Mariel Segarra

Summer is a good moment to test your swimming skills and maybe take a swimming class.

That could save your life.

And swimming is also just a great way to get exercise when it's hot outside.

The Red Cross has a list of five basic skills that you need at a minimum to save yourself in the water.

The first is you should be comfortable with submerging your whole body, including your head, under the water.

The second is you should be able to return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute.

Cullen Jones is a former Olympic swimmer, and it's his mission now to make sure people know how to swim.

The third skill is if you're in a pool, you should be able to turn around in a full circle and find an exit.

And the fourth is you should be able to swim 25 yards to that exit without stopping.

Lastly, you should be able to get out of the water without using a ladder.

Colin says you can think elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee.

If you don't have these skills or you're not a confident swimmer, take a swim class.

It's never too late to start.

You can go to usaswimming.org forward slash make a splash to find a class near you.

And if you have kids in your life, there's even more to consider here because drowning is the number one cause of death for children ages one to four in the United States.

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends swim classes for kids and says you can start when they're as young as one year old.

Beyond that, takeaway two, if your kids are near a body of water, whether that's the pool, a lake, the ocean, designate an adult water watcher, someone who knows it's their job to watch the water and the kids in it.

Shazik Sunoda is the founder and executive director of the drowning prevention nonprofit No More Under.

Often these tragedies happen because someone thinks someone else is watching.

Someone thinks that someone else has an eye on the kids or on the pool.