Water safety, drowning prevention, swim lessons… they’re kind of our thing! That’s why we’re o-fish-ally teaming up the World Waterpark Association and swim lesson providers across the world for the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson made total sense! Together, we’ll be raising awareness about the importance of swim lessons and drowning prevention for kiddos all across the globe!

The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL) was launched by the World Waterpark Association in 2010 and takes place at all types of aquatic facilities around the world! Since its inception, more than 332,000 children and adults have participated in lifesaving WLSL lessons across 48 countries!

From big water parks to small local community pools, to Goldfish Swim School locations, swim lesson and water-play providers near and far are teaming up to support the cause and host something special for their communities. The WLSL is a platform to do just what we are always working to do – build awareness and spread the word about how important it is for children to learn how to swim. After all, drowning remains the number 1 cause of death in children ages 1 to 4 – a startling statistic that we can all agree needs our attention! In 2022, tens of thousands of kids learned critical water safety skills and we’re excited to see what 2023 brings for the initiative! By teaming up with great causes and organizations with the same goal in mind, we can make a change, one swim lesson and one safer swimmer at a time! After all, it only takes a small ripple to start a BIG wave!

This year, the WLSL is being held on Thursday, June 22nd, and we’re so excited to be participating! Our schools across North America are doing a variety of things to get involved and be a part of the fun.

Some are celebrating their regular life-saving swim lessons (and free trial lessons for new swimmers!).

Some are adding extra swim times to the schedule to accommodate more swimmers.

Some are partnering with local water parks and community safety advocates to host even more kiddos, and some are offering a fintastically full day of water safety fun.

Even our coming -soon schools are teaming up with local schools and daycares to provide our special Water Safety Presentations, helping spread water safety awareness while awaiting their opening day! The fun certainly won’t end there – we suspect our friends and World Champion Swimmers Ryan Murphy and Cullen Jones and Board-Certified Pediatrician Dr. Molly O’Shea might be joining in on the fun, too!

Though we’re all participating a little differently, we are all working towards the same goal – building safer swimmers and communities! After all, safer swimmers means more awareness about water safety and fewer drownings – our #1 mission!

As we head into the WLSL next month, we encourage you to get involved, too! Pop into your nearest participating Goldfish Swim School to be a part of their festivities, visit a local pool and practice water safety, play in the backyard sprinkler and remind your kiddo of the Safer Swimmer Pledge. However you celebrate the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, don’t forget to share it with us on social media using the #WLSL2023 and #GoldfishSwimSchool hashtags so we can join in the fun and celebrate with you!