Swimming toward a safer summer

Posted in Mom Stuff
by Lisa Roberson

With water still dripping from his little frame, my 4-year-old son ran from one end of the pool at our local recreation center to the other Saturday afternoon and flung his wet body into my arms.

“Mommy,” he said half excited and half exhausted after his first swim lesson. “This was amazing. I’m like a million times happy and I’m going to swim everyday.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my youngest child. Where in the world would he find the time to swim everyday in mid-February in northeast Ohio? Who did he think he was Cullen Jones?

Drew may be a long way from becoming an Olympic swimmer, but he has taken his first step toward not becoming a statistic. He is learning how to swim.

And, that is something I am very happy to say because so many little kids that look just like him do not know how to swim and lose their lives because of it.

It is a well-documented fact that a lot of black kids just do not know how to swim.

The USA Swimming Foundation, which in 2009 released a first-of-its-kind swimming survey, said that nearly 60 percent of black children can’t swim, which is almost twice the figure for white children. This makes black children three times more likely to drown, the report concluded.

Jones, who won gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics, told Essence magazine in December 2009 it was a near-drowning experience that got him in the water.

“When I was five years old, I almost drowned,” Jones said. “And my mom got me into lessons instantly. Rather than shield me away from or keep me afraid of the water, she gave me the tools to be better and to feel comfortable around the water.”

Monday night I spoke with Elyria Parks and Recreation Director Frank Gustoff and asked him if he had any thoughts on what could be done to prevent kids from drowning. He had swimming on the brain after just leaving a City Council meeting where he begged city leaders to allow him to open pools at two of the city’s recreation centers this coming summer.

“Teach them to swim,” he said. “I never want to see any kid drown, but that is exactly what happened at South Rec a few years back. A kid got in trouble and drowned because he didn’t know how to swim.”

It’s a sad story and one I hope will not be repeated in any Elyria families this summer. And, it’s a story that hopefully will not be repeated in mine.

Now, I am not saying my son will grow up to blow Jones out of the water. But he will know how to swim and that will save his life.

The Elyria Parks and Recreation Department will offer swim lessons this summer and no child will be turned away because of a parent’s inability to pay. Parents who want their children to learn how to swim are encouraged to call the Parks and Recreation Department at (440)326-1500.