Media Articles

Step Into Swim announced ongoing partnerships with key program supporters Fluidra, Hayward Holdings, Inc., and Heritage Pool Supply Group. 

Step Into Swim announced ongoing partnerships with key program supporters Fluidra, Hayward Holdings, Inc., and Heritage Pool Supply Group. 

The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA) announced a strong close of the 2022 program year for its water safety initiative, Step Into Swim.

Rowdy Gaines visits Float Like A Duck, a Las Vegas water safety program, with Step Into Swim grant and talks about swim safety.

Rowdy Gaines talks about swim education and ways facilities can improve water safety for their visitors. 

Premier Pools & Spas partners with Step Into Swim to help kids get swim lessons and prevent drownings. 

Rowdy Gaines discussed the healing benefits of water and the lifesaving benefit of learning how to swim.

Rowdy Gaines, Olympic Swimmer who leads Step Into Swim, shared his thoughts about the importance of swim education. 

Roy Vore, a water safety expert from PHTA's Recreational Water Quality Committee, talks about splash pad safety.

A Step Into Swim grant was awarded to the city of Buffalo, MO for $5,000 by the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance.

The Pool and Hot Tub Alliance issued a press release about its Step Into Swim initiative and shared results of its national survey about swimming safety concerns and tips for keeping kids safer in the water. 

The Parsons Recreation Commission has received a grant from the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance to offer swim lessons. The grant is part of the Step Into Swim program that makes learning to swim opportunities available to children who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them.

Given all the water-related variables at play, we should heed the state Department of Public Health's basic water and pool safety tips: Children should be supervised in and around water at all times, always swim with a buddy, select sites in public swimming areas that have lifeguards whenever possible, and swim only in designated areas. If it's good enough for an Olympic gold medalist, it's should be for the rest of us.

Through leading initiatives like Step Into Swim, which funds learn-to-swim programs across the country and serves as a go-to resource for all things water safety, Rowdy believes every child deserves access to safe swimming in order to feel confident in the water. 

As the weather warms up and more people head to the water to cool off, the risk of drowning increases. That’s why Alabama is one of 39 states to recognize May as Water Safety Month. The campaign is a partnership involving the National Recreation and Park Association, American Red Cross, Pool and Hot Tub Alliance and World Waterpark Association.

May is National Water Safety Month, so the TODAY family is getting in on the importance of learning how to swim. 

As seen on The TODAY Show, Rowdy Gaines from Step Into Swim / Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, was joined by fellow Olympians Cullen Jones and Cammile Adams to talk about water safety and demonstrate swimming best practices. 

The City of Tempe Parks and Recreation division is encouraging the community to be water aware in May during National Water Safety Month, a joint effort of the World Waterpark Association, the American Red Cross, the National Recreation and Park Association and the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance. 

The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance is pleased to announce that Vice President of Partnerships & Development Rowdy Gaines and the Step Into Swim program have been awarded the 2022 President’s Award by the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.

“We are making strides to combat childhood drowning thanks to the generous donors who share in our mission to create more swimmers,” says three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and PHTA’s Vice President of Partnerships and Development, Rowdy Gaines. “The aquatics industry has a unique opportunity to come together in the name of safe swim education. Our partners truly delivered on that in 2021.”