Swimming lessons urged for children after numerous drownings – Daily News Tribune

Growing up in India, future Wayland resident Ravi Srinivasan never learned to swim. Paddling around pools was reserved for the privileged, while rivers and lakes, although free, wracked his mother with fright.

Years later, he has signed up his offspring for lessons at the MetroWest YMCA in Framingham, to give them the competency he never fully acquired.

“Swimming is a must for all the kids now,” he said of his children and their friends as his 5-year-old son prepared for an afternoon pool session last week.

In a summer marked by an unusual number of local drownings and several tragic national cases, water safety staff are again pointing to swimming ability as a crucial skill.

“Obviously, you want to take a class,” said Tom Roudabush, program manager of instructor support for the Massachusetts Bay chapter of the American Red Cross.

Based on recent local and national events and a national study, some ethnic groups would appear to be more at risk of drowning because of a lack of swimming lessons or other factors.

Earlier this month, six black teenagers drowned when trying to save a seventh teen who had accidentally stepped into a deeper section of a river in Louisiana. Neither the seven teens nor their relatives knew how to swim. The first teenager was ultimately rescued by a bystander.

In May, 28-year-old Ednei Pereira of Milford drowned when his canoe flipped at Hopkinton State Park. A similar accident claimed the life of 28-year-old Carlos Sibrian in a Westborough pond in July. Later that month, 35-year-old Ramesh Rajarm drowned in the lifeguard-staffed swimming area at Hopkinton State Park.

Neither Pereira nor Sibrian wore a life jacket. And while Sibrian was the only victim whose lack of swimming ability has been confirmed by public safety officers, the other cases raised suspicions and contributed to a tragic summer.

“Not only is it sad, but I think it’s more than we’ve had in previous years,” said Peter Chisholm, spokesman for the District 14 regional dive team, a group charged with recovering bodies.

Alarmed over previous drownings, USA Swimming commissioned a study by researchers from the University of Memphis. They surveyed YMCAs in urban areas, including Boston.

They found disparities in swimming skills, with 69 percent of black children and 58 percent of Latino children reporting low or no swimming ability, compared to 42 percent of white children.

While parents can find lessons by calling pools, YMCAs, and municipal parks and recreation departments a partial local listing can be found at www.bostonredcross.org just 16 percent of black children and 15 percent of Latino children reported receiving a lesson. That stood in contrast to white children, at 29 percent.

Among children who lacked swimming skills, the most common factor keeping them from learning and their parents from encouraging them to do so was a shared fear of injury or drowning. Minority parents and their children were the most afraid, with the feeling of dread going from one generation to the next.

A traumatic experience can also prove a permanent barrier, MetroWest YMCA assistant aquatics director Annette Robertson said, with her own mother never learning after nearly drowning as a child.

Milford High School pool manager Peter Filosa said some families either don’t have the time or don’t realize the importance of swimming as a safety skill, with a lack of ability often passed down through the years. Still, he said he gets a mixed crowd at the school’s public lessons, including children from local Ecuadoran families.

The MetroWest YMCA also draws diverse attendance, with staff sending mailings in three languages English, Portuguese and Spanish to all Framingham elementary school families each year as a method for recruiting for special February and April vacation lessons.

While swim classes were once a luxury, MetroWest YMCA spokeswoman Miriam Kimball recalled, the University of Memphis found that cost no longer represents a barrier.

Local offerings suggest the same. At Milford High, lessons for town residents start at $40 for the youngest group, the 2- and 3-year-olds known as “Tiny Tonkers.” Financial help is available, and the local Rotary Club also subsidizes summer sessions for the pool at nearby Fino Field.

Seven-week sessions at MetroWest YMCA cost $47 for members and $95 for non-members. Applicants, however, can receive up to 50 percent off based on financial need, the number of people in the house and extenuating circumstances.

Many pools offer adult lessons, too, for those willing to sign up.

“They have to get past the point of admitting they don’t how to swim,” Filosa said.

Then there’s the challenge of putting one’s face in the water, which Robertson calls the biggest hurdle for both children and adults. Grown students start in three feet of water, learning to put their face in by blowing bubbles and how to kick by using flotation aids.

Srinivasan took a MetroWest YMCA adult session. He acquired some survival techniques but said he felt like he never really picked up true swimming skills.

“It’s too late for me to do anything,” he said on the pool deck.

But Robertson immediately offered a rejoined: “It’s never too late to learn how to swim.”

(Michael Morton can be reached at mmorton@cnc.com or 508-626-4338.)