Meet Our Newest Ambassador: Nicholas Smith

Nick lives in Miami, FL, having relocated from England after marrying a native Floridian in Key West in 2018. He is an Economics graduate and served in the Royal Naval Reserves for seven years through which he became a qualified SCUBA diver, diving primarily off the Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic. While awaiting his US work authorization, Nick volunteered with Third Wave Volunteers and the City of Miami to deliver donations to the Bahamas following the Hurricane Dorian disaster. He was appointed as warehouse manager and was responsible for the shipment of 250,000 lbs of donations from the general public of Miami to Grand Bahama and the Abacos. He now works in Business Development for a global payments company in Miami and spends his spare time golfing, playing guitar, spending time with his pets and volunteering.

Nick became involved in Shallow Water Blackout Prevention after his high school friend from England tragically died while swimming unsupervised in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Nick is committed to expanding the reach of Shallow Water Blackout Prevention to educate individuals and prevent avoidable tragedies. He will be working with Amanda Balius and Layla Alo Caballero,our other Ambassadors from the Miami area to create the Miami Chapter of Shallow Water Blackout Prevention.

Welcome Nick, and thank you for your interest in working with us.

The Aquatics Safety Research Group's New and Free Educational Audio Track

Our Partner, The Aquatic Safety Research Group, has produced a free-of-charge and very valuable educational audio track titled: The Mindful Lifeguard, which can be found on their website.  

To listen to the audio track click here.

To learn more about this organization's very valuable resources and services click here:.

The Aquatic Safety Research Group is dedicated to reducing disability and drowning at aquatic facilities while enhancing the swimming experience, through research and education. Founded by Dr. Tom Griffiths and family owned and operated by Rachel Griffiths and Dr. Tom Griffiths, ASRG provides innovative water safety and risk management programs and services throughout the United States and internationally.

Meet Our Newest Junior Ambassador - Jackie De Leon

Jackie De Leon is 16 years old and was born in NYC but moved to California when she was four-years-old. Jackie immediately fell in love with her new beach community. She signed up for swim lessons shortly after her arrival and in no time was invited to join the neighborhood swim team. When Jackie was in middle school, she participated in the local Junior Lifeguard Program and later became CPR certified. 

Jackie also enjoys surfing and has sailed on the lakes in the high Sierras. Currently, she is a member of a rowing team. Jackie is aware of water safety because of her involvement in swimming, sailing, surfing, and rowing. However, she just learned of Shallow Water Blackout from a friend who lost her son to this silent killer. She was surprised to discover how easy it is for recreational and skilled swimmers, divers and water polo players of all ages to succumb to Shallow Water Blackout. What was most surprising to Jackie is that even elite-level athletes die from this phenomenon. She wanted to spread awareness in her community to prevent another life lost to Shallow Water Blackout.  

Welcome to the team, Jackie!

Welcome New Junior Ambassadors Colton Quick, Nicole Harvey and Amanda Marshall

Colton Quick is 15 years old and was born and raised in Newport Beach, California, a coastal town known for its great surfing, sandy beaches and aquatic sports activities.  Colton has spent most of his life in and around the water. He began swimming lessons at three months old to learn water safety and survival swimming skills and his love for the water grew from there.  

Colton has participated in the Newport Beach Junior Guards program learning valuable aquatic skills, beach environment safety, first aid and lifesaving methods.  He is scuba certified and has earned his international sailing license. Currently a sophomore at Corona Del Mar High School, Colton is a member on the water polo and swim team.

Having devoted so much time learning water safety through out these activities, he was shocked to learn about shallow water blackout from a friend and mentor who lost her son to this tragedy.  Realizing that he or any of his friends could succumb to shallow water blackout at any time he decided to raise awareness about it at his high school and through his community.

Nicole Harvey is a seventeen-year-old competitive swimmer who has grown up in Newport Beach, California, surrounded by the water. She is currently completing her senior year as an honor student at Sage Hill School in Newport Coast. She began swimming for her neighborhood swim team when she was four years old and has continued to swim competitively ever since then. Nicole is also the captain of her high school swim team. Not only does she swim in the pool, Nicole has also spent most of her summers participating in Junior Lifeguard programs on the Balboa Peninsula and she has even become lifeguard certified. She has also worked as a swim coach under Kaitlin Sandeno to teach five-year-old children the beginnings of stroke technique. Other than swimming, Nicole can be found painting, reading, or studying—usually on the beach.

Nicole was educated about the dangers of Shallow Water Blackout by her family friend, Karen Curreri, as she told Nicole the story of how she lost her son, Staff SGT. Joseph F. Curreri, to this tragic event. Joe was a highly skilled swimmer and combat diver. As a competitive swimmer, who sometimes is asked to hold her breath during lung capacity swim sets, Nicole understands how this phenomenon could affect her, as well as other accomplished swimmers. She decided to join the Shallow Water Blackout family in order to increase awareness in the beach community where she lives.

