Richmond, BC, Canada — Swimming is a life-saving skill for children and a vital tool to prevent drowning, the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for children ages 1-14. The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL) was created to serve as a platform to help local community aquatic facilities and the many different national, regional and state-wide water safety and drowning prevention organizations work together to tell this important story on a local and national level.
The nation’s top water safety and training organizations joined forces to present WLSL to build awareness about the vital importance of teaching children to swim to help prevent drowning.
This summer, over 35,700 people in 18+ countries participated in a record breaking world-wide swimming lesson. On June 20, 2014, WLSL beat their own Guinness World Record by more than 10% over last year’s attendance numbers and had over 600 host locations. The event aims to build awareness on the importance of teaching children to swim to help prevent drowning. Research shows participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88% among children aged 1 to 4, yet many kids do not receive formal swimming or water safety training.
The initiative was inspired by the month of May being National Safety Month and the industry coming together for a united cause. WhiteWater, Champion Sponsor of the WLSL, is proud to support the cause and wants to share gratitude towards all the host locations, participants and fellow sponsors who contributed to the success of the event.
On June 20th, at 8AM Pacific Standard Time, Newton Wave Pool in British Columbia, Canada kicked off their first round of swimming lessons. An original WhiteWater attraction, the Newton Wave Pool was installed over 25 years ago. Over 350 individuals registered at the Newton Wave Pool and learned some swimming basics, like floating on your back, treading water and the front stroke.
The event has grown nearly ten-fold from 4,000 attendees in 2010 to over 35,000 attendees world-wide this year.