Six-city summer tour aims to address importance of water safety in effort to reduce number of drownings, particularly among minority youth
For the third consecutive year, the USA Swimming Foundation and Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones have joined forces with ConocoPhillips to raise awareness about the importance of learning how to swim as part of the Make a Splash Tour with Cullen Jones. Through this tour, Jones, a survivor of a near-drowning incident at age five and the first African-American male to hold a world record in swimming, will visit six cities to address the importance of water safety in an effort to reduce the number of U.S. drownings, particularly among minority youth.
Each year, more than 3,400 people drown in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. African-American children drown at a rate nearly three times higher than Caucasian children in similar age groups, and 60-70% of African-American and Hispanic children cannot swim, according to a national research study by the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis. Jones has made a point of using his celebrity to change those statistics.
"Swimming is more than an activity or a sport. It is a life skill, just like reading or riding a bike," said Jones. "Every summer I hear about kids drowning, and in so many cases it could have been prevented. It is important to me to spread the word about resources available to kids and parents, and to give back to a sport that has given so much to me."
Make a Splash is the national child-focused water safety initiative of the USA Swimming Foundation. Since its inception in 2007, Make a Splash has reached more than 845,000 children with life-saving swim lessons and the USA Swimming Foundation would like to surpass the one million mark by the end of 2012. Through its nearly 400 local partner programs, Make a Splash offers free or discounted swimming lessons or water safety education in 45 states.
For ConocoPhillips, who has partnered with USA Swimming for 38 years, the opportunity to sponsor the Make a Splash with Cullen Jones Tour was a natural extension of the company's steadfast commitment to safety and education. The company's charitable donation to the initiative will help save lives by giving thousands of children – who would otherwise not have the opportunity – the ability to take swimming lessons. Additionally, ConocoPhillips is also the title sponsor of the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships, the marquee domestic event of the year for swimming. This year's event will be held Aug. 2 - 6, 2011 in Palo Alto, Calif.
