Sutton Swim School Goes For A Guiness World Record

Across the globe hundreds of host sites such as Cupertino's Sutton Swim School held a Guiness World Record attempt for the World's Largest Swim Lesson Tuesday.

An estimated 25,000 students—44 of which were in Sutton's pool—in 20 countries were expected to participate simultaneously in a swim lesson where they practiced such things as front float, back float, and shallow water bobbying.

For school owner Earl Sutton, the event was more than just a world record attempt or publicity stunt. Sutton looks at the event with much narrower focus.

"We look at our business as not necessarily a swim school but a community serivce that we provide through swim lessons," Sutton says.

To Sutton teaching kids to swim is a safety issue. He wanted to use the event to drive home that point—learning to swim can save lives.

Research shows if a child doesn’t learn to swim before the 3rd grade, they likely never will, Sutton says. After that there's a mental block if someone learns to fear the water.

Since the day the school opened he says he has a continuous 10 spots open for clients of West Valley Community Service for people who may not be able to afford paying for lessons on their own.

It is this commitment to community and the quality of teachers Sutton hires that brings people such as Chris Wall of San Jose and his family back to the school.

"The teachers here spend a lot of time on safety," Wall says.

Wall's daughter, Morgan, 10, and 4-year-old son, Carson, both take classes at Sutton. There's a level of consistency and tenure with the teachers at Sutton, which Wall says he believes helps children get and stay comfortable in the water.