CTVNews.ca
Published Monday, June 24, 2013 5:51PM EDT
Last Updated Monday, June 24, 2013 5:54PM EDT
The Lifesaving Society, which oversees lifeguarding expertise, is targeting new swimming safety program at younger teens, hoping to reduce the danger now that summer and swim season has started.
According to research cited by the society, 18-to 24-year-olds continue to have the highest water-related death rate of any age group in Canada, at 2.2 deaths per 100,000.
The physiology of teenage brain development leads to engaging in risky activities, as the thrill-seeking part of the brain develops at a faster rate that the judgment and inhibition skills that come in the early adult years. This lead to potential for danger in high-risk situations around lakes, rivers and pools in the summer months.
The research supports the organization's new Swim to Survive+ class; a program to train pre-teen swimmers for unexpected falls in deep water.
The Lifesaving Society targets the pre-teen, Grade 7 age group because of the critical stage in their development, with the hope they can use those skills as they move into the riskier years of young adulthood.
Young swimmers at Toronto's Regent Park Aquatic Centre took part in the survival training program on Monday, learning techniques such as how to tread water, how to survive if they fall into the water with clothes on and how to assist a family member or friend in an emergency.
In addition to the research, the Lifesaving Society commissioned a public opinion poll, asking parents about their teens and water safety.
"Many parents, in fact 97 per cent of parents, are not worried about their teens around water,? said Barbara Byers, Public Education Director of the Lifesaving Society. ?They feel very confident about their teens around water."
"Yet less than half of those students had ever had any swimming lessons and many of them had not had lesson for more than five years."
Byers suggests that a parent, older sibling or relative should be present to supervise young swimmers in the water.
Although the Swim to Survive+ program is currently aimed toward pre-teen swimmers, the Lifesaving Society urges people of all ages to meet the swimming survival standard.
With a report by CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson
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