Kansas City, MO Parks and Recreation is offering FREE Swim Lessons at Gorman Pool, 1101 NE 47th St. (former Vivion Road YMCA) in Anita B. Gorman Park. The FREE lessons are made possible from the Linscomb Foundation Fund, providing swimming scholarships for those living in Clay and Platte Counties. To register for FREE swim lessons call 816-350-2628. All levels of lessons are available.
SHRIMP – For children 6 months to 3 years of age. Includes safe water entry, putting face in water, blowing bubbles, front and back floats, jumping from side of pool to parents, and holding breath. Parents accompany children in pool.
SEAHORSE – For children 3+ years and/or test out of Shrimp. Develops buoyancy, breath control, and basic water skills and introduces water safety and lifejacket usage. Children submerge faces in water, float and kick on front and back with support, and learn front crawl and backstroke arm movements.
STARFISH – For children 4+ years and/or test out of Seahorse. Children learn unsupported floating, kicking, and beginning swimming skills. Includes front crawl with introduction to breathing, back crawl arm and kick integration, prone and back glide, turning over, and sit dives.
GUPPY – For children 5+ years and/or test out of Starfish. Children develop rhythmic breathing and learn elementary backstroke, kneeling dive, treading water, reversing direction, and contin-ue working on front and back crawl.
FLIPPER – For children 5+ years and/or test out of Guppy. Children are introduced to deep water bobbing, breaststroke and scissor kicks, standing dive, stride jump, and continue working on previously-learned strokes.
SEAL – For children 6+ and/or test out of Flipper. Children become familiar with dolphin kick, refine turns, build endurance, learn standing dive from board, and continue developing previous-ly-learned strokes.
SAILFISH – For children 7+ and/or test out of Seal. Students are introduced to the butterfly, front and back crawl flip turns, pike and tuck surface dives, and refine strokes while endurance is in-creased.
BARRACUDA – For children 8+ years and/or test out of Sailfish. Students refine and perfect all strokes and turns while learning Junior Lifeguarding skills.
According to the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is major public health problem worldwide. In 2015, an estimated 360,000 people died from drowning. Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths.
This issue is truly a matter of life and death for children and adults around the world. Drowning and non-fatal drowning impacts families everywhere around the globe, regardless of geography, race or economics.