On Tuesday, March 15th, 2011, a family and Maine community were devastated by the death of a member at a local YMCA pool. Curtis’ death is made more painful knowing that it could have been prevented. Please take a moment to watch this video and learn how you can prevent a similar tragedy. Feel free to share this video and below resources with your staff.
Curtis’ death reminds us that we all have a part to play in preventing this type of tragedy. Our guidance is do not allow any type of breath-holding training. This means no prolonged or competitive breath-holding or intentional hyperventilation.
You can prevent a tragedy:
- Be aware. Prolonged breath-holding can cause unconsciousness and happen to anyone at any time, regardless of swim or athletic ability. This can be fatal when under water.
- Be vigilant. Watch for people deliberately hyperventilating or engaged in prolonged or competitive breath-holding and stop them.
- Be proactive. Remember, when in doubt, check it out. Learn more by reading the resources below and share them with your peers.
Kevin Trapani, President & CEO important video message on breath-holding technique.
Download Video: | Windows Media | Quicktime
Resources:
Thank you for mentioning that if a member will not listen to the lifeguard, the Executive Director needs to step up and support the lifeguard (and the Aquatic Director for that matter)! Rules, guidelines, practice and protocols are meant to keep people safe, and yes sometimes they are inconvenient. As an Aquatic Director it gets very tiresome and challenging to continually battle the budget, upper management and members. When there are budget cuts often times the price that is paid is safety, training and staffing. This sort of thinking has to stop.
Thank you
Karen,
Thank you for sharing your experience. We completely agree that safety is of paramount concern.
…and we’ll continue to call on staff and volunteer leadership to support the good work of aquatic folks by backing them up, even when it’s inconvenient. Thanks for all you do, Karen!
I plan to run this at our staff meeting this Sunday. I enforce it but this hits home. As a former Maine resident both in Lewiston and working for the Cumberland County YMCA for 5 years my heart and prayers go out to all parties involved. I wish I was still in Maine to be a support to this YMCA.
Thank you for this video, I will pass it on. I am extremely glad to say that it has been about 3 years or so since we stopped all forms of underwater breath holding in our YMCA pool. In the beginning there were members who were extremely angry at the lifeguard, at the Aquatic Director (me), and then the Executive. We are all on the same page and there is no negotiation. Not even with those that have come in training for armed services, been doing it for years, wanting to sign a waiver, etc. The consistency by everyone (lifeguards on up) has made this a very doable safety policy. I am glad our executive director is on board with my high attention to safety, and in my 14+ years as an Aquatic Director, budget cuts have never affected ANY of our safety practices! I talk to many whose executive Directors are not on board with Aquatic Safety and I feel for them, because if we don’t have the support from the next level – regardless of our position (lifeguard, front desk, etc.) then we are cut off at the knees in trying to enforce policy!
Frances,
You and your team are excellent examples in how to prevent these unfortunate incidents. It may not be a popular decision, but as Karen says, safety must be a priority. We’re so glad that you have the support of your Executive Director, and that your facility has made this into a consistent safety policy.
This is nothing but alarmism. Literature does support that there are risks when hyperventilating is involved but not otherwise. These arguments involve mainly appeal to emotion and are unbelievably weak and backed backed by little evidence when it applies to general swim training. Not to be unexpected as this is an insurance group doing CYA but really, no breath-holding at all? If so then I guess maybe all YMCAs should just quit sponsoring swim teams and stop allowing people to put their heads in the water because once you put your face under the surface you are breath-holding! So how long is too long if we are going to allow swimmers to submerge their faces? 10 seconds? Ah, not so fast there! That is about the time it takes a very good swimmer to do a length and as stated that is NOT allowed. Hmmm, so maybe we should cut it down to about 5 seconds. But wait – oh no! It takes that long for an acceptable backstroke, butterfly or breaststroke underwater breakout! I suppose we should just cancel all competitive swimming now and dedicate all YMCA pools to aquasize and noodlers only. Or we can just use some a bit of common sense when it comes to swim teams. I am not surprised that there is no raw data on deaths caused by hypoxia for swim teams and related them to all other causes of death in a pool and all other cause of death at a YMCA because there would be little to support this argument – the supplied examples above are of extreme breath-holding that no teams would ever use.