Amanda Marshall is the oldest of three children and grew up in coastal Southern California.  Having lived in a warm climate most of her life, much of her time was spent outdoors either at the beach or at pool parties or participating on swim teams.  Swimming and understanding water safety was a big part of her childhood. Amanda’s first year on a recreational swim team was at age 8 on the Irvine Swim League (ISL) and she earned the award for “Most Improved Swimmer.” Since then, swimming has continued to be her favorite sport. This year Amanda is a high school senior at Sage Hill and it will be her third year competing on Sage Hill’s girls’ varsity swim team.   During the summer of 2019, Amanda was employed by the City of Irvine as a lifeguard at the world renowned William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center. Woollett serves as a venue for local, regional and national competitive events and features two 50 meter pools and a 25 yard instruction pool.  Prior to her employment, Amanda earned the American Red Cross Certificate of Completion on 6/8/19 in the following areas: Asthma Inhaler Training, Epinephrine Auto-Injector Training, Lifeguarding/First Aid/CPR/AED,  Administering Emergency Oxygen, Bloodborne Pathogens Training, First Aid for Public Safety Personnel (Title 22) 23 hour Initial Training.  Amanda enjoys helping people, especially elderly and young children.  During her free time, she sings and plays piano at nursing homes in her community, both solo and with her a capella group that she co-leads, called The Sweet Adelines.  She also volunteers in church teaching young kids crafts during vacation bible school and leading youth music groups. Amanda first learned about the dangers of Shallow Water Blackout by her family friend, Karen Curreri who lost her son, Staff SGT. Joseph F. Curreri, to this tragic event. Joe was a highly skilled swimmer and combat diver. Amanda is very aware of the dangers of Shallow Water Blackout and is eager to help spread awareness and prevention of it in her community.

Welcome to the team, Colton, Nicole and Amanda!

National Federation of State High School Associations Includes a Section About Shallow Water Blackouts for the First Time in its 2019-20 Rule Book.

Over 19,500 high schools belong to associations that are members of the NFHS. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association belongs to the NFHS. However, in states that have separate associations for public and non-public high schools, only the public-school bodies are full NFHS members.

2019-20 Rules Book

Page 3:

2019-20 Swimming and Diving Points of Emphasis

(For comments on the 2019-20 Points of Emphasis, see page 94)

1.    Preventing Shallow Water Blackout

2.    Suit Coverage

3.    Accommodation for Students with a Disability

4.    Sub-varsity Competition

5.    Pre-Meet Conferences

Page 94:

2019-20 Points of Emphasis:

Preventing Shallow Water Blackout

    The rules for NFHS swimming and diving exist to ensure fair competition in a positive, safe and healthy environment.  Consequently, the NFHS Swimming and Diving Rules Committee recognizes concerns that have been raised over instances of shallow water blackout, which can affect swimmers of all experience levels.  Shallow water blackout is a potentially fatal condition that causes a swimmer to lose consciousness while under water.  Shallow water blackout can be prevented through education, awareness and understanding of the dangers of breath-holding.  The tips below are provided by Shallow Water Blackout Prevention.  For further information, visit shallowwaterblackoutprevention.org

·       Never hyperventilate

·       Never ignore the urge to breath

·       Never swill alone

·       Never play breath-holding games

·       No repetitive underwater laps

We wish to extend a very big thank you to the Rules Committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations for giving shallow water blackout a spotlight in its newest Rules Book.  Your support of our mission to raise awareness is greatly appreciated.

Layla Alo Caballero, Miami Ambassador, Exhibits at Leadership Hollywood in Florida

One of the key programs of the Greater Hollywood (Florida) Chamber of Commerce is Leadership Hollywood, an interactive program where participants get to view up close, work together and acquire a unique knowledge of resources and services available in Hollywood, Broward County and the State of Florida. 

 Each year, approximately 35 leaders from the Hollywood business, non-profit, education and healthcare communities participate in Leadership Hollywood. It is, in fact, one of the state’s longest-running leadership programs. 

 The nine-month program is comprised of an organized curriculum of power-packed workdays that include personal growth and leadership skill training and visits to city workplaces and service organizations, all providing a chance to get to know and learn more about the current leaders and programs in our community. 

The biggest part of the Leadership Program is the Community Service Project.  Throughout the year, the class is broken up into smaller groups who create, promote and execute a project designed to support a non-profit organization in Hollywood.  One of this year’s projects was the Hollywood Youth Triathlon, run at and in conjunction with the Hollywood YMCA.  

On Saturday morning, June 15th, about 40 kids, aged 5 to 12, ran, biked and swam around the streets of Hollywood.  They were so focused, that they didn’t even realize that they were learning about health, fitness, goal-setting and water safety!  

The Leadership Hollywood team helped to raise awareness for the event and find sponsors, and was on hand to guide the kids, serve as timekeepers, cheer the kids on and present the awards as they finished. Layla Alo Caballero, our very active Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Ambassador in Miami, Florida, was an exhibitor at this event.  Layla distributed information about shallow water blackouts, and discussed the dangers of prolonged breath holding along with the other rules for water safety that we promote.  According to Layla “The event was a huge success and many people, both children and adults, learned about shallow water blackouts and the dangers of prolonged breath holding.”

The Leadership Hollywood experience is one that stays with and benefits participants throughout their careers.  They grow as leaders and get to know like-minded people who will always be their allies in the community, and make friendships that will last a lifetime.

Shallow Water Blackout Prevention extends it deep appreciation to Layla for her ongoing commitment to helping us save lives by raising awareness about shallow water blackouts.

 Thank you, Layla

Proclamation Signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp

Governor Brian Kemp Signs Proclamation Against Unexpected Killer: May 31, 2019 is Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Day

We are pleased to announce that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has signed a proclamation stating that May 31st, 2019 is Shallow Water Blackout Prevention Day.  

We would like to thank Governor Kemp and his staff for their faithful service to the great state of Georgia, and for their concern about the safety and well being of its citizens. 

Official Proclamation

We wish to encourage all of our friends and followers to take a moment today and share information about the dangers of SWB with your friends and loved ones.  The only way to save lives from more senseless tragedies due to SWB is through education and prevention.