Good news: Your days of lugging around water wings are coming to a close.
Bring your kids to tonight’s World’s Largest Swimming Lesson event at the Old Town Pool in Alexandria for a crash course in water safety. Former Olympic swimmer Maddy Crippen will be on-hand to talk about the Pool Safely Pledge, which outlines safety precautions children and parents should take around water. The kids will then sign the pledge before jumping into the lesson (and the water).
Similar events will also be happening locally in Reston and Leesburg. But Washingtonians won’t be the only ones participating in the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson: Similar events are also taking place today across the world in Poland, Ghana, Australia, Mexico, China, and several other countries.
The event was founded by the World Waterpark Association in 2010, and it aims to teach children to swim and therefore prevent drowning, which is a leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for kids in the US ages 1 to 14. The group estimates it’s had over 236,000 children and adults participate in its lessons globally since they began.
Add your name to the list: The event kicks off tonight at 6:30 PM at the Old Town Pool in Alexandria.
Old Town Pool; 1609 Cameron St., Alexandria
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
