Diving In Heart First: Helping Community Youth Swim Safely

For many, swimming is a cherished part of childhood; summer days spent at the pool, basking in cool, blue water. The air smells like sunscreen and chlorine, the sounds of splashing and laughter drift through the warm afternoon.

But for some, this isn’t a universal experience.

Whether due to lack of access to a pool, inability to swim or any number of other reasons, many aren’t afforded the opportunity to enjoy time spent in the water.

And by all metrics, this issue disproportionally impacts underrepresented and low-income families. According to the USA Swimming Foundation, 79% of children from low-income families have low-to-no swimming ability. These children aren’t just missing out on summer fun, they are at a substantially higher risk of drowning — the number one cause of death for children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children 5-14 in the U.S.

The student-athletes of UNC’s Swimming and Diving team are looking to lower the risk, one stroke at a time.

During the fall 2025 semester, the team partnered with No More Under, a national water safety education nonprofit, to host the Swim Safely Series, a free five-day water safety clinic that provided inclusive, accessible swim lessons to youth from the northern Colorado community.

Swimming and Diving Head Coach Lisa Ebeling is in her 10th season at UNC, and although this is the first year the team has held the Swim Safely Series, she said the impact has convinced her to make it a new yearly tradition.

“We had actually done a program similar to this pre-COVID, but it was only a single-day clinic,” Ebeling said. “Even that short time had a pretty incredible impact on a lot of the participants, so the idea of making it into something more was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

While Ebeling helped to plan and organize the event, members of the Swimming and Diving team tackled the hands-on coaching aspects of the program. Led by team captains senior Maria Erokhina and juniors Kyra Rabess and Ellyson Lombardi, the student-athletes took to the water and delivered expert lessons on swimming, safety and survival to 50 youth participants, aged 5 to 17.

“It was a big deal, because with so many children and their parents involved, we couldn’t let a single thing go wrong,” Lombardi said.

With the pressure on, the team dove in and delivered.

By drawing on their own lived experiences, student-coaches were able to create a welcoming environment for youth from communities that historically have higher rates of limited swimming ability and less access to swim instruction — of the participants, 87% identified as Black, Indigenous or as a person of color, 84% were new to swim lessons and 80% qualified for free-lunch programs.

“We have such an international and diverse team of swimmers, and because of that, a few of the girls on the team speak Spanish,” Rabess said. “I think that really helped when it came to making those kids who primarily spoke Spanish themselves feel more comfortable and confident.”

Participants were taught a variety of critical water safety skills, including independent breath control, how to roll and float on their own, the basics of water self-rescues
and more.

The program wasn’t without its hurdles, as Lombardi can attest.

“With one participant, I had never seen a kid this scared of the water before,” Lombardi said. “As one of the leading instructors, I wasn’t expecting to be in the water all five days. But that’s what I ended up doing because I really wanted to help him out.”

By the end of the course, however, each participant made significant progress and felt more comfortable and confident swimming on their own.

“I still remember the feeling of watching the mom of that kid; seeing her smiling and full of pride for what her kid was accomplishing,” Lombardi said. “It warmed my heart so much.”

“It was great to see how much fun the kids were having, too,” Erokhina said. “At the end, a bunch of them were really sad to go, which I think says a lot.”

The team, with assistance from No More Under, collected development data to showcase the success of the program.

From the university’s academic units to its sports teams, student organizations and more, many of the outstanding things accomplished at UNC would be impossible without the support of the Greeley community.

“The members of our Swim and Dive team have an absolutely incredible opportunity at UNC, and that opportunity exists in no small part due to the amazing community support,” Ebeling said. “This program is a chance for them to give back and show the community how much we appreciate everything they do.”

And from the enthusiastic feedback to the demonstrative growth displayed by the youth participants, UNC’s first Swim Safely Series was, by all metrics, an undeniable success for everyone involved.

“It’s good for our girls too, because they can see that you don’t have to have a massive platform to make a big difference,” Ebeling said. “By just volunteering a little bit of your time, you can change the trajectory of somebody’s life.”