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The author talks about how self-agency is related to learning to swim by explaining it deals with how adults interact with children in the water and during swimming. Topics discussed include the author stating that the sense of self to make one's own choices being the essence of self-agency, and the choice of saying no being a sign of one's personal discipline.

African American children ages 5 - 19 years drown in swimming pools at rates of 5.5 times higher than those of whites (Gilchrist & Parker, 2014). Literature suggested culture is the culprit for this disparity. A fear of water dates to slavery (Pitts, 2007). After slavery was abolished, the memory of drowning remained part of the African American culture. In the twentieth century, the popularity of swimming grew with the increase in public pools. The era of the Jim Crow laws kept African Americans out of public pools (Pitts, 2007). Although the political landscape has shifted since the Jim Crow era, inequities have continued to linger. Despite the reported disparity between drowning among African Americans and others, a gap exists in the literature regarding aquatic programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Delaware State University (DSU) is addressing the fear of water among students on campus and among members of the surrounding community to DSU by implementing the American Red Cross Parent Orientation to Swim Curriculum. DSU's current motto is "Making our mark on the world;" the previous motto was, "Only an educated man is free." We prefer to recall that Plato said, "A man is not learned until he can read, write, and swim" (Silver, 2018). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Orca Certification which provides swimming lessons for children. Topics include the objectives of Orca Certification, teaching of survival skills in the deep water, and the 2014 Lifesaving Foundation Conference. Particular focus is also given to adaptations in the swimming pool which are based on three body parts such as the head, torso, and limbs.

Swimming can be an important source of physical activity across the life-span. Researchers have found that parents influence physical activity behaviors of their children. The purpose of this study was to determine what parental factors influenced the number of days that children swam. Survey respondents (n = 1,909) from six cities across the United States were surveyed at local YMCAs. Children were found to swim significantly more if their parents encouraged them to swim, members of the family knew how to swim and swam with them, or their parents were not afraid of the children drowning or afraid of drowning themselves. The number of times that parents swam was the strongest predictor of the number of times children swam and explained 41% of the variance. A cyclical, familial pattern was found which included encouragement, fear of drowning, and swimming frequency. Introducing strategies to reduce fear of drowning may prove to be an effective intervention to increase physical activity in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the current study was to quantify and summarize the various aquatic interventions in children with disabilities, including studies of all levels of evidence. Forty-five intervention studies were included and were described within nine disability groups. The largest number of articles was found in the groups of "diseases and disabilities of the nervous system" (N = 15) and "mental and behavioral disorders" (N = 15). Swimming or aquatic interventions in children with sensory system and integration deficits, circulatory system problems, congenital malformations, and chromosomal abnormalities did not reveal any published literature. The categorization of aquatic interventions was difficult due to several concerns: the lack of common definitions, the absence of intervention details, individualized therapy or training plans without a decision-making model, different types of pools (temperature and depth), and an undefined mix of several intervention types. Training intensity was missing in 68% of the interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated swimming performance and the influence of task complexity among children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Two groups of children were matched by age -11 Controls without DCD and 11 children with DCD. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that children with DCD performed at a significantly lower level than age-matched controls for all the water competency tasks and front crawl. Both groups improved significantly in water competency and front crawl over the 10 lessons. Significant interactions suggested that children with DCD showed different rates of change during the acquisition of the glide and front crawl. Both groups regressed with increased task complexity. Awareness of motor learning difficulties experienced by children enables teachers, parents, and children to have realistic expectations. A supportive environment for children with DCD will enable them to achieve the important swimming skill competencies and reduce drop-out rates in learn-to-swim programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose for this research was to determine if reported swimming participation myths (barriers) for minority children were authentic. Previous research on minority children's swimming patterns has been limited, while drowning rates for these groups are high. Nation-wide survey research supported by USA Swimming was conducted using six cities across the U.S. Trained staff members from YMCA non-swimming programs were used to solicit participants and to supervise survey administration. A large, purposeful sample (n = 1,680) was gathered that targeted poor, minority children. Parents of children aged 4-11 years and adolescents (12-17 years) completed surveys. Descriptive statistics were observed on selected myth statements by demographic variables. Several barriers were revealed to be myths and not real barriers. Potential barriers revealed, which include parental involvement factors, were noteworthy for marginalized children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the impacts of shallow water aerobic exercise training on older people with arterial disease, drowning prevention, and parental factors that affect swimming in children.