Take the plunge and accept this challenge.

As the aquatic industry continues to expand and proclaim itself as a separate recognized industry, leaders in the aquatics arena continue to emerge from the depths of a multitude of areas in our country. Aquatics is far reaching in scope within the recreational field. Only within the last ten years has aquatics become an individually recognized professional field of well-deserved merit. Certainly there have been several outstanding names over the past 80 years, individuals who were the pioneers of the aquatics industry as a profession. Today many more recreational professionals seek that special niche which involves the magic of water.

This P&R "Focus on Aquatics" issue displays several ideas, trends and new programs that will help illustrate my point. For the past 50 years, only a few national organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCA and scouts (maybe a few universities) have provided the recognized concepts in aquatic management. Now new ideas focus on specific concepts to create better programs and designs to meet the needs of the ever increasing knowledge base of the typical consumer. People no longer accept the fact that a national organization stamp or emblem on a program equals a safe program. The consumer in today's market demands proven excellence, results and safety standards, and they expect it at a reasonable cost.

Two new "learn to swim" programs are featured in this issue with the new National Safety Council/Ellis and Associates Learn To Swim program and the Paddlers program from Washington University. The authors of both articles describe swimming programs that challenge the norm, and give rise to new ways to meet customers' demands. Both programs emphasize a simpler way to learn with creative characters to capture children's imagination. One very significant element in pursuing aquatic safety is provided in the National Safety Council Learn To Swim program, in conjunction with Ellis and Associates. The National Safety Council Learn To Swim program provides the same risk management services that Ellis and Associates has provided for their lifeguarding program for the past ten years. This is a standard of care which has revolutionized the water park industry, and has proven that with comprehensive training, auditing services and continuous flexible inservicing, facility staff can significantly reduce the number of injuries and potential drownings. No other national organization has had such a dramatic impact in the last twenty years in drowning prevention.

This new way of providing risk management services is just as important as when Commodore Longfellow first began his crusade to waterproof America, or the YMCA first introduced their swimming program, or Cureton-Silvia released their lifesaving text that was the basis for training lifesavers for more than 30 years. Many aquatic purists may not agree, but the water park industry has some of the highest standards of safety, and the recordkeeping procedures to back it up, and this is largely due to the Ellis and Associates risk management program, and their impact on injury and drowning prevention.

In conjunction with the idea of drowning prevention, the Oklahoma State Department of Health has released their five-year study on data collection for morbidity/mortality statistics on such injuries as drowning, spinal cord injuries, motor vehicle injuries and more. This comprehensive data collection is the cornerstone to childhood injury prevention strategies by a number of organizations in Oklahoma, including the SAFE KID's Drowning Prevention Committee. The author notes strategies for developing your own data collection and surveillance system.

Continuing to improve any system is important, and that includes the ability of our lifeguards to be able to respond at a moment's notice. But anyone who has ever sat in a lifeguard chair will know, lifeguarding is often times a boring, tedious duty and that particular aspect of lifeguarding is one that probably has not changed since the first guard climbed into the chair. Maintaining lifeguarding skills is a challenge for any aquatic director. One fun way to develop those in-service training programs is through preparation for the local lifeguard competition. Jim Wheeler, president of the NRPA Aquatics Council provides insight into the necessary components that will make your lifeguard competition successful.

Aquatic directors are also faced with challenges to develop new revenue based programs. White Water Bay in Oklahoma City has met that challenge by creating a tropical paradise that provides private parties, recreational and sports activities as well as special employee-based group rates for entrance to the main water park. This highly successful venue not only brings crowds into the park, but caters to them thus developing new ways to increase park participation and overall financial success.

Financial success is always an important element of any new facility, and for those of you who remember last years Focus on Aquatics issue, their was a three-part series on how to develop an aquatic facility, which surrounded the highly successful development of an aquatic center in Kettering Ohio. This year, the staff of Kettering follow up with a recap of that success story and with ideas and information on their first year in operation. Many aquatic professionals are challenged with the task of developing a new facility, building it, financing it, opening and managing it. There are abundant resources available, so don't waste your time reinventing the wheel. Instead take advantage of someone else's experience and just put your own spin on the project.

One very important resource is NRPA's Aquatic Section, and their annual Swimming Pool and Aquatics Conference and Aquatic Management School, February 24-March 1, 1994. This year's conference will be held in Mesa, Arizona (near Phoenix), and once again promises to provide many new ideas, concepts and networking possibilities. It is a "must do" for any aquatics professional, and not just parks people. But more important than the conference is the Aquatics Section. They represent many of the nation's aquatics leaders, movers and shakers. This section can help provide you with a great many resources, products, ideas and new ways to look at an old problem. I encourage you to contact their office at 1-800-NRPA-236 for membership information. I further challenge you to become creative, meet new people in your field and be proud that you are part of one of the fastest growing recreation professional fields in today's market. Explore and enjoy your career in aquatics, and know that you can make a difference in an individual's life by what you do every day.

Chris Moler

Guest Editor