The Challenge of Water Entries

The authors presented a poster at the International Life Saving Foundation's World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2019 in Durban, South Africa titled, "Finding an Aquatic Voice," that was the basis for this article. The conference theme was "Growing Global Drowning Prevention Capacity,” and the aim of our poster’s contribution to the conference was to explore internal reasons for the variable capacity of water-wary persons to engage in water experiences which often manifest as a “water entry and exit conundrum." The paper provides critical decision points associated with these issues to encourage further reflective practice by aquatic professionals. The poster triggered interest from a wide range of aquatic professionals. The paper intends to generate support for vulnerable persons and their instructors as a silent manifesto on the pool deck. A need for tools to create support for autotelic approaches has not been explored before and this paper starts to lay out a scientific case for why it matters.