Greenbelt Set to Help Break Guinness Swim Lesson Record

What do Greenbelt, Georgia, Japan and Jamaica all have in common? At precisely the same time, in the same way, on the same day, they will team up with 24 countries on five continents to break the Guinness World Record for the largest swimming lesson—ever.

The day is Thursday, the time is 11 a.m. ET (3 p.m. GMT) and the number to beat is 20,000.

Registration for the free swimming lesson will start at 10:30 a.m. at the .

This is the second year that the aquatic center has taken part in the drive by the World's Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL) organization to one-up the world record and to save lives.

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintended, injury related death of children ages 1-14, according to the WLSL website. And if a child doesn't learn to swim before the third grade, they likely never will, it states.

The WLSL message is simple—swimming lessons save lives. On Thursday 500 organizations will join in getting the message out and give swimming lessons.

The Greenbelt Aquatic Center is taking part on a drop-in basis—offering lessons to children and adults, Aquatic Coordinator Mitch Kallemyn said. WLSL states the lessons run 45 minutes from start to finish.

"It has to be the same lesson taught everywhere, so were not going to stray from that at all," Kallemyn said, outlining the plan.

Swim Lesson Instructions Include

• safely entering and exiting the water

• blowing bubbles, submerging the face, opening eyes under water

• floating on the front and then on the back

• working on rolling over from front to back

• getting into a position where those in the water can call for help

• basic stroke techniques, including gliding off the wall, kicking, breathing to the side, and alternating arm strokes

• trying to put it all together for the front crawl

On hand with Kallemyn will be two additional Red Cross certified safety instructors, Martin Seitz and Mary Groggard, plus other instructors who are not certified but are experienced, according to Kallemyn.

Last year Greenbelt saw some 25 kids take lessons, but school was in session then. Kallemyn said he hoped school being out would mean an even bigger turn out this year.

Lifeguards get the most credit for saving lives, but swim instructors deserve credit too, according to Kallemyn, who said that instructors make sure those accidents don't happen in the first place.