Ring video shows YMCA toddler swim lessons at work

by: Clarice Scheele

Posted: Jun 29, 2023 / 04:30 PM EDT

Updated: Jun 29, 2023 / 04:30 PM EDT

BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Knoxville mother drove to Bristol to have her daughter take swim lessons at the YMCA. Those lessons were put to the test a short time later.

Captured by a Ring camera, Knoxville 2-year-old Elyssa Alley jumped into the pool at her grandparent’s house. Her mom and grandma were busy watching her other siblings.

“She had forgotten that she didn’t have her floaties on,” said Elyssa’s mother, Julie Alley.

In the video, you can see Elyssa make a “starfish” while floating on her back. This is what they’re taught to do in a toddler swim program offered at Bristol’s YMCA, Little Floaters.

Little Floaters aims to teach children how to be safe in the water.

“We teach them how to roll over on their back so they can get that breath and then they can float,” said Little Floaters program coordinator Maura Hill.

Tracy Sells, a mother, takes her two young sons to swim lessons at the Bristol YMCA. She has put all three of her children through the program and has another one on the way which she plans to do the same with.

“It’s great to know that if my kids are around a pool and I’m looking away for just a few seconds, that if they fall in, that they know how to float in so that they can save their lives,” said Sells.

Hill says it can take just seconds for a young child to drown.

According to the CDC, drowning deaths are most common among children ages one to four. Hill says it’s better to start teaching children earlier.

“So a lot of swim programs around don’t start the children until they’re three,” said Hill. “So we’re really missing the opportunity to safe their lives.”

CEO of Bristol YMCA Rick Matthews says their YMCA is the only one in the state and one of few in the country that offers this type of program. He hopes this will change.

“And my true dream is that every Y in the country would teach this style program,” said Matthews. “But, we can start here in the state of Tennessee and do all of our Tennessee Ys. And our Y is ready, willing, and able to train them all as soon as possible to get it done.”

Registration is open right now for Little Floaters. You can learn how to sign your child up by following this link.

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