Swimming classes can save your life. But greater than half of adults have by no means taken them

For many, taking a dip in a lake or a pool is a ceremony of summer season. But not everybody can try this safely.

“I love the water, but I’ve always had that fear of really not knowing how to swim,” stated Brandy Solomon of Rochester. 

At the age of 38, Solomon is studying to swim for the primary time. When the YMCA of Greater Rochester supplied free swim classes this summer season, she enrolled immediately. 

Those slots stuffed up shortly, in keeping with the Y’s aquatic director, Omar Hidalgo-Rojas. 

“It’s a life-saving school to have. You hear about drownings every year,” he stated. 

Even a talented swimmer can drown. But greater than half of adults within the United States have by no means taken a swimming lesson, in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That contains 2 in 3 Black adults and three in 4 Hispanic adults. 

Some of that may be attributed to a “generational curse,” Hidalgo-Rojas stated. 

“We have a lot of parents or families who come in and say their family members don’t know how to swim. So, because of that, they weren’t able to learn how to swim,” he stated. 

Societal and cultural components also can discourage some folks from studying, even when classes can be found. Others might need a good friend or member of the family who drowned they usually’re afraid to go close to the water. 

According to the CDC, unintended drowning deaths are on the rise — claiming greater than 4,500 lives annually between 2020 and 2022, after many years of declining numbers. 

Solomon’s rationalization for lacking out on swimming classes earlier in life is much less ominous. 

“I don’t want to use my hair as an excuse, but I can remember being in high school, and I didn’t really want to get my hair wet, because I didn’t want to have to go to class after I just got out of the pool with my hair all funky,” she stated. 

It seems the answer was easy. On a current Friday on the Maplewood Family YMCA, Solomon wore a showering cap massive sufficient to cowl her lengthy braids, piled excessive on her head. 

With a foam noodle wrapped round her torso, she stepped into the pool and labored on her floating abilities. 

“It’s never too late to learn,” Hidalgo-Rojas stated.