Registration for the 2021 World’s Largest Swimming Lesson opens April 1st in celebration of April Pools Day

By | April 5, 2021

The World Waterpark Association is officially opening registration for the 12th Annual World’s Largest Swimming Lesson on Thursday, April 1st. Host Locations can celebrate April Pools Day by signing-up for this year’s worldwide lesson at https://www.wlsl.org/WLSL/host_an_event.aspx.

Tens of millions of children missed the opportunity to participate in aquatics last summer, creating an urgent need for swim lessons in 2021. Organizers are urging aquatic facilities of all types to register for this global, one-day event and to host at least 21 participants (#21in21) to build awareness about the need and importance of swim lessons in their local communities.

Per the World Health Organization, drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths worldwide. In the U.S., drowning remains the leading cause of preventable injury-related death for children ages 1-4, and the second leading cause for children under 14. Yet, according to a 2020 research study completed by the American Red Cross, more than half (54%) of U.S. kids ages 4-17 are not able to perform the basic water safety skills that can save their life. 

The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson™ provides kids, parents and caregivers exposure to life-saving water safety skills while building buzz and awareness about the importance of teaching children to swim and providing undistracted adult supervision to help prevent drowning.

Aquatics facilities and providers can join TEAM WLSL in their mission to prevent childhood drowning through education by registering to conduct the 30-minute lesson any time of day during the 24-hour event on Thursday, June 17th. Learn more at https://www.wlsl.org.  

About The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson
The WLSL event serves as a platform for the aquatics industry to use one voice to send the clear and united message, Swimming Lessons Save Lives. Since the program was launched in 2010, the Swimming Lessons Save Lives message has been shared more than two billion times in the U.S. alone. WLSL events have provided more than 160,000 working hours of water safety training with more than 320,000 children and adults in 48 countries having participated in local lessons.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApSY4iFZCDc