A mission to combat Guam's devastating statistic of at least one deadly drowning a month.

The KUAM Careforce is a proud partner with the Drown-Free Guahan initiative hosted by Amphibious Aquatics.

Coaching children in our waters comes with its own share of challenges.

But for Keana Santos, she said, “As long as they relax, it creates a very comfortable environment and as long as they listen to me, we’ll all be good.”

All good as she spent her weekend helping those younger than her become one with the water.

She and others with Amphibious Aquatics’ Drown-Free Guahan Initiative are making efforts focused on teaching skills to prevent injury or even tragic outcomes in Guam's waters.   

Coach Mia Lee understands the reality of what happens offshore.

“These drownings and things that happen in the water are so common and they can be easily prevented,” she said.

Prevention that coach John Moore echoes, saying, “There’s a lot of drownings on Guam. This is an island. There's beaches everywhere, so your kids got to learn how to swim, especially learn how to float.”

Dina Soriano has been swimming for eight years and is now sharing that passion through coaching.

“I think what helps is making them think about it in another way like maybe incorporating a game they know like roblox or giving them the foundational ways or other ways to come at it and different perspectives to help them get to where they need to be,” said Soriano.

When talking about comfortability in the water, Head coach, Andy Lee said, “It depends on the child and how confident they are and comfortable. We get them comfortable first and we progress the skills as we see.” 

“We initially start slow; We get them comfortable in the water. We get them to trust us,” said Lee.

It's a lesson that this group is passing along all while saving lives.

Mia Lee said, “Whenever my dad comes home from his shifts at the rescue bays, he’ll talk about some of the incidences that he has to respond to and a lot of these incidences that happen in the water can be so easily prevented by just teaching kids how to be safe in the water and how to be confident in the water.” 

And Soriano added, “Always keep an eye on them. I know it’s easy to get distracted if you are at a party or eating or talking to friends but always have someone watching them.”

You can learn more about the group and see the training schedules on amphibiousguam.com