Safety Around Water Blog
May Is National Safety Around Water Month!
With summer quickly approaching, there is no better time for National Safety Around Water Month! Each year, so many lives are lost due to the danger that surrounds the water. This is why the YMCA continues to bring awareness to the issue by continuously educating communities and members about the importance of water safety, especially to our youngest members!
Many people outside of the aquatics world might not know that:
- It can take 3 – 6 months to learn to swim.
- By enrolling your children in swim lessons you are reducing their chance of drowning by up to 88%!
- Most children will swim or be around a body of water up to 6 times per year at a minimum.
- Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 14.
Swimming isn’t just a fun sport…it’s an important skill that can save your life.
Learning to swim is as important as going to school, eating healthy, and instilling good values in your children. And there are so many other health benefits to swimming…swimmers show improved brain function and motor skills, meaning it’s a great activity for school and other sports. Also, swimmers have a much smaller chance of heart disease as adults.
Riptides Swim School
At the YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge, we offer Riptides Swim School at three of our locations: Botetourt Family YMCA, Salem Family YMCA and Kirk Family YMCA. Our progressive program is designed to teach swimmers the basics through the mechanics of all four strokes. Once a swimmer has graduated from our swim school, we offer the Riptides Competitive Swim Team!
Y Splash
In addition to swim lessons, we also offer our Y-splash program to those in local school districts. Y Splash a free water safety program that is provided to all 2nd-grade students in local schools. Over the course of the program, children participate in three days of in-class water instruction covering various topics regarding water safety while also discussing the core values of the YMCA: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. Children receive instruction and learn skills that allow them to be safe when at a pool, on a boat, at a waterpark, or at the beach!
At the end of the program, all swimmers participate in a swim test. Swimmers who do not pass the swim test receive two months of free lessons! The purpose of this is to help these children have a better understanding of the water and provide them with the necessary tools to be safe around the water.
Test, Mark, and Protect
Additionally, we work hard to ensure that our pools are safe through our Mark and Protect program. All children ages 12 and under are given a swim test to understand their comfort and safety level in the water. Those who can not pass the deep water swim test are given a shallow water zone where they can safely swim without being in water that is too deep for them. Our lifeguards are also trained every month on how to prevent and respond to emergency situations in the pool.
The YMCA continuously works to promote the importance of water safety throughout our programs, policies, and training programs. We work to create a safe environment for all who enter our aquatic facilities, but we also want to make an impact on our communities by sharing these values and lessons with members of our community!
Haven't enrolled your kids in swim lessons yet? It's not too late to start!
Enjoy a little real-life experience below from the Kirk Family YMCA Senior Director, Matt Reedy.
"How many of you are a little freaked out that it’s already May? It feels like a few weeks ago, it was January, and Roanoke was covered in snow. How many of you have some great summer plans: camping, cruises, beach trips, river floats, etc? I know our family does! We’ve booked several camping trips that will involve paddleboarding, mountain biking, and rafting. We have two children, an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old. Our 8-year-old has had lessons and is an excellent swimmer. Our 3-year-old, on the other hand, has never had lessons.
A few weeks ago, when I realized it was about to be May, I had a small moment of panic. We have all of these summer plans and my son doesn’t know how to swim! I’ve been an Aquatics professional for over 20 years so there is literally no reason that my son shouldn’t know how to swim. We just got busy with life and then…Covid19. But still, it's easy to feel like I’ve failed as a parent. And the cold hard truth is this; spring is too late to fully prepare him for summer swimming. Many people outside of the aquatics world don’t know this, but it can take 3 – 6 months to learn to swim. That being said, it’s better to start late, than not at all!
Give your children the gift of life and enroll them in Riptides Swim School today!"