Olympian Rowdy Gaines hosts World’s Largest Swimming Lesson at SeaWorld Orlando’s Aquatica

For the sixth consecutive year, SeaWorld Orlando’s Aquatica water park hosted a swim lesson a little different from the ones it offers all summer long. This lesson was part of an attempt to break the record for the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, which was set last year with 36,564 participants in hundreds of aquatic centers, pools and water parks around the globe.

This was the sixth year that Aquatica has hosted the event, and 149 children took part, including my 12-year-old son. Although my son swims competitively and doesn’t need basic swim lessons, he wanted to see which skills were required for the 30-minute certified lesson for his age group, 10 and older. Among them were practicing swimming freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke; floating on his back; and streamlining off the wall. The “skill” he liked best, though, was jumping off the elevated side of Big Surf Shores pool, which is not allowed during normal operating hours at Aquatica.

My son also had the remarkable opportunity to interview three-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer Ambrose “Rowdy” Gaines, who was hosting the swim lesson. Gaines spoke to my son about the importance of learning to swim early in life and how that shaped his life. As a native Floridian, Gaines grew up around water and learned to swim at a young age. However, he didn’t begin swimming competitively until he was 17 — after he tried out for five other sports. “Is there any other sport than swimming?” he asked. “I can’t think of anything!”

Still, he explained that learning to swim is more than just learning a sport, it is vital to children’s safety. He repeatedly said that as soon as kids learn to walk, they should learn to swim. The reason couldn’t be clearer: SeaWorld’s press release states that drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death of children ages 1-14. Furthermore, research shows that if children don’t learn to swim before the third grade, they likely never will. The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson is designed to draw attention to this issue, and encourage participation in swimming lesson programs.

You can see my son’s interview with Gaines below:

Aquatica invited the public to sign up in advance for the attempt to set a new Guinness World Record and also allowed water-park visitors to sign up on the spot. Admission to Aquatica was required to participate, and guests who did so received certificates and rubber bracelets for their efforts. Plus, their names were logged for the official entry should a record be broken.

DISCLAIMER: My son and I were guests of Aquatica for the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson. This did not affect my story; my opinions are my own.

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