As a long time professional in the aquatic industry, parent, and a life-long recreational pool user, I can honestly say that the most common phrase said and heard is …”Don’t Run”, with a close second being “Stop Running”.
This phrase has been said in every way shape and form. Lifeguards blow their whistle and yell it. Parents and swim instructors alike attempt to teach it and enforce it. We educate kids and swimmers to “not to run” before they go in the pool, during breaks, and everything between!
Yet – Here I am with about to tell the story of why my left hand twitches when it sits just right on a hard surface (like your funny bone would do). Why does it do this? Because I have a nearly 20 year old hairline fracture in my left elbow …from slipping and falling on a pool deck. The “fun” part is my kids get the thrill of watching me drop a fork or a shake a popcorn bucket randomly for a few seconds. The “not so fun part” is that I nearly drowned when I slipped and fell.
I slipped because I ran on a pool deck! Plain and simple! A pool deck that I knew very well. A pool deck that was clearly way too slippery and had no fall prevention treatment. A pool deck that many kids, parents and others staff had slipped on before! On this day, I became the victim, a victim who almost drowned attempting to save a child in my lesson program. Low and behold, I quickly became the person who needed to be rescued. To add insult to injury, I almost drowned because I running to get the student as I fell face first into the water with my face/upper body in the water, but my lower body on the deck, and no way to get myself above water. The truly ironic part is that the veteran swim instructor was right there, and pushed my body above water, while getting the student (who, by the way was not actually drowning, but was practicing his swimming).
You see, I did what I tell everyone not to do. Not only did I run on a pool deck, but I didn’t take one breath and slow myself down to analyze the situation and now I have this story to tell.
So, you don’t have a shaky arm and your own story to tell, DON’T RUN ON THE POOL DECK and to learn more about slip and fall statistics check out my partner’s site: SlipSolutions of Illinois.
