PHOENIX /PRNewswire/, MAY 18, 2023 — Many Americans are not able to swim and put themselves in danger when they go swimming this summer, whether it’s in lakes, rivers or oceans.
- The 20 th annual National Water Safety Month is May, and it’s a great time to raise awareness about water safety and how important it is to learn to swim.
- Leslie’s Pools and Spas, the largest direct-to consumer pool and spa brand of the U.S., teamed up with Cullen Jones to promote the importance of taking swimming lessons, maintaining safe and healthy pool water, and securing the pool area.
- National retailer launches an in-store fundraising program from May 5 – October 31 to support Boys and Girls Clubs of America and YMCA swim lessons and water-safety education programs.
According to a recent Leslie’s-commissioned survey conducted by The Harris Poll, only 63% of U.S. adults say they are very comfortable being around water, and as much as 36% of those surveyed say they do not know how to swim.
These numbers are alarmingly high for children. Nearly half of parents with children younger than 18 say that their child doesn’t know how to swim and 61% report that their child hasn’t taken any swimming lessons. Nearly 30% of parents are worried about their child drowning.
These concerns are valid. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are approximately 4,000 drownings that result in death and 8,000 drownings that do not. In the U.S., drowning is the number one cause of accidental deaths among children aged between 1 and 4 years. The majority of these drownings occur in swimming pools rather than natural bodies of waters. According to the CDC, drowning is also the second leading cause of unintentional injuries death among children and teenagers aged 5-19 years. This is behind motor vehicle accidents. Children 5-14 years old drown in pools 30% of the time, while drownings in natural water such as rivers, lakes and oceans account for more than 50% of drownings in people over 15 years.
Children are drawn to water in any form, be it a pond or river, a pool at home, or even a backyard. Cullen Jones is a four-time Olympic swimmer and Leslie’s partner in water safety. He advocates swimming lessons and encourages children to learn how to swim safely. Learning to be comfortable and safe in the water opens up new recreational and athletic opportunities, including boating, competitive swimming and fishing.
Jones almost drowned when he was five years old. His mother did not keep him away from the water but enrolled him in swimming classes, where he flourished. Swimming lessons are essential, but pool owners must also take extra safety measures to prevent drownings.
Three Tenets of Water Safety
Leslie’s makes it a priority to promote awareness of the three main tenets for pool safety. These include maintaining a healthy and safe pool, assuring a secure area, and encouraging water safety and swimming lessons.
Leslie’s strives to keep its customers safe all year round and during the swimming season. Regular testing is essential to maintain a healthy and clean water. Leslie’s offers a free AccuBlue water test in-store and treatment plan. Leslie’s 60-year experience in water testing and data from over 50 million tests have led to the AccuBlue technology. AccuBlue measures 10 parameters, generates a score for water quality and a customized treatment plan that helps pool owners restore balance to their water. The company also offers a variety of tools and products to help you stay safe around and in the pool. These include the latest pool safety fencing, gates and safety covers. They even offer learn-to swim products.
Leslie’s supports the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the YMCA in their efforts to promote water safety. Leslie’s stores and on the web will accept customer donations from May 5, 2023 through October 31, 2020 to support water safety programmes. All donations will benefit the communities by being split evenly between the YMCA of America and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Both organizations share Leslie’s passion about water safety. Leslie’s customers and Leslie’s have donated more than $500,000. Leslie’s will sponsor the World’s Largest Swim Lesson in Phoenix for the first time on June 22, 2023 at the South Valley YMCA.
About Leslie’s
Leslie’s, founded in 1963, is the most trusted and largest direct-to consumer brand in the U.S. industry for pool and spa products. The Phoenix-based company serves residential and professional customers with an extensive, largely exclusive selection of essential pool and Spa care products. Leslie’s operates an integrated ecosystem with more than 1,000 physical stores and a robust online platform. This allows consumers to interact with Leslie’s wherever they are and whenever they want to shop. Leslie’s team of pool and spa experts and service technicians is passionate about providing consumers with the products and knowledge they need to maintain and enjoy their spas and pools.
Visit Leslie’s Pool for more information or engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and @lesliespoolcare.
Cullen Jones
Cullen Jones, a four-time Olympic Medalist, is the first African American to hold a World Record. At age five, he nearly drowned in a Pennsylvania water park. His mother then enrolled him in swimming lessons and it became apparent that Jones was a natural swimmer. Jones devotes a large portion of his life to his role as an advocate for water safety. As the voice for water safety in the U.S. pool care and spa industry, he is a partner with Leslie’s.
The Survey
This survey was conducted by The Harris Poll in the U.S. from April 25 to 27, 2023 among 2050 adults aged 18 and over, including 687 parents with children under 18. The results were weighted by age, gender, region and race/ethnicity. They also included household income, education level, marital status and household size. The propensity score was used to adjust the respondents’ online tendency.
The respondents for this survey are those who have consented to take part in Harris Poll surveys. A Bayesian credible range is used to measure the sampling precision for Harris online polls. The sample data for this study is accurate within +2.8 percentage points when using a level of confidence of 95%. The credible interval is wider for subsets within the population of interest.
There are many sources of error in sample surveys, regardless if they are based on probability sampling or not. These include, but are not limited to, coverage error, non-response error, question wording error and answer options error, as well as post-survey adjustments and weighting.
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