Cullen Jones Makes a Splash in Kansas City

Cullen Jones recently concluded the fourth stop of the Cullen Jones Make a Splash event series in Kansas City. The event commenced with an appearance at the Royals baseball game, where Cullen was honored prior to the start of the game not only for his athletic accomplishments, but also his water safety endeavors.

 

The following morning, 85 community leaders gathered at the Gregg Klice community center to hear Cullen speak about his own journey from nearly drowning to becoming an Olympic champion. The attendees, which included politicians, civic leaders, athletic directors, swim coaches and more, were educated on the importance of making sure all children learn to swim.

 

Olympian Mel Stewart was also on hand to serve as the emcee event, as well as USA Swimming’s diversity specialist John Cruzat, who spoke about ways community leaders can become activists for drowning prevention.

 

The event continued with a youth assembly at Woodland elementary school where 300 students enjoyed a break from class to hear Cullen tell his compelling story. After the assembly, five students joined Cullen in the pool for a swimming lesson that was covered by several local TV and radio stations.

 

A crew from HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel followed Cullen throughout the day. Real Sports will join Cullen again this weekend, as they document the work USA Swimming and Cullen are doing to reduce unnecessary youth drowning.

 

The next stop on the event series will take place in Denver where Cullen will encourage hundreds of Hispanic business leaders to become water safety advocates at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce National Convention. For more information, visit MakeaSplash.org. You can also follow Cullen’s journey on Twitter @Jones41 and on the Cullen Jones – Make a Splash facebook fan page.

 

Tags: Cullen Jones, Make A Splash