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Before Entering the Water

At Swim Strong Foundation, the first thing a new student learns isn’t a stroke. It’s the pool itself. That’s by design. Before anyone steps into the water, Founder & Executive Director Shawn Slevin leads every new group through a hands-on orientation — walking the deck, reading the depth markers, and building an understanding of the space before a single lesson begins. It’s a small shift in sequence that reflects something much bigger about how SSF thinks about teaching people to...

October 13, 2026Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

Take the Doughnut, Story 2: What Diving Can Teach Us About Getting Into the Water in the First Place

Last time on *Take the Doughnut*, we talked about going after what you want — Melissa Forziat's whole philosophy of carpe diem, chasing it down one decision at a time. This installment picks that thread back up with diver Max Flory, who's currently packing boxes for a cross-country move to train for a shot at LA. But the more interesting part of his story, for us, isn't the move itself. It's everything that had to happen before Max ever stood on...

October 8, 2026Articles, VideosComments OffRead more...

One Stroke at a Time: A Student’s Summer Push Toward the Navy

Every session, Swim Strong Foundation sees students walk onto the pool deck with a goal bigger than the lap in front of them. This summer, one young man at our Bushwick and James Madison locations spent July and August training with instructor Claire Hilger to build the swimming skills he'll need for the Navy — and along the way, he built something else: real confidence in the water. In His Own Words — Bushwick, One Month In After several classes at our...

September 27, 2026Articles, Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

Swim Strong x Take the Doughnut: Meet Howie Sanborn

Seven months after a bike accident left him with a spinal cord injury, Howie Sanborn raced paratriathlon for the first time, through Chicago's Dare2tri program. A wheelchair failure mid-race in Paris didn't slow him down for long — he's since rebuilt his training setup at home, down to a 300-square-foot strength and conditioning shed currently under construction. But the part of his Journey to LA interview worth thinking about is what he says when a  young athlete asks him how to...

September 6, 2026Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

Motion, Community, and Water Safety: Recapping the Elite Amenity 5K

On June 27, runners and walkers gathered at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park for the Elite Amenity 5K, hosted by Elite Amenity Management in support of Swim Strong Foundation. It was a morning built around movement, community, and purpose — and the energy on the course showed it. Fitness and water safety, hand in hand One thing came up again and again when we spoke with participants after the race: running and swimming aren't separate pursuits — they build on each other. Several runners...

August 12, 202620th Anniversary, Articles, Blog, Events, VideosComments OffRead more...

Five Years Later: Ed Accura Returns With a New Message on Water Safety

Five years ago, at Swim Strong Foundation's 15th Anniversary celebration, filmmaker and water safety advocate Ed Accura stood up and shared a few words about the road ahead. Ed — the producer behind "Blacks Can't Swim" and co-founder of the Black Swim Association in the UK — had spent years working to shift how his community talks about swimming, fear, and the water. That night, he told us: “Working with organizations like Swim Strong Foundation has made it possible for us to...

August 11, 202615th Anniversary, 20th Anniversary, Articles, Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

We Do Good… Together: A Thank You Twenty Years in the Making

Twenty years ago, Swim Strong Foundation opened its doors with a simple but powerful belief — that every person in New York City deserves to feel safe in, on, and around water. Not just children from well-resourced families. Everyone. That belief hasn't changed. What has changed is the number of people who decided to be part of making it real. This is a thank you to all of them. Building a program that has reached 135,000+ students through Know Before You Go!®...

August 10, 202620th Anniversary, Articles, Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...
Photo by David Dibert from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/olympic-and-paralympic-symbols-in-cortina-d-ampezzo-30100582/

“Il Mondo” — The World Is Water: What the Olympics Closing Ceremony Reminded Us All

On February 22, 2026, the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics came to a close inside the ancient Verona Arena — an amphitheater built in 30 AD that has witnessed two thousand years of human storytelling. But the moment that stopped the world that night wasn't about ice or snow. It was about water. Watch Video Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjTiQFFr6Q In a segment titled "The Water Cycle," the ceremony paid a stunning tribute to Italy's relationship with water — from the glaciers of the Dolomites flowing down...

March 10, 2026Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

Revisiting a Powerful Conversation for Black History Month | Full SJU Panel + Screening of “A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim”

Revisiting a Powerful Conversation for Black History Month | Full SJU Panel + Screening of “A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim” This Black History Month, we’re going back to a conversation that stayed with us — a panel discussion hosted at Saint John’s University that brought together our founder Shawn Slevin, board-certified psychiatrist and U.S. Navy Commander Dr. Sudhir Gadh, and Dominican Republic 2016 Rio Olympian Jhonny José Pérez Peña for a screening of A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim. We’ve revisited...

February 28, 2026Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...

What Happens When You Fall Through the Ice? A Real-Time Rescue Demonstration

Every winter, people walk onto frozen lakes, rivers, and ponds — ice fishermen, snowmobilers, hikers, kids taking shortcuts. Most never think about what happens if the ice gives way beneath them. This video does. Adam from Pike Pole Fishing did something most people would never volunteer for: he fell through the ice on purpose, in real time, without a drysuit, in ten feet of water — with the Edgerton Fire Department standing by. The result is one of the most honest...

February 26, 2026Blog, PSAs, VideosComments OffRead more...

What Fear Looks Like in the Brain — and Why It Matters for Water Safety

When Dr. Sudhir Gadh, MD, took the microphone at Swim Strong Foundation's 15th anniversary celebration, he did something most people in the water safety space don't do: he explained exactly what happens inside your skull when you're afraid of the water. Dr. Gadh is a board-certified psychiatrist and U.S. Navy Commander based in New York City, specializing in trauma, addiction, and the intersection of mental and physical health. He's also a recurring voice in Swim Strong's community conversations — because he...

February 26, 2026Blog, PSAs, VideosComments OffRead more...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family Swimming Legacy: Skills for Life, Passed Across Generations

MLK Day Author: Swim Strong Foundation When we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we often focus on his speeches, his marches, and his transformative impact on civil rights. But there's another part of his story that speaks directly to families today—his deliberate commitment to swimming with his children and passing water confidence from one generation to the next. From his childhood lessons at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta to teaching his own children, Dr. King understood that swimming wasn't just...

January 19, 2026Articles, Blog, VideosComments OffRead more...