA spent three years updating the way that it teaches swimming, placing the emphasis on water safety.The San Antonio Y also is developing a program to offer free swim lessons at apartment pools this summer. Two children in Bexar County drowned in apartment pools last year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.“We want to curb the drowning rate,” Vega said.

dlmartin@express-news.netTwitter: @DeborahMartinEN

Source: San Antonio Girl Scout will be honored for preventing a drowning – San Antonio Express-News