The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance formed the Champions Board, a group of athletes, pool industry professionals and philanthropists, to promote drowning prevention. It will work closely with the Step Into Swim initiative, which seeks to create 1 million more swimmers.

Olympian Rowdy Gaines, who serves as PHTA’s vice president of partnerships and development, played a key role in recruiting the board, which includes two-time Olympian and swim school owner Cammile Adams; and Jeff Commings, who competed in three U.S. Olympic Trials and holds world records in Masters swimming competitions and co-owns a swim school, among others.