Bill,
Thanks for your comments. Our goal is to encourage civil discourse on important topics, and all sarcasm aside, you raise valid points that we should address more clearly.
I believe that the difference in opinion stems from a misinterpretation of the terminology. We understand that holding your breath while underwater is an inherent part of swimming. Rhythmic breathing and breath control is safe. What is dangerous is when breath holding is prolonged (long distance or long time), competitive (pushing your limits for distance or time), or repetitive (multiple shorter breath-holding sessions, where the cumulative effect of oxygen deprivation is dangerous).
As a former swim instructor and swim team coach, I will be happy to talk through the specifics of this distinction more with you or any other readers of this post (please call our main line at 800-463-8546 ext. 314). Unfortunately, there is not much research specific to the topic as it affects swim coaching, but we do have enough evidence to recommend safe practices, and our intent is to prevent deaths where possible, something I think you’d agree with.
I hope that what I have described is clearer guidance, and I hope that you find that it is based on common sense (as well as available research, best practices in the aquatics industry, and our own claims data). We understand that this guidance is contrary to years of established practice in aquatics. As a coach, I used to do exactly what I have just advised not to do. But we know more than we did then. We know the danger, and we have seen the results of that danger. We simply have to change because we don’t want anyone in the YMCA movement, or in the aquatics industry as a whole, to allow practices we now know can be deadly.
Lastly, I am sorry that you perceive us as merely an insurance company protecting our own interests. Our company has been committed to the YMCA movement for 15 years now, giving back to it in many significant ways, and fighting harm of any kind in the movement. We take every death personally and remain committed to prevention of needless deaths, in any form, from occurring across the movement.
Let’s keep the dialogue on the forum as that way all can see the sides of the issue.
You state that “ there is not much research specific to the topic as it affects swim coaching, but we do have enough evidence to recommend safe practices”. Yet, you recommend as safe practice that holding ones breath for more than a length should be prohibited. That is the equivalent to disqualifying over 95% of all Division I aspiring sprinters from training in a YMCA pool as most of them will not breathe for a full 25 and some will not breathe at all for a 50yd sprint. It is also equivalent to disqualifying ALL synchronized swimming practices or events at any YMCA facility (I hope it is not too uncivil to point out that breath-holding is a core aspect of this Olympic sport). If you can show me data on deaths to competitive sprinters who held their breath for a 25 or even a 50 while training or competing and a control group of other competitive sprinter deaths who did not or even of just deaths of competitive swimmers overall for other causes to prove that there is validity to these “safe practices” as you present them then competitive swim coaches and the general public will take them more seriously. Otherwise it is just your telling us to do it because you say so and that is somewhat patronizing and gives the impression of lack of respect for others expertise.
I understand that your intent is to prevent deaths and accidental ones can be very sad and disturbing and even preventable and as this is your business you understand that and want to help prevent it but this seems tantamount to telling people they aren’t allowed to drive or leave safe harbour or eat or light a fire as statistically speaking we are all more likely to die by automobile accident, falling, poisoning, or fire before drowning comes into play. Your video states absolutely no tolerance to breath-holding under any conditions and that is objectionable in competitive swimming. As I have pointed out, under certain racing and practice conditions where body positioning/balance must be maintained for maximum efficiency in a sprint or to hold a synchronized pose, it is imperative. Are YMCA synchronized teams going to be banned? Are sprinters banned if they hold their breathing for a length? Unless this guidance is disregarded I don’t think we should encourage the YMCA environment for sprinters or synchronized swimmers – they should be recommended to go to USA swimming. This is why until you amend your guidance of not allowing any sort of breath-holding in regards to competitive swimming teams with coaches that have been instructed and if you also still do not show the data proving your guidance then I stand by my statement that you message is alarmist and perhaps even detrimental to competitive swimming at the YMCA.
