INDIANAPOLIS — Summertime is almost here, which means pool parties and beach days. But a fun day in the water can lead to tragedy if proper precautions aren't taken.
"Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death amongst kids ages 1 to 14, and it's the first leading cause of death of kids ages 1 to 4," said Dr. Allyson Brown, CEO & Founder of Sea Scope. "It's very important that before the summer begins and the pools are opening up that kids literally learn these lifesaving skills to prevent these accidents," Brown said.
Brown created Sea Scope to increase diversity in science and aquatics. Teaching children and adults how to swim and scuba dive safely is a topic Dr. Brown enjoys.
"A lot of times people think that they can swim or that they need to have strong swim abilities to be able to get in the water, but really, you just need to know some basic water safety skills. Some skills like floating on your back, some skills just involving water movement, or even safely entering and exiting the pool," Brown said.
April of last year, Johnson, along with others at Triumph Boxing & Martial Arts, learned that coach Marcus Robinson’s body was found one week after a search and rescue team discovered his kayak on the white river.
"Marcus was a strong swimmer, and that's why it concerns me so much," DuBois Johnson, a coach at Triumph Boxing & Martial Arts, said.
"It just didn't make sense how it happened because he actually did it for four years before this even happened, so he was very experienced. He was one of the strongest swimmers I ever knew; he was a swimmer for sure, and you know he couldn't swim out of that," Johnson added.
Johnson said Coach Marcus' memory still lives on at the gym. Now, along with his boxing accomplishments, they all preach water safety.
"I recommend wearing a life jacket. I feel like a lot of kayakers wearing life jackets like bicyclists wearing helmets. They don't want to do it. They feel like it's uncool, but you've got to be careful because it obviously is taking people's lives," Johnson said.
Sea Scope is preparing for its water safety festival on June 22nd at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park's Pool at 2 p.m. Registration opens at 1:30 p.m.
