The Missing Scene in America’s Story of Play

Every Saturday across America, the ball fields fill up.
Baseball caps, team tents, folding chairs, and packed coolers line the sidelines. Parents cheer. Siblings run the bases after the game. Communities gather.

But drive past the public pool, and too often, the gates are locked.
The water sits still.

Once upon a time, the pool was our neighborhood gathering place — a summer ritual, a backdrop for childhood, a marker of community life. Today, pools close faster than they open. Insurance hurdles, staffing shortages, and shrinking recreation budgets have quietly drained one of the most powerful tools we have for safety, connection, and joy.

It’s time to bring America back to the pool.

We Don’t Have a Participation Problem — We Have a Culture Problem

Every year, millions of kids play youth sports.

3 to 4 million play baseball, basketball, or soccer.

500,000 participate in competitive swimming.

Barely 50,000 play water polo.

Those numbers aren’t just statistics — they’re a reflection of how our culture gathers.
We’ve built massive ecosystems around land-based play, while water has been left behind.

Swimming is too often seen as either competitive (“join a swim team”) or corrective (“take lessons so you don’t drown”).
What’s missing is the middle path — the everyday play that turns water from a survival skill into a family habit.

The Lost Middle Ground: Play

When I teach parents and children, I see it firsthand: the moment fear turns into freedom. A baby learns to splash. A parent laughs instead of hovering. A toddler finally blows bubbles. These are not small milestones; they are the building blocks of belonging.

Play is the missing ingredient.
We’ve made water serious — a place for lap swimmers, lifeguards, or lessons — but not for laughter.

When families return to the pool to play, everything changes.
Comfort grows. Confidence builds. Safety follows naturally.

That’s how every successful youth sport thrives — through togetherness.
Aquatics can, too.

Families Are the Catalyst

Every thriving youth sport shares one undeniable truth: families participate.

Parents coach.
Siblings cheer.
Weekends revolve around the activity.

That family rhythm creates belonging.
And belonging creates momentum.

Imagine if we gave water the same cultural space.
Imagine parents meeting at the pool deck instead of the bleachers, toddlers chasing balls across the shallow end, teenagers helping their younger siblings float.
The pool becomes not a luxury, but a lifeline — a place where movement, mindfulness, and memory meet.

When families return to the water, the idea of “water safety” shifts from fear to familiarity.

What We Lost — and What We Can Rebuild

Decades ago, public pools were more than places to cool off — they were anchors of public life.
In many towns, the pool was where everyone met: families, neighbors, and generations of lifeguards who became role models.

But in the years since, we’ve lost thousands of public pools nationwide. Aging infrastructure, maintenance costs, and social division turned what was once a symbol of unity into a space of scarcity.

Rebuilding that infrastructure is important, but rebuilding trust and participation is just as vital.

We don’t need every family to compete. We need them to show up — to float, play, learn, and connect.

Teaching Through Connection, Not Compliance

At Georgia Swim School, parents often ask me,

“How many lessons will it take for my child to learn to swim?”

It’s a reasonable question — but the wrong one.

Swimming isn’t a race to the finish line; it’s a relationship with water.
Each child moves at their own pace, just as each family builds their own comfort level.

Our focus isn’t on quick fixes or rigid checklists — it’s on creating what I call “memory moments.”
The giggle after a successful glide. The relief when a child finally lets go of the wall. The shared pride when a parent realizes, “We did it together.”

Those are the real milestones — the ones that build lifelong safety and joy.

Safety Begins with Access and Belonging

We cannot separate drowning prevention from access.
Safety doesn’t begin with rules; it begins with relationship.

When a child grows up around water — safely, consistently, joyfully — they develop body awareness, calm, and capability.
When a parent feels confident supervising, modeling, or even playing, they model courage, not fear.

Communities that normalize family swimming normalize safety itself.
That’s the pathway to “Zero Drownings.”
It’s not just teaching children to survive — it’s helping families thrive together in the water.

Reimagining the Pool as the New Playground

The future of aquatics depends on reframing the pool as a place of everyday recreation — not an elite training space or an occasional summer outing.

When a pool becomes a family’s weekly ritual, it transforms from a facility into a living classroom.
Water play strengthens coordination, social bonds, and emotional regulation. It’s movement and mindfulness rolled into one.

The pool can become what the playground once was — the center of community life.

The Invitation: America, Let’s Swim Again

This isn’t just about reopening pools; it’s about reopening a mindset.
It’s about recognizing that the most powerful thing we can do for safety, health, and family well-being is to make water part of our lives again.

So here’s the invitation:

If you’re a parent — take your child to the pool this weekend, not for lessons, but for laughter.

If you’re a city leader — invest in your aquatic spaces with the same passion you give to your ballfields.

If you’re an instructor or coach — teach with connection before correction.

Because every splash matters. Every giggle is a step toward confidence. Every family that returns to the pool brings us one step closer to Zero Drownings.

The Closing Wave

We don’t need to reinvent aquatics — we just need to rediscover it.
We’ve built a country around fields and courts; now it’s time to build one around pools.

The water has always been waiting for us — calm, forgiving, ready to hold us up.
All we have to do is step back in.

America, let’s go to the pool.

Family Play Starts Here

Two great ways to make it happen right now:

🔹 Otter Ball — a fast, floating family game that gets everyone in the pool together.
🔹 SKWIM — an inclusive, team-style water game where swimmers and non-swimmers can play side-by-side.

Together, these games make the pool what it was always meant to be:
a place for connection, movement, and joy.

If you aren’t there yet — can’t play, can’t swim, not yet water-acclimated — Joyful Waters is where you begin.
It’s a gentle, connection-first approach to water that builds trust before technique and confidence before competition.

Let’s go back to the pool, America.