USA Swimming Foundation’s ‘Make a Splash’ Stresses the Importance of Water Safety in Phoenix

By: Peter Cheng

Cronkite Special to AZLatinos.com

USA Swimming Foundation’s “Make a Splash” tour washed up at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in south Phoenix today to spread awareness about water safety and the importance of swimming lessons for children.

Two of the biggest names in swimming, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines were on hand to present two $1,250 checks to the City of Phoenix and to the Salvation Army Kroc Center in support of affordable and free swimming lessons for local children.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who accepted the check on the city’s behalf, said he was proud to partner with USA Swimming and recalled fond childhood memories of learning to swim at Cortez Pool in west Phoenix.

Stanton reinforced the importance of swimming lessons, saying, “There is no more important topic to the people of Phoenix, the children of Phoenix, than water safety. Safety is the top priority, but preventable drownings continue to be an epidemic in our community… Swimming lessons are the best way to prevent these tragedies.”

Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death for children in this country, according to the USA Swimming Foundation.

“In 2016 alone, 42 children under the age of five had drowned in this country, nine of them drowned in Arizona,” said Gaines, who described drowning deaths as “an epidemic that can be solved… swim lessons reduce that risk of drowning by 88-percent.”

Olympic gold medalist swimmer Missy Franklin speaks on the importance of swimming lessons for children

Latino and African American children are at an elevated higher risk of drowning. A 2010 study conducted by USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis found that 60-percent of Latino, and 70-percent of African American kids cannot swim, compared to only 40-percent of white kids.

Gaines attributed some of the racial disparity to a fear of swimming passed down generationally in minority communities. “Parents have got to get it together and stop passing that fear down,” said Gaines.

Franklin reinforced Gaines’s point, saying,  “Out of parents that don’t know how to swim, only 13-percent of their kids will learn how to swim.” Franklin, who’s own mother couldn’t swim until she was an adult, added that this is something that parents and kids can work on together to increase safety and family bonding.

The “Make a Splash” tour is about more than just press conferences and giant checks.  After the formalities, Franklin changed into her swimsuit and cap and jumped into the pool to treat Brittney Downs’s first grade class from nearby Percy L. Julian School to a swim lesson.

Downs said that only two of her students know how to swim and more programs like this are greatly needed.

Franklin is proud to be a part of “Make a Splash”, and hopes that it will help kids like Downs’s students. Franklin said “I’m so excited to help [USA Swimming Foundation’s) goal of giving out 50,000 swimming lessons this summer, and I cant wait to hear about all of the success we’re having here in Arizona.”