Swimming enrollment increases amid Olympics

With the U.S. dominating the swimming competition at the 2016 Olympic Games, it appears some local gyms are reaping the benefits.

The Henson Family YMCA in Salisbury says they’ve seen up to a 35 percent increase in swim activity participation from last year.

Autumn Thomas, senior program director at the YMCA, says this is typical during an Olympic year, especially for kids’ programs.

Thomas tells 47ABC, they offer a number of programs including youth swim lessons and free community swim classes.

“We’ve gotten a lot more phone calls about it and just in that in community swim camp, which is basically a feeder program for our swim team,” she says. “The interest level was just astonishing. It was almost overwhelming.”

Fall swim lessons start on September 6.