World's Largest Swimming Lesson

On Thursday, June 14 from 10am-Noon, the Oak Brook Park District’s Family Aquatic Center, 1450 Forest Gate Road, will join hundreds of other aquatic facilities across the globe for The World's Largest Swimming Lesson™ in an attempt to break the 2011 Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous swimming lesson ever conducted.  

The World's Largest Swimming Lesson™ was developed to build awareness about the vital importance of teaching children to swim to help prevent drowning.  Swimming is a life-saving skill for children and a vital tool to prevent drowning, the second leading cause of unintended, injury-related death for children ages 1-14. Research shows if a child doesn't learn to swim by the third grade, they likely never will. The World's Largest Swimming Lesson™ was created to serve as a platform to help local community aquatic facilities and the many different national, regional and state wide water safety and drowning prevention organizations work together to tell this important story on a local and national level. 

In 2011, more than 20,000 kids and adults in over 300 facilities representing 14 countries on 5 continents, including 45 states in the US dove in to shatter the previous record. Oak Brook Park District is excited to be part of the 2012 effort, joining 18 other official aquatic centers in Illinois including the Rockford Park District and the Gwynn Aquatic Center in Peoria.

To ensure that the most accurate records possible are submitted to The Guinness organization, those planning to participate at the Oak Brook Park District are encouraged to register at www.obparks.org and are asked to arrive at the Family Aquatic Center at least 15 minutes early to check-in. Those that do not pre-register should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the event. This is a FREE event

The Family Aquatic Center is a state of the art indoor aquatic facility and the event will take place rain or shine.

For more information, please visit www.obparks.org.