Atlanta's King Middle School students swimming with purpose

So, too, has King’s indoor swimming pool.

For years after the 1996 Olympic Games, it sat idle and unusable in the school basement. It was as if everyone had forgotten it was there. Even when the school administrators promised to resurrect it, Rushin said, they never did.

Then Danielle S. Battle became principal two years ago. She saw what the others didn’t: opportunity – to increase the number of African-American children who can swim and thereby decrease the number who drown each year.

African-American children ages 5 to 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children of the same age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although drowning rates have slowly declined, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years. Non-fatal drowning can cause brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities.

Beyond increasing the number of African-American children who can swim, Battle sees swimming as a discipline sport, which has the potential to teach students skills that can carry over into the classroom.

She worked with the district’s facilities department to bring the pool back up to standards, making sure it met city and state regulations. They purchased new lane ropes, float boards, fins and water weights.

She hired Justin Spears, a 24-year-old aquatic exercise and fitness instructor, to teach the class.

The pool reopened last August .

In addition to providing swimming classes to students, water aerobics classes are offered once a week to the staff to promote health and wellness.

Battle hopes to open the pool to the community during the summer months for small fee, which would be used to help underwrite the expenses of the school's new swim team.

“I’m really excited about all the opportunities this will open up,” she said.

Spears, a certified lifeguard since age 15, said learning how to swim will improve students' chances of becoming lifeguards, creating an opportunity for summer employment. It could also potentially open the door to college scholarships, he and others said.

“There are more way to get scholarships than football and basketball and this is one of them,” said Spears, who attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a partial swimming award.

Rushin, who has taught physical education at King the past 37 years, remembers when the school had a pool, dance area and volleyball court in its basement.

“No one had anything like this in the entire school system,” she said.

The dance area and volleyball court were eliminated during a remodeling one year. Now only the pool and gym remain, she said.

“I’m so happy we finally got it re-opened,” she said. “The kids love it and they need to know how to swim because our kids are dying.”

Before students can enroll in the class,  they are required to take a water safety class.

Then they may sign up for one of three nine-week swim classes Spears teaches daily.  About 17 students are enrolled in each class. Another 17 have signed up for the swim team.

Spears, a graduate of Martin Luther King High in Lithonia, was taught to swim by his father when he was just three years old.

Teaching swimming and getting people healthy using the water is his passion.

That much was evident as he barked orders out to 12-year-old Erykah Bolton, Montez Davis, Marcus Hollis and their classmates.

“Got your gear?” Spears yells. “Alright line up. Spread out.”

Thus began the day’s lessons on rhythmic breathing, streamline gliding techniques and kicking.

“How should you breathe?” he asks.

“In your mouth,” they respond. “Out your nose.”

“Where does your chin go?”

“On your chest.”

"How many feet do we use when we push off the wall?"

“Two.”

“Good!”

Spears jumps in to demonstrate. One by one, his students follow.

“Keep your head down,” he barks.

Bolton smiles as she finishes the drills.

So where did all that fear go?

“I don’t know,” she said after pondering the question. “I just wanted to try."