it's now time for the weekly with new
sikh thinker justin warmoth this is the
weekly on click orlando calm with justin
warmoth summer is right around the
corner and in florida finding a body of
water will be a top priority for kids
but are you and your child ready this
morning the importance of swim lessons
and water safety in general
good morning up justin warmoth from the
beach to your pool chances are you'll be
cooling off as we get into the summer
months there's no doubt swimming and
hanging out in the water is a good time
but it's also vital to understand the
importance of swim safety every year 75
child drownings are reported in Florida
the highest in the country and each one
is preventable this morning you'll hear
from Orange County Fire Rescue in their
efforts to curb that number but first an
easy free way your kids can learn how to
swim at YMCAs across Central Florida and
it's all courtesy of a Hall of Fame
swimmer three-time Olympic gold medalist
rowdy Gaines rowdy and Tony it's a
pleasure to have both of you guys here
this morning to talk about this so
important especially as we get into the
summer months and kids get out of school
so Tony can you first tell us a little
bit about what folks can expect at the
safety around water week I think the
biggest thing they're gonna get out of
the scrub around safety week is learning
how to swim and introducing children
into the swimming pool you know I always
talk about you know kids were born to
swim all you do is reactivate them and
there's always an age limit where you
want to try to do that but you know it's
doing into the parents that no dollar
value is and not enough to teach your
child to swim losing a child is one of
the most traumatic things you will ever
experience in your entire life
and it changes your life forever so what
our association does is we're helping in
conjunction with ymc to make this a
reality and for three years running
three years running we're making a
difference and if it wasn't for the FS
PA being involved in ymca I'm not sure
that we're gonna be in the right
direction but by doing this we're in the
right direction and we're blessed to be
associated with fine yet
right here rowdy games in the YMCA and
rowdy why is this so important to you
why did you get in touch and to this
cause well Justin I have four children
four daughters three granddaughters and
I was born and raised in Winterhaven
third generation Floridian so water has
been a part of my life forever and part
of my family's lives and it literally
breaks my heart when I see or read that
a child drowns because I know it's so
preventable we were just talking about
this before we went on air about the
fact that people sometimes call it
accidental drowning that's it's not
accidental that means it could have been
for it that it was not preventable it is
preventable there is a cure to drowning
and that is literally two simple words
it's swim lessons so for me it's it's a
it's very much a passion because it is
heartbreaking when you hear it that a
child drowns because I know it was
preventable and we know that
yes dollars matter yes it getting a
question it but this is a complimentary
swim lesson why is that so important to
you Tony and and talk about what this
opens up for families all across Central
Florida well think about children are a
hundred percent of our future and if we
could teach one child to swim that might
instill into enough that child to teach
another child to swim or at least get
them involved in swimming I've been in
Florida since 1967 did I take swimming
lessons when I grew up here for the
interest absolutely not but you know
what always was supervised by an adult
and you know getting in the pool and not
focusing on learning how to swim is the
wrong way of going about it you know I
do have three grandkids too and I will
tell you right now today that all three
of our grandchildren learn how to swim
before the age of 1 all of them and
safety is the key just you know today we
have safety we have layers of protection
in place when we build swimming pools
any door and window with direct access
to access to the pool she'll be barriers
and you also have to have a perimeter
barrier ie a fence or a screen enclosure
we do that for a safety reason but what
it's not it's not a babysitter you know
we have to have parents or someone
that's responsible protecting and
watching that child every single minute
they're in the backyard that means put
the cell phone now put the book down
have a phone available at the pool if
needed but we're the biggest safety
tools in a swimming pool believe it or
not would be we in a commercial pool
it's called a safety crook and it may be
the pool pole or pool brush
you know attached to the pole we can
actually pull somebody out one of the
last things to do we'll talk about rowdy
is not jumping in after a drowning
person initially because the drowning
person is much stronger than you are so
it's it's important to our industry that
we make a difference in our community
we've done this for three years in a row
I hope it continues on well beyond our
lifetime and we continue to make a
difference and ready what's it like to
see someone come in not know one thing
about swimming how to swim and then they
leave this event fully capable of
swimming and saving themselves if they
get into a bad situation what is it like
for you to see that
well Justin it's a thrill to be able to
see that child and the transformation
they have from the beginning the week
until the end I will say there's never a
case where a child or an adult for that
matter is completely safe in the water
swimming lessons provide an outlet to be
able to be safer in the water to try to
help prevent that drowning it has been
proven if they take swimming lessons it
prevents drowning by 90% and Antonis
right in the fact that 90% of drownings
88% of drownings happen when an adult is
present and that's because the adult
especially in this generation is
distracted you know the phone are going
to answer the door or check the laundry
and that's why it's so important to make
sure that that first line at a fit of
defense is the adult but the
transformation as I said to see that
child's joy at the end of the week is
it's pretty pretty cool I mean we teach
them really basic skills during those
four or five days so it's not something
where they're going to automatically
learn how to swim I want to make that
perfectly clear but they do feel that
energy by the end of the week
how have swim lessons evolved maybe in
the last decade I
you can go back 20 30 years but maybe in
the last decade maybe the last five
years how have they evolved they seem to
be so much different than when I was
getting swimming pointer free almost 38
years and I love what I do I'm actually
a commercial contractor but I do a lot
of residential swimming pools and I love
what I do you know back in the day it
will store the kid to phone and hope you
could swim right well it doesn't work
that way yeah I hate to have a hardened
a parent that would do that and I think
that's 1,000% wrong is actually put them
in the water get them acclimated to the
water you know we have a dog dogs love
water right but it couldn't get a dog in
the pool - you actually acclimated the
dog to the water no different than a
human being you have to acclimate them
to the water don't scare them to death
and you know Randy you got three medals
and they are gold medals and will those
be making an appearance for horse I know
some of the parents might be you know a
little bit more knowledgeable of your
accomplishments with the USA Swimming
don't leer to that yet I got to say
something I got it
this is Rowdy he goes to we go to an
event with him why what's he do he pulls
a gold medal out and he puts it around a
child's neck yep I can't tell you how
big this smile is of course the kid is
stunned and I'll tell you something he
made a difference I'm getting goose
mommy he made a difference for two
reasons one he took time to spend with a
childhood Jew he's put him in the pool
to teach him how to swim well the cool
thing about that is the fact that the
Olympics just happened you know a couple
months ago so a lot especially now the
kids kind of remember that and remember
Rio a couple years ago so it is a it's a
fun thing to see the smile on their
faces when they had had gold medal put
around the neck yeah but I'll be where I
run around the pool all week long and
you don't want to miss that it's all
happening April 23rd to the 27th and
it's for kids ages 5 to 12 there are 13
YMCAs across Central Florida offering
those classes and remember they're free
here's a look at those locations the
Aquatic Center in Orlando Blanchard Park
Co
go dr. P Phillips Frank DeLuca Golden
Triangle Lake Nona Osceola County Roper
South Orlando Titusville Wayne Dench and
Winter Park coming up what Orange County
Fire Rescue is doing to prepare for
summer and a special swim class offering
lessons to children with autism keep it
here