Go for Green
Keeping Heads Up and Above Water
Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 to 14. It takes just one inch of water and 10 seconds to claim another life.
For kids spending their summers in YMCA day camps across the First Coast, weekly trips to the pool are full of fun and excitement. They also serve as perfect opportunities to provide swim instruction to thousands of children who have never learned to swim, perhaps due to their parents’ inabilities to do so, lack of access to programs or financial constraints.
As a national leader in water safety and aquatics instruction, we developed the “Go for Green!” Camp Swim Initiative, which focuses on improving the swimming abilities of all children participating in our summer day camp programs. Children are swim-tested upon their first visit to the pool, and those identified as non-swimmers or poor swimmers receive free lessons throughout the summer from trained instructors who work one-on-one with them until they can swim safely on their own.
This past summer, 5,824 YMCA summer campers from every location in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties participated in the “Go for Green!” Camp Swim Initiative.
Results
With 359 participants, the duPont Family YMCA Campus location provides a good representative sample of what the initiative accomplished in just one summer. The chart to the right represents necklace colors worn by participants at the start and end of summer. Three ability levels exist within each necklace color. While some participants remained in the same color, all progressed at least one ability level.
“Go for Green!” not only teaches swimming and life-saving skills to kids, but also builds their confidence and self-esteem both in and out of the water. By the end of the summer, all campers had something to be proud of.
Eight-year-old Charles, Jr. said, “Getting to green made me feel like the highest!”
Charles is just one of many examples of kids who are empowered by the “Go for Green!” Camp Swim Initiative. He says earning a green necklace made him feel like he could do anything. It may also prove to save his life.
