SplashForward

We so admire and appreciate💙💦 all lifeguards🛟🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️ from our newest to our most seasoned and even those who have retired! We believe lifeguards are the linchpin to enabling our aquatic facilities to provide essential aquatic programs, lifesaving skills, and safe places to recreate together. 🙏Thank you to all lifeguards for choosing to help keep others safe, work as a team, and continue to hone your skills so that we can enjoy our lifeguarded pools, beaches, lakes, and waterfronts. We are especially proud of all of the students we have supported through our program and their passion and commitment to water safety.

👉Next time you are at the water, 🙏thank the lifeguards on duty and let them know how much you appreciate their vigilance in keeping you and others safe around water, preventing drowning and mishaps while you enjoy the water. 💙💦

Big milestone alert🚨! As of last weekend, we have supported 501 students across 45 schools in Bellevue, the Greater Eastside, Seattle, and King County to receive their lifeguard certification through our HS Lifeguard Training Program since we started it in 2021! If you counted the students on our waitlist, attempted portions of the lifeguard class, attended our workshops, or attended our skill development classes who are not yet certified or 15yrs old, then we have supported over 620 students.

See the comments for how you can help us reach our goals and continue providing lifeguards to our local waters at your pools, beaches, and lakes.

You may have seen this heroic lifesaving rescue on your social feeds. This 16yr old lifeguard🛟🏊‍♂️ and his team who guard CA coast beaches, are amazing first responders and lifesavers.💙💦 They are doing what they are trained to do. As this 16yr old said...what they do every day.

Hopefully, the attention that this lifesaving moment gets will help lifeguards be recognized as first responders. We also hope it helps our local businesses, individuals, and foundations invest as sponsors in our HS Lifeguard Training Program. Our program, for the first time in six years, is currently on hold due to maxing out our 2026 available sponsor funding. We are actively applying to grants and soliciting funders so that we can continue to provide FREE training, skill development, mentorship, and job resources to high school students in our region.

If you know of someone or an organization that might be interested in becoming a sponsor, please reach out - [email protected]

NBC News

Hero lifeguard speaks out Ryder Williams, the 16-year-old lifeguard credited with saving a boy off California’s Santa Cruz coast is speaking out for the first time. Williams says he was at the waterline when he saw a child lose his footing. The father of the boy rescued tells NBC News he is eternally grateful to Williams. ...

Today is 🛟National Drowning Prevention Day🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️! It takes all of us to UNITE to turn the tide.💙💦

Drowning is the…
💦4th leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 4
💦3rd leading cause of death for children aged 5 – 14

💦24% of all drowning deaths are children under the age of 5
💦Drowning claims more than 300,000 lives every year
💦Locally, this summer we have witnessed drowning deaths in our lakes and rivers of youth, teens, and young adults.

🛟Drowning is preventable.

👉We are working in partnership with our community to turn the tide by expanding access to aquatics.
🙏Please support our efforts so that together we can UNITE to turn the tide!💙💦

World Health Organization (WHO)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Do you live, work, or play in Bellevue? Add your voice to the City's survey to share your experience and input on life in Bellevue. We'd like to see our aquatics community and those who support investment in a new public aquatic center fill out this survey. 💙💦 An aquatic center is a safe, inclusive, shared space...a Third Place...that builds community connection and is a source of pride.

🙏Please fill it out and share it with your friends!

👉✍SURVEY - https://bit.ly/CityOfBellevueSurvey2026
👉Survey runs through August 10th

Last night Seattle Parks and Recreation held its first of two public meetings on the $88.5M Green Lake Community Center, 💦Evans Pool, and play area redevelopment project. If you attended hoping that your voice for expanded pool capacity was heard after the last public engagement, you were pretty disappointed. A constrained site felt even more constrained with the updated schematic plan that switched the location of the pool and recreation center. The previously proposed new pool building is now the proposed new community center and the problematic existing landmark status building and Evans pool is the proposed location for the pool. The existing 1955 6 lane lap pool would be the location for a renovated new 6 lane lap pool…no increase in capacity. The previously proposed warm water teaching and activity pool has two possible locations within the existing green lake building footprint but both options require additional funding. We asked how much and we’re told 10% of the total project cost, $8.85M.

The disappointment was clearly expressed by those who attended hoping for much needed expanded capacity and programming for lap swimming, high school swim teams, recreation, and expanded hours.

Council member Dan Strauss was in attendance and listening to constituents and local pool advocates. He knows Green lake is underserved and is a site with many complexities. He is focused on the future and where a new aquatic facility could be built. He has his sights set on Magnuson park, but there are no plans to develop that site and the next rev of the Seattle Metropolitan Parks District levy is two years out.