It is important to note that USA Swimming, the largest competitive swimming organization in the world with more than 360,000 participants now bans hypoxic training for competitive swimmers. So does the American Red Cross and the YMCA. The reason why many people are unaware of this particular problem is that when someone dies of Shallow Water Blackout the Coroner simply states “drowning” as the real cause and the problem is swept under the rug. Genetic Drowning Triggers like Long Q-T, RyR2, and seizure disorders are all precipitated by prolonged breath-holding that is competitive and repetitive. As Dr. A.J. Craig stated more that 50 years ago after having watched his Princeton Swim Team Co-captain kill himself, “One breath, One Time; One Length, One Time.”
Perhaps MR. White SHOULD avoid YMCA pools – he may then place the risk on himself or another aquatics facility. I also suggest directly to you, Mr. White, to contain your arguments within the realm of aquatics.
At first, the request from Redwoods to limit breathholding seemed extreme to me. Upon viewing the video and reading the attachments, I perceive a standard competitive pullout to be suitable, but nothing more. – Gareth, correct me if I am wrong on this point.
We all must remember that top-level athletes are revered and often emulated by youth. In the family environment of a YMCA, there is very frequently a mixture of competitive swimmers, triathletes, Master`s swimmers, youth lessons, and open swimming. Youth cannot always distinguish between a safe activity and an unsafe activity. We, as lifeguards and aquatic staff, must guide them. Parents nearly always overestimate the aquatics ability of their children, and so we must guide them also. The rules must apply to all to avoid confusion and maintain consistency.
We are the YMCA – a family oriented organization. We must always approach safety from the viewpoint of family.
Tom – Thanks for your input. In over 35 years being around swimming I have never encountered anyone in competitive swimming doing hypoxic training to the extent where one would injure themselves. I have heard people tell tales of difficult breathing sets but never to the level of the anecdotes presented here: swimming 75 yards underwater would be considered unreasonable to anyone in competitive swimming. Furthermore, when training a hypoxic set such as breathing twice a length it isn’t really possible to hyperventilate and deplete your CO2 – you would have to stop and breathe in which case you wouldn’t be performing the set and would be doing it wrong. Your other point is very interesting in that I have not heard that certain individuals who have a genetic predisposition might experience drowning. It is something to keep in mind when swimmers mention anything related to this. Since DNA testing is getting so much more advanced it will be great for swimmers in the future to become easily aware of this risk.
Mr. Habermeyer – please do not make a fool of yourself. Do you understand that a competitive pullout is set at 15 meters? As this is more than two-thirds of a YMCA 25-yard pool length how do you suppose one should or have athletes practice for that? Doing this standard customary swimming as such would violate the above guidance of “do not allow any type of breath-holding training”. And please do explain to me how you apply this “do not allow any type of breath-holding training” to synchronized swimming. Should we also perceive that just because your family or YMCA doesn’t practice this sport that you dismiss them? Should we deduce by your arguments that those families and YMCAs are not within the realm of Aquatics or that they can’t use reasonable judgement which at times may involve swimming a pool length underwater or holding your breath for more than 20 seconds. These are not extreme samples rather everyday and must have skills for highly competitive swimmers which can be practiced sensibly yet this guideline does not offer a reasonable exception for swim teams.
Cardiologists have especially noted the direct correlation between Long Q-T Syndrome and breath-holding as a precursor to “drowning.” As an expert witness, I have been involved with dozens of cases where breath-holding that is competitive and repetitive has been the main mechanism for sudden death and drowning in the water. Again, these cases are now hard to find and evaluate because when they settle before going to jury trial, much of the case must be kept confidential. Good swimmers don’t drown, they die of medical causes, mostly precipitated by prolonged and repeated breath-holding. By the way, three synchronized swimmers from Seattle, WA, “blacked out” simultaneously while swimming “over-unders” in February of 2008. As long as we have people like David Blaine out there, this will continue to be a huge problem.
I should also add that recently, a High School swim coach in Indiana also blacked out underwater while demonstrating to his boy and girls swim team how he wanted them to swim three lengths underwater…
Bill,
We encourage civil discourse on this blog, and you are welcome to your opinion, but please keep the tone civil. Do not refer to another commenter as a fool, or use any other disrespectful language. The simple rule of thumb we use is “treat others as you would like to be treated.” We will edit or remove comments that do not respect other users.
