This week's tragic drowning of 6 teens in Shreveport, LA has prompted me to pull an old "Parent Pause" post that I wrote for parents whose children are registered on the swim team with my daughter. It is the story of my Mother and her experience the summer prior to her Freshman year in college. It is my hope that my Mother's story and the tragedy of the 6 teens in Shreveport will prompt EVERYONE to learn to swim.
Olympic Gold Medalist, Cullen Jones, has partnered with USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash initiative to ensure that every child learns to swim and to decrease drowning statistics among minority youth. I challenge you to learn to swim if you don't know how or to save a child's life by sponsoring a series of swim lessons for that child at your local recreation/aquatic center. What ever you do - Do Something!
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PARENT PAUSE
October 7, 2008
Remember a couple of weeks ago I spoke of being in the right place at the
right time? Well here we go again. Two Saturdays ago on a
flight to Los Angeles I engaged in a conversation with one of my co-workers
about Olympic Swimming. She is new to our organization and asked if I had
children. Of course I began talking, very proudly, about my pride and joy -
Kai. Of course it turned into a discussion about minorities and swimming.
I always get the question about how Kai became interested in competitive
swimming and it inevitably leads to the discussion about the fact that there are not many people of color who make it to the Olympics (and not many who
can even swim!).
Well, here is the story I gave her and everyone else that brings it up. When
my mother was 18 years old growing up in Norfolk, VA she was given the opportunity to work at a camp in New Hampshire as a counselor. She loved
children and needed the money to attend college. She'd been accepted into
Lehman College in NY as a physical education major on a full scholarship but
needed living expense money and money to take the bus from VA to NY to
college. Her father was a Navy Seaman and at the time her mother had never held a job
outside of the home. So the opportunity to go to New Hampshire provided an opportunity to earn money, work with children, and get away from Norfolk for
the summer before college.
One afternoon after arriving to camp the counselors decided to have a
cook-out at the lake where the camp was located. Because the sand was wet
they decided to sit on the boat dock. Well, after the cookout they
decided to horseplay on the dock. One of the male counselors pushed my Mom
off the dock and then ran after another counselor to catch her and throw her
into the water. What he did not know was my mother COULD NOT SWIM! And only
her close friend, who had gone to the restroom in the camp lodge, knew that. My
mother recalled very vividly how she sank to the bottom of the lake and then pushed as
hard as she could to make it back to the top with the hope that someone saw
her hand as she desperately waved when she surfaced. She was too scared to
scream because she thought she would get water in her mouth and drown. The
last time she came up she realized everyone on the dock had run onto the
beach and wasn't looking her way. Thankfully a man in a boat witnessed what
happened and rowed over to save her. As she realized her waves were going
unnoticed and she started to sink he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the
boat - saving her life! Of course as a physical education major she had to
take swimming as a part of her degree requirements - so she took that class her first semester in college and
mastered it enough to save herself if she ever needed to.
My mother said when she had me she knew she had to make sure I knew how to
swim so I would never have to experience the fear of almost drowning. At
the age of 5 she took me to the local YMWCA in Newark, NJ and signed me up
for “Learn to Swim” classes. I was a natural in the water and at the
conclusion of each class I cried because I did not want to leave the water.
When my brother was born she did the same with him. So naturally when I
had my first child (Kai), I did the same. When Kai was 9 months old we enrolled in "Mommy and Me" swim classes.
Lets talk about the issue at hand. How many of you can not swim?? I am not
talking about competitive swimming; I am talking about swimming to save your
life! As a member of the swim team our children can swim very well - take the time to evaluate your
own swimming skills - and make a change that could save your life! I am very
happy that the man in the boat saved my mother's life that day - in essence
he saved my life too! Take the time to save your future generations. You've made the first step
by making sure your child can swim - now save yourself!
This Journey is All Mine,
Rhonda
Definitely a plus for me knowing how to swim. My interest in swimming started with insuring that Raylen could swim. She inspired me to learn and continues to motivate me.
ReplyDeleteIt is always so sad to hear of you people getting killed, especially if it was preventable.
ReplyDeleteMost of my childhood was spent in ponds and near creeks... no one in our farm country gave swimming lessons though, it was just something you were expected to learn to do, like tying your shoes.
BK at thefitlounge.com has just finished up swim lessons. I'm so proud of her because she was terrified of the water :)