See comments for more…

Congratulations Friends of Lopez Island Pool!!! 👏👏🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️💙💦 You did it! The Lopez Swim Center opened on July 1st!

A community led effort that started in 2009 made the dream to build the first public pool for Lopez a reality. They raised the funds from residents (full time and seasonal), secured grants from foundations, obtained state grants, and setup funding for free swim lessons, water safety (Lifeguard Training 🥰), and aquatic programs within the Lopez K-12 PE curriculum. 💙💦

There are two pools, locker rooms, activity space, and accessibility features so that there everyone can enjoy their water time.

💦4 lane 25yd lap pool with accessible sloped steps and lift entry, 3.5 - 7.5’ deep
💦warm water teaching and recreation pool 3.5 - 4.5’ deep

Both pools will be accessible year round. Open to the air in the summer months and covered with a heated dome in the colder months.

We’ve been following their journey closely and applaud their efforts and success. 👏👏. Their campaign ED provided mentorship to us and our organizations have been resources and sounding boards for each other. We even introduced our aquatics consultant who helped them tune their scope, support fundraising, develop operational plans, hire staff, and support them through opening the facility.

Here’s to Lopez Island’s water stories beginning and a lifetime of aquatic opportunities and strengthening community! 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️💙💦

Can’t wait to come swim in your pool!!🥰

Oh yeah--it's definitely that fun!

The Lopez Swim Center is now open and it's time to jump in.

Join for a day or join to stay: Daily, monthly, summer season, and annual memberships are available.

For hours and membership rates, visit our website at www.lopezswimcenter.org

🎆 Special Saturday, Fourth of July, Holiday Hours: 2 PM to 8 PM 🎆

🎉🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️Happy National Swimming Pool Day!!💙💦 We think ✨Pools are Cool✨ and want to bring the joy of the pool to everyone in our community. The New Bellevue Aquatic Center at Airfield Park will be the next new public pool in Bellevue and the region. It will have 🤩five pools where there is something for everyone!

💦An 8 - 10 lane program teaching pool for youth & adult swim lessons, adaptive swim, lap swimming, water classes, and more!
💦A family recreation pool with lazy river, slides, zero-entry for toddlers, and splash pad
💦A configurable 50 meter pool for youth, high school, and masters training, competition, water safety training, and recreation (obstacle courses, boating, and more!)
💦A separate 25 yard deep water tank for diving, artistic swimming, water polo, fire rescue training, scuba training, boat safety training, merfolk, and more!
💦A warm water therapy pool and spa for medical wellness, special needs, and therapy

🏋️‍♂️🚶‍♀️🎂Plus dry side amenities for cardio/fitness classes, gathering spaces, birthday parties, and more!

Everyone deserves access to the pool! And a pool in a park is so cool!

👉Support us today – with a donation to sustain our efforts! https://www.splashforward.org/support

If you live in Seattle and want to hear the latest about Seattle's next new pool💦 - the refurbishment and rebuild of ✨Green Lake Pool and Community Center - and add your voice🗣️, be sure to attend one of the upcoming public meetings!

After seeing the early designs that included a 6 lane x 25yd pool and limited consideration for concurrent usage scenarios that optimized programming opportunities, we are advocating for at least 8 lanes, depth for both deep and shallow usage, and efficient usage of space to benefit the broadest programmatic usage and cost savings.

The project team came on board earlier this spring and has revamped the concept plans, responded to public input (including the rally for a larger pool!) and an increased budget. We can't wait to learn more!

See you there! 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️🤽‍♀️🤽‍♂️💙💦

Join us for two upcoming public meetings for the Green Lake Community Center, Pool and Play Area project. These meetings are an opportunity for the community to learn more about the current design concepts and provide input.

- Wednesday, July 15 at 5:30 PM
- Saturday, July 18 at 10 AM

Both events will be held at Green Lake Community Center, 7201 East Green Lake Way N, Seattle, WA 98103.

For more info, visit: https://engageseattleparks.com/glcc-and-pool-rebuild

Come find us tomorrow from ✨3pm - 7:30pm at the 🍅🥕🌽🍓Bellevue Farmers Market ! Get your fresh produce and local treats, and learn the latest on the new Bellevue Aquatic Center and our efforts.💙💦

👉If you'd like to join us as a volunteer behind the table tomorrow or at a future opportunity, reach out ([email protected]). We'll train you alongside our seasoned volunteers and promise a super fun time!💙💦

The market is located on Bellevue Way at the Bellevue Presbyterian Church parking lot.