I must admit that my feeling was (like Mr. White) also that this video/response seemed a bit extreme. I feel that there does need to be a bit more clarity as the video leaves no room for debate on the perceived safe practices. It also seems to me that the unspoken words (in between the lines here) are that we failed as lifeguards to properly scan, assess, and prevent this death with just our every day lifeguard duties.
That being said… I am a YMCA employee and as such, will support managements decision on this however they see fit to serve and protect our guests / members.
I do ask however, that they re-evaluate the fact that our staff might address this issue by educating our guests of our concerns rather than mandating no holding breathe entirely in a pools.
While laying prone on the bottom of the pool is an easy one to prohibit as it can be deceiving to a lifeguard, holding a breathe while swimming a lap seems a bit excessive and perhaps more a training opportunity of alertness for all aquatic staff.
I appriciate all that redwoods is doing to help control this issue. As Aquatic Professionals and passionate swimmers, we need to remember that safety is the top priority. Justifying certain issues, whether we “feel” they are right or not, is not going to make the situation any better.
I look at this from the standpoint of “what if this happened in my pool”, I would rather be safe than sorry, no matter how I feel about the issue on a personal level. again, I appriciate redwoods in their efforts when it comes to safety. Because at the end of the day if someone drowns in my pool, even after all the warnings and trainings, and I didnt adhere to them…then that is somthing that I would have to live with the rest of my life. And I for one am not willing to let that happen.
First and foremost – I am praying for Curtis’ family in grieving the death of their husband and father. I pray that they would turn to the Lord at this time for comfort, strength and peace. And that through this tragedy, they would draw nearer to Him.
I too am a 43 year old husband, father of two, master’s swimmer who is physically fit and enjoys freediving (aka breath-hold diving). This hits home to me! However, there is a critical issue underlying this tragedy that plays out time and time again in freediving deaths, yet at the same time allows those who participate regularly in the sport to be safe. I am talking about AWARENESS in TRAINING and SAFETY PROTOCOLS. Please allow me to elaborate here.
I am both a former national director of the YMCA Scuba Program and former captain of the United States Freediving Team. We have seen this warning before in YMCA of the USA. A drowning in 1998 prompted a strong push for the “no extended breath-holding or underwater swimming” policy. The term “freediving” was used to describe what the individual was training for. The reaction was not to make it a safer activity in the Y’s, rather to shut it down altogether. As a former YMCA of the USA national director/program consultant I very much understand the YMCA of the USA’s position on recommendations of things perceived as hazardous as they relate to the varying local YMCA’s. But consider this…
In the 1950′s the use of the Aqualung (scuba unit) was rising in the U.S. and, consequently, so were fatalities attributed to its use. In 1959, Bernie Empleton a YMCA Executive Director from Illinois, drafted the first national scuba training standards. Thus, the YMCA Scuba Program was born. Mr. Empleton, representing the YMCA of the USA, served on the Counsel for the National Cooperation in Aquatics (CNCA) which began the framework of scuba training for multiple agencies as seen today. My point is YMCA worked to embrace standardized training and safety protocols for a sport that had a black cloud of fatalities associated with it – instead of condemning scuba diving from its pools.
According to Divers Alert Network statistics, there are nearly ten times the amount of reported scuba fatalities (167) to breath-hold diving fatalities (17) annually. Yet MANY YMCA’s allow scuba training to take place in their pools. Scuba is allowed with supervision and standards in place. The aquatic directors are not the ones teaching scuba, nor do they even know the standards. Yet there are systems in place for proof of insurance, listing of additional insureds, proof of instructor credentials, and standardized waivers to allow scuba training to take place in YMCAs. Do you know a YMCA that would allow anyone to just jump in their pool with scuba equipment and play? How about alone!? I do not. Well why would Y’s allow that for freediving? Perhaps it is because freediving is a very little known sport.
A note on freediving. The term freediving is used often interchangeably with breath-hold diving. Breath-hold diving is actually the major term with activities like snorkeling, skin diving, speafishing, and freediving underneath it. And alongside freediving is often spearfishing, underwater hockey, underwater rugby, and fin swimming. As Mr. Trapani points out there are several disciplines under the sport of freediving to include dynamic apnea, static apnea, constant weight, etc. (a side note: the AIDA rules for static apnea never allow for a freediver to be on the bottom of a pool. They must be buoyant at the surface) I will just use the term freediving – and what is seen the most in pools is dynamic, static and constant weight training.
