DAPHNE, Ala. — Sixteen local children put their names in the history books on Tuesday when they participated in the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson attempt at the Bounds Family YMCA in Daphne.

The children — who learned about water safety in the process — didn’t fully realize the significance of the swimming lesson, but the chaperones did.

Three-year-old Carter Fraley was anxious to get in the pool and away from the sweltering heat on Tuesday, but his grandmother told him he didn’t realize it now, but his name was always going to be in the books as one of the children who broke a world record for the world’s largest swimming lesson.  

As temperatures rise and individuals around the world seek out the reprieve bodies of water offer, organizers of the event had a dual goal: to teach people about water safety and raise awareness of the dangers water poses, especially to young children. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death of children ages 1 to 14 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Aquatics facilities around the world hosted a swimming lesson that began at 10 a.m. central time and lasted for 45 minutes. The lessons were an attempt to break a world record. The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson’s Twitter account proclaimed the record was broken during the attempt, but the results won’t be official until the video, photos and documentation are submitted by all the sites and reviewed by officials with Guinness.

“Congratulations!” the Twitter feed proclaimed Tuesday. “It’s official, everyone that participated in the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson today is a Guinness World Record holder! We’re still working on final counts and will keep verifying until we know we have included everyone that is sending in their materials.”

Christina Bailey, aquatics director for the Bounds Family YMCA, said the lesson would teach children about water safety and beginning swimming skills.

“We are trying to promote swimming lessons to save lives,” she said.

The lessons offered in Daphne were given to children between the ages of 3 and 12 by five licensed instructors including Bailey, Phoenix Fisk, Martha Jane Kelgor, Griffin Fisk, Angelle McMillan, Stephanie Fields, Magen Brennan and Kayla Travis.

The new world record holders include Nicole Corleone, Michael Corleone, Sabrina Corleone, Regan Brooks, Sophia Brooks, Alisa Brooks, Abigail Cruz, Ellen Lassere, Ethan Lassere, Erin Lassere, Brennan Yamane, Hunter Lowry, Laurel Warren, Peyton Thompson, Carter Fraley and Charlie Wetzel.

“The kids will mostly get water safety out of the lesson. It is a beginner swimming lesson where they learn submerging, entering and exiting the water safely, beginner stroke technique, really focusing on safety,” Bailey said.

Children began the lesson by learning about how to enter the pool safely and how to ensure the pool was deep enough before jumping in. Once they had the basics, the children entered the pool under the watchful eye of instructors to practice entering the pool, blowing bubbles, holding onto the side of the pool for safety, floating and kicking.

By the end of the lesson, the children who were worried about the water seemed more like fish. All of the children are now better prepared to enjoy the water this summer and stay safe.

According to data compiled by the CDC, lack of water safety training is a large problem in the U.S. In 2005, there were 3,582 fatal unintentional drownings in the U.S., which averages to 10 deaths per day. More than one-fourth of fatal drownings happened with children under the age of 14, and for every child who dies, four more receive emergency care for injuries sustained, which could include long-term brain damage.

The risk for drowning is not limited to children; research has shown that if a child does not learn to swim by the third grade, he or she likely never will. Males are four times more likely than females to die from drownings. Younger children are more likely to die as a result of drowning. Drowning accounted for 30 percent of deaths in children aged 1 to 4 years old.

Daphne-area children help create a Guinness World Record for the largest swimming lesson; in the process, they learn how to swim and prevent themselves from becoming a statistic. Drowning is one of the top unintended causes of death in children.

(Staff video by Shea Zirlott; edited by Thomas Boni)

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