On Thursday, June 20th, 2024, Hangzhou International School (HIS) hosted The World’s Largest Swim Lesson™ to build awareness and generate national attention about the importance of teaching kids to swim. What a fantastic initiative to kick off the summer!
HIS was chosen as a WLSL country representative for China and was only 1 of 2 schools in China to participate. Since 2010, more than 383,000 people in 53 countries have participated in WLSL lessons. TEAM WLSL™ holds five Guinness World Records™ for the largest simultaneous swimming lesson conducted at multiple venues. TEAM WLSL™ also holds three Guinness World Records™ for the largest swimming lesson conducted at a single venue.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of this amazing event, which was created to raise awareness about the importance of teaching children to swim to prevent childhood drowning. Water-related accidents and drowning risk peak during the month of July in the U.S. and other parts of the world as people flock to pools, waterparks, and natural bodies of water to beat the heat. Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for kids 5-14, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death worldwide.
“We want to equip families with an understanding of the basic swimming skills and water safety knowledge they need to be safer in, on, and around the water,” said HIS Aquatics Coordinator Natalio Liares, IV. “Knowing how to swim and prevent drowning is truly a matter of life and death for all families, regardless of race, economics or geography.”
