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Lifeguard-turned-Miami Dolphins guard schooling Florida’s youth on water safety – NFL Nation


MIAMI — Miami Dolphins guard Solomon Kindley has held the nickname “Big Fish” since he was a small child, however he actually earned the moniker throughout the summer season of 2016 whereas visiting Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart’s lake home.

Smart hosted a bunch of freshman gamers for some enjoyable within the water following summer season exercises. Bulldogs working again Brian Herrien, who couldn’t swim, wore a life jacket and camped out within the shallow finish, however as soon as Kindley and his teammates determined to take out the boat, he did not wish to be left behind and requested to affix.

The gamers started throwing the soccer round and taking turns hanging on the float tied to the again of the boat. Herrien unintentionally let go of the float, and he flew into the center of the lake because the boat drove away. Kindley, a highschool lifeguard, stepped into motion.

“He was panicking and splashing and splashing. So I jumped in to save him and held him there until the boat came to pick us up,” Kindley mentioned. “The crazy part is his head was above the water the whole time, so he wasn’t really drowning, but he was panicking. When I got to him, we both started laughing. We talk about it every time I see him, and it became a joke around the team.”

Kindley, a 6-foot-4, 335-pound guard who’s coming into his second season with the Dolphins, says he is the NFL’s quickest swimmer and figures individuals studying this would possibly not imagine it once they see him. He has all the time been a giant child, and he remembers what occurred in grade college when he participated in swim races in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. While entering into the pool and when swimming, he would hear dad and mom laughing and making snide feedback about him.

“I’ve been doubted my whole life when I got in the pool because of my size,” Kindley mentioned. “I remember people whispering about what I was doing in here. They asked if I was a lifeguard or a dad. I was a young kid. Then I got in the water and smoked everybody in my race group.”

It’s no shock that Kindley is utilizing the pool as his solution to give again to Florida youth. In June, Kindley started a partnership with the Progressive Firefighters Association to assist roughly 500 Miami-area children discover ways to swim and water safety, and to assist older children discover ways to change into lifeguards by donations from the Children’s Trust. It’s a free seven-week program held at Charles Hadley Park in Miami. The program is open to anybody, however there’s a explicit focus on serving to Black children erase the stigma that they cannot swim.

When Kindley started considering of beginning his personal swim camp, the Dolphins’ public relations workforce instructed he associate with the Progressive Firefighters, a bunch of present and retired African American firefighters who volunteer their time to run a program within the Miami space. Kindley and his agent, Toney Scott, rapidly jumped on the thought.

Keith Bell, a Miami Fire Department chief and president of the Progressive Firefighters Association, described this system’s objective as “wanting to drown-proof our community.”

Kindley remembers his first swimming “lesson.” He and his brothers used to sneak out of the home and go to the local people pool whereas their mother was at work, and in the future they have been thrown within the 12-foot deep part of the pool by an older man who felt the children’ battle-or-flight instincts would drive them to swim. Bell, who’s a Black man, says he realized to swim in a similar way.

“About 80% of my teammates, whether in high school, college or the pros, can’t swim,” Kindley mentioned. “When I was a lifeguard — I worked with younger kids — I would give them advice to learn it at a younger age when you listen and respect your parent, or whoever is teaching you. As you get older, you have more fear and it becomes harder.

“Water will be very enjoyable. Water will be very harmful. [Through this program], these children are going to be taught CPR, first help, studying the best way to swim if they do not know and getting lifeguard certification. It’ll give them the lead over the world from one thing easy like a swim class.”

According to the Florida Department of Health, from 2017 to 2019, Florida had the very best unintentional drowning dying price within the nation amongst youngsters 0 to 9 years of age, 3.28 per 100,000 inhabitants. The price practically doubled, to six.29 per 100,000 inhabitants, for youngsters 1 to 4 years previous, additionally the very best within the U.S. The variety of youngsters underneath the age of 5 misplaced yearly to drowning in Florida (67 in 2017, 74 in 2018, 50 in 2019) would fill three or 4 preschool school rooms.

“Swimming is not just another sport. Swimming is a lifesaving tool,” Bell mentioned. “We volunteer our time because we want to stop kids from drowning. Eventually, we want to build swim leagues and have the inner city compete against each other.”

Kindley says he’d like to be there for these future races. The former Georgia standout from Jacksonville says it is a no-brainer for him to make a splash in each of his Florida communities, together with in his hometown the place he hosted a youth soccer camp final month.

Later this month, Kindley will head to Dolphins coaching camp to start an on-field competitors with veteran Jesse Davis for the beginning left guard spot. But within the entrance of his thoughts is a swimming competitors he lately misplaced to Bell’s son, who beat him throughout a race on the primary day of the swim program.

Kindley brags that he has smoked a number of Dolphins teammates in pool races, gamers reminiscent of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, guard Robert Hunt and offensive tackles Austin Jackson and Jonathan Hubbard, however he might need discovered a brand new rival.

“I’m going to get some training and I’m coming for him,” Kindley mentioned with a smile. “I swim really fast like a fish, but I can admit when I get beat.”



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