Are you ready to dive into water safety? Look no further than the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™. This annual event brings together swimmers of all ages and skill levels for one important cause: drowning prevention. This incredible event, held across multiple cities, countries and continents, is more than just a fun day at the pool. It’s an opportunity to spread awareness about water safety and teach life-saving skills that can make all the difference in an emergency situation.

The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ has become a global movement, with over 50,000 participants each year. From beginners to seasoned pros, everyone is encouraged to participate in this incredible event highlighting the importance of swim lessons and drowning prevention education.

The 2023 World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ event (WLSL), will take place on Thursday, June 22. 

Here are some facts to get ready for this important event:

• Millions of children missed the opportunity to participate in formal swimming lessons in the past couple of years due to the pandemic, creating an urgent need for water safety training and swim lessons this summer. TEAM WLSL™ is getting back on deck to send the message Swimming Lessons Save Lives™ to help prevent childhood drowning and teach families how to Be Water Aware.  

• The 2023 World’s Largest Swimming Lesson will offer hundreds of aquatic centers, swim schools, and waterparks the chance to focus on the urgency of getting kids in the water and help raise awareness about drowning and the fact that swimming is a vital life-saving skill that every child should learn.

• What is exciting about the WLSL event is that many organizations and individual aquatic facilities are coming together to make it happen. The WLSL helps capture all our passion for this critical issue as individuals and focuses all that energy on one message for one day.

• Drowning is a public health crisis. In the U.S., it’s the leading cause of accidental death for kids ages 1-4 and the second leading cause for kids 14 and under. Yet, a large percentage of adults don’t recognize this risk or provide the right layers of protection to prevent drowning.

• Internationally, the World Health Organization estimates drowning is one of the top five causes of death for people ages 1-14 in 48 of the 85 countries it monitors around the globe. Swimming is a vital life-saving skill. 

• According to a 2020 research study conducted by the American Red Cross, more than half (54%) of U.S. kids ages 4-17 are not able to perform the basic water safety skills that can save their life.

• More fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents occur in the U.S. during June than in any other month.
  
• Nearly 80% of drowning victims are male. Also, African-American children age 5 to 19 drown at rates 5.5 times higher than Caucasian children. This disparity is greatest among those 11-12 years where African Americans drown in swimming pools at rates ten times those of Caucasians.

• Drowning is predictable, incredibly fast and quiet: Most children who drown are out of sight for less than 5 minutes. Drowning can occur in as little as two minutes and victims do not signal for help. In addition, 70% of drownings happen during non-swim times.

• Research shows participation in formal swimming lessons by kids ages 1-4 can significantly reduce the risk of drowning, yet many children still do not participate in formal water safety training or swimming lessons.

• The American Academy of  Pediatrics now recommends swim lessons as a layer of protection against drowning for many children beginning at age 1.

• The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ was created in 2010 as a platform to support public education about safer water practices and to build awareness about the critical importance of teaching children to swim to help prevent drowning. 

• Since its inception, more than 320,000 children and adults have participated in life-saving WLSL lessons, generating more than two BILLION media impressions about the vital importance of learning to swim. 

• TEAM WLSL™ has set five multi-venue and three single venue Guinness^® World Records since the program began in 2010.
  

TEAM WLSL™ is on a mission to make sure every parent understands the critical importance of teaching kids to swim and how to Be Water Aware to prevent drowning.

Show your support by sharing this important message.