About 70 children lined the edge of the H. Spurgeon Cherry Municipal Pool’s shallow end Thursday morning.
With five minutes to go, children kicked and splashed the water in excitement.
At 11 a.m., the sound of an air horn sliced through the air as the children and swim instructors jumped into the pool. They hoped to earn a spot in the Guinness World Records along with other swimming facilities and participants worldwide for the world’s largest swimming lesson.
Recreation supervisor Jeff Moffitt, 43, said Thursday’s event was Gainesville’s second year participating in the world record attempt.
Last year, more than 20,000 people from about 300 facilities in 14 countries, including 45 states in the United States, broke the world record by giving a swimming lesson at the exact same time.
On Thursday, the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson organization attempted to break that record once again.
The organization is collecting information from other swimming facilities worldwide to determine if the record was broken, according to the organization’s website.
Moffitt said the main goal, however, was to raise awareness for water safety and swimming lessons.
According to the group’s website, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in children younger than 14, a statistic Moffitt said is “totally preventable.”
“There should be no reason why we can’t prepare these children to be able to prevent drownings,” he said. “Swim lessons are extremely important, especially here in Florida where we’re surrounded by water.”
For 45 minutes, swim instructors led students, ranging from infants to several adults, in a condensed swimming lesson, which included basic strokes, breathing while swimming, and safely entering and exiting the pool.
“The more people we can get into the water learning, the less people will drown,” said Tyler Marzella, a 22-year-old agricultural operations management senior at UF and a swim instructor on site.
While students practiced leg kicks and blowing bubbles underwater, parents watched pool-side.
Regina Peterson, 51, could not stop smiling as she watched her eight grandchildren participate in their first swimming lesson.
Financial and time difficulties prevented her grandchildren from learning how to swim, she said. But Thursday’s event gave them a chance to learn basic swimming skills.
“I’m glad they are part of it,” she said. “They need to know how to swim.”
The lessons also helped Peterson’s 9-year-old granddaughter, Lejuiana Cason, overcome her fear of getting in the water.
“She would just stand there, and she’s like, ‘I’m not going in no water,’” Peterson said.
Seeing her brothers and sisters splash around in the pool, Lejuiana worked up the courage to jump in, submerge herself in the water and swim with her instructors. She finally faced her fear.
“It’s encouraging,” Peterson said. “It’s letting them know [the water] is nothing to be afraid of. Taking away the fright, it’s good.”
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
