Jeff Metcalfe

azcentral sports

Make a Splash tour comes to Phoenix for 41st stop nationally

Swimming champion Missy Franklin will compete in metro Phoenix next week as part of her preparation to make a second Olympic team.

She made a pre-meet appearance Friday to champion a greater cause, water safety, in her new role as a USA Swimming Foundation ambassador. Franklin, a five-time 2012 London Olympic medalist, did a hands-on swim lesson with a dozen children at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in south Phoenix, the 41st stop nationally since 2007 in the Make a Splash tour promoting the importance of swim lessons in drowning prevention.

"This is such a dream come true and a perfect fit for me," said Franklin, who spoke later at a USA Swimming Foundation luncheon also attended by U.S. Olympic/Arizona State swim coach Bob Bowman, Rowdy Gaines, Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt and Chase Kalisz. 22-time Olympic medalist Phelps, who trains at ASU, also promotes water safety through his swim program, offered locally by Pitchfork Aquatics at ASU Poly and West campuses.

The USA Swimming Foundation donated $1,250 each to the city of Phoenix and Kroc Center for free or discounted swim lessons to help with a goal of teaching more than 50,000 swim lessons in Phoenix this year.

RELATED: Phelps promotes swim instruction in Arizona

Franklin recounted how her mother did not learn to swim until she was in her 30s and wanted Missy to be more comfortable in the water, enrolling her for mommy-and-me swim lessons when she was six months old. "She didn't want me living with the same fear," Franklin said.

Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton spoke at the Kroc Center, saying there is