‘Very fulfilling’: YMCA offers swim lessons to keep people safe

CHARLOTTE — The YMCA of Greater Charlotte is doing its part to ensure people keep safety paramount as more people hit the water.

A program at The Y offers classes for swimmers at every level.

The summer hasn’t started and Channel 9 has reported on three drownings so far this spring.

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The program is so popular that lessons in June are already booked.

“When I would go to the pool, I would get in what I would stay in the shallow end of the pool and just use that part of the pool,” Carmen Allen told Channel 9 reporter Erika Jackson.

Allen, a retiree, has almost completed her lessons.

“My goal is to eventually do lap-swimming,” she said. “Use that as exercise.”

Allen is gaining skills and confidence through The Y’s adult swim lessons.

“It’s very emotional,” said Mary Luttrell, a swim lesson instructor at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. “It’s very fulfilling, and it is a strange environment. You’re learning how to exhale into the water.”

Luttrell said more students are signing up as the weather warms up.

“They really have a sincere desire to do this, and it’s taking them some courage and some time to build up to this,” Luttrell said.

CLICK HERE for more information on swim lessons at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

(Watch the video below: Divers recover body of 13-year-old girl from river in Chesterfield County, officials say)

Divers recover body of 13-year-old girl from river in Chesterfield County, officials say

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