World Record Attempt Aimed at Saving Children's Lives

If all goes according to plan, some 35 children from the Long Center in Clearwater will be part of a Guinness Book of World Records feat.

Throughout the nation, kids gathered at community pools to become part of The World's Largest Swimming Lesson, at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

In a collaborative effort, the event was meant to bring awareness to the importance of children, even pre-toddlers, to learn to swim. Two children 14-years old or younger die each day from drowning in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The World's Largest Swimming Lesson is an attempt to bring that total down as much as possible.

"The way parents and family members have children learn how to ride a bicycle, that's the way children should learn how to swim," said Mark Roberson, recreation supervisor at The Long Center, which was the site of Clearwater's only Guinness Book of World Records participation. "Especially in Florida, we are surrounded by water. This is definitely the thing kids should learn how to do."

At Tuesday's event, Roberson oversaw roughly 35 swimming students ages pre-toddler (or three-years old) to 13 in three groups. Roberson noted that his evening classes are much larger. His current evening classes are just more than 100 students.

"We could have had more [involved in Tuesday's event] if the time was at night," Roberson said. "But it had to be at 11 a.m."

Roberson and his fellow swim instructors had to fill out paperwork for World's Largest Swimming Lesson officials to confirm and document how many students were involved in Tuesday's feat.

After officials gather the paperwork, it will then be determined if the Guinness Book of World Records mark was set.

"I received an email about this and sent it to my supervisors and asked if there was some interest and now, we're part of the program," Roberson said.

Roberson was helped by his assistant Tracey MacLean.

"This is really exciting to be a part of it," said MacLean, who also is a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes school in Dunedin. "The kids are really excited to be a part of this. It's great that this facility was chosen. I'm proud."

Roberson hopes the message put forth by The World's Largest Swimming Lesson are heeded.

Learning to swim "is one of those things that should be a requirement," Roberson said. "It's not just for recreation. It's for safety too. And safety is our main focus here."