But what was not addressed was the proper protocols for engaging in those disciplines. PROPER TRAINING IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO THE SAFETY OF THE SPORT!!! I can’t emphasize that enough!! In a proper course put on by either Performance Freediving International or Freediving Instructors & Trainers, the participant learns that without proper safety protocols in place for any breath-hold training or event, the greater the chance for fatality. In some cases students in freedive courses sign a promise to instructors and family members that they will never participate in freediving without a safety person/trained buddy (and NO a pool lifeguard is not considered a freediver’s safety person/buddy). Please take a look at some of the safety guidelines from the United States Apnea Association at http://www.usfreediving.org/general-apnea-safety.htm
I absolutely applaud The Redwoods Group for their unwavering dedication to the risk management of YMCA’s. Thank you for your passionate video Mr. Trapani. And, Tom Griffiths is one of our diving industry’s premiere educators, authors and experts. Thank you for your excellent posts Tom. Since there is quite a gray-area between breath-holding in competitive swimming and that of freediving, I would just ask that we become clear on the issues:
1. The real event that is causing this emphatic policy plea is FREEDIVING, not supervised competitive swimming, not supervised syncro, etc. The vast majority of these tragic deaths is from a man who wants to be a better freediver by holding his breath longer. He is alone. He has not been properly trained in an official freediving course. He does not know proper safety protocols for the various freediving disciplines. And he does not know the physiological impact of repeated breath-holding on the body, nor his own physiology in that context.
2. As the sport of freediving continues to grow, this will continue to be a challenge to YMCAs. Participants will continue to find a way to train. They may articulate/manipulate whomever is on deck, especially because breath-holding has many gray areas as noted in previous posts, this will continue to be an issue. I would like to encourage the YMCA of the USA and The Redwoods Group to consult with experts in the field of freediving, so that you can label accurately the activity (freediving) and be clear on guidelines to allow it for those who have the right credentials (certification from a training agency) and the right safety protocols (safety person). Experts include (for training) Kirk Krack with Performance Freediving International and (for physiology) Dr. Neal Pollock with Divers Alert Network/Duke University.
In conclusion, I just want to be clear. I am not advocating that YMCA of the USA should allow freediving in all their pools. BUT, I am requesting that YMCA of the USA and The Redwoods Group would bring together the right people to discuss this issue properly as was done in 1959 with scuba. To say universally that “extended underwater breath-holding will not be allowed” is too ambiguous. It allows way too much discretion from one AD to the next AD, and definitely way too much ambiguity for a 16 year old lifeguard. If after you consult with freediving experts, you still think it best to leave your guidelines “as is” because of the complexities of verifying certifications, safety issues needed, etc. then so be it. But I can’t imagine any aquatic activity that has more standards, ratio issues, equipment issues and safety issues than scuba – yet hundreds of YMCAs have scuba activities safely taking place in their pools weekly.
Thank you for what you all do. And, as this post continues, please keep Curtis’ family in your prayers. Blessings.
If breath holding is life threatening how could we have hundreds of free divers swimming two hundred feet straight down, including a few dozen that do it without fins? How can we possibly have hundreds doing seven minute breath holds? Did you see those 250 meter dynamics? Super humans aside, what about the ever increasing number of senior citizens doing seventy percent of those performances? How is it possible that not one of these ‘apnea nuts’ has killed himself in the last fifteen years, even at world meets with fame and fortune on the line?
The answer is education, not an outright ban. This is the real world, I already read a paper on how to train hypoxia under the life guards nose without being detected.
Never say never.. it won’t happen to me.
No one drempt it would happen to us either.
But today . (June 14th) we put our 12 year old nephew in the ground.
Just because on June 9th16th he went swimming with his cousins and was Nevertheless his breath.
The CO2 level is what killed him.. so please.. if you love your kids and grandkids.. don’t let them hold their breath!
Ms. Benton,
We are so sorry for your loss. We will continue to advocate for no breath-holding, knowing that it can help save lives. Our hearts and
prayers are with you and your family.
Best,
Yvonne
Sorry for the typos and extra words… sent from cell