August 17, 2024: Lazar Dukic, CrossFit drowning fatality
Welcome back, or welcome if you are new here. These weekly emails are an opportunity for me to share what I'm reading and thinking about the aquatics industry after Bill C-18 shutdown sharing news on Facebook in Canada. Let's jump right in.
CrossFit Games Suspended After a Competitor Drowns: 'Deeply Saddened by the Death'
There's a developing story out of Fort Worth, Texas where a CrossFit Games athlete fatally drowned during an open water swimming event. Details are scarce right now, but at least one video has surfaced (viewer discretion is advised; NSFW language) showing the victim clearly in distress not far from people supervising from paddleboards.
In case the abovementioned story wasn't bad enough, my newfound interest in "adventure race" type events caused Instagram's algorithm to serve me a video of the Cage Crawl at a Tough Mudder, a.k.a. the most irresponsible and high-risk water-related activity I've seen posted to social media in a long, long time. Clearly I have thoughts about this, so look for an Aquatic Industry Insider episode in the coming weeks. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified.
In the interim, I want to share an interview I conducted with Dr. Katie Cleasby earlier this spring. She did an entire PhD on the role of lifeguards at these types of events. The dissertation is linked in the video description on YouTube.
In other news this week...
Swimming pool row erupts as parents 'too busy on their phones to watch children' threatened with eviction
This network of 25 pools in Hamburg Bäderland, Germany will start asking parents of unsupervised small children to leave the facility entirely if they're too engrossed in their phone. This is a common problem on pool decks in 2024 - supervision must be active to be effective - but I'm impressed that an organization is prepared to go these lengths (there will surely be complaints) to support their lifeguards and facilities. What do you think?
Vancouver Park Board passes appropriate swimwear policy
Unless you are an exclusive, private members facility like a country club with an established dress code, I'm of the opinion that no aquatic professional should be in the business of policing what people wear to a swimming pool or hot tub so long as genitalia is covered.
As much as I wouldn't wear it, and I don't necessarily want to see you wear it, I think it's a very slippery slope to start policing swimwear for a multiplicity of reasons. What one person deems suitable for religious modesty reasons another might find oppressive. What one person deems liberating because they love their body might appear flaunting to another. Single-purpose clothing such as a bathing suit is financial inaccessible to lots of people people living paycheck-to-paycheck.
There is just no way to equitably weigh in on something like this appropriately when we are talking about publicly-funded facilities that should be accessible to everyone in a community.
Lifeguard knocked out after jumping from helicopter during ocean training in California
There's not a lot of details about this incident, but I question when a lifeguard - as opposed to say a member of the navy or coast guard - would ever need to jump into the ocean from a moving helicopter to perform a swimmer rescue?
New Albany moms speak out after mother is told she couldn't breastfeed at pool
Mom highlights breastfeeding protections after ‘misunderstanding’ at city-owned pool
Same problem, different day: two women at opposite ends of the USA (Ohio & Texas) were both told they could not breastfeed at their local pool in the last week. This is a timely reminder that aquatic staff need on-the-job training to understand it is usually a woman's legal/charter right to breastfeed in and around swimming pools.
16 hospitalized after chemical hazard at Houston-area water park
Most of the time when you read about a "chlorine gas leak" in the news, it's not from a canister (chlorine gas tank), it's human error and two substances that should not be mixed together (e.g. chlorine & acid). Honest mistakes do happen, but I share this story to highlight the need for soft facility opens (see this article I wrote a few years ago) given it was this Great Wolf Lodge's opening day. Staff shouldn't be doing a task until they have a standard operating procedure (SOP) and/or job hazard assessment.
That's it for this week! Thanks so much for being here with me.
Katie Crysdale
Lakeview Aquatic Consultants Ltd.