Swimmers Attempt to Break World Record

About 46 township children swam toward a Guinness World Record Tuesday, as participants in the World's Largest Swim Lesson event at Hillsborough YMCA.

"I think they are going to shatter the record," Arthur Soybel, the Hillsborough YMCA's Aquatic Director, said. "Some of the kids have regular lessons on Tuesdays, so they're getting this lesson as the normal lesson." 

The World's Largest Swim Lesson is an international program that aims to prevent drowning and other water-related injuries by teaching children to swim. The program includes a swim curriculum that each lesson site performs at the same time during the designated day—for East Coast sites, the 45-minute lesson began at 11 a.m.

Eight instructors from the YMCA handled the lesson curriculum, which included breathing, strokes, kicking and other water safety lessons. At the end of the lesson, those enrolled received a certificate of completion indicating their participation in the record-breaking attempt.

The lesson plan—and event focus—coincide with the YMCA's mission, Soybel added.

"We are very safety-cautious, so we do incorporate safety into our lessons," Soybel said. "A big part of this lesson is to incorporate safety. We strongly believe that the way to prevent water-related injuries is learning how to swim, so safety is a big part of our every day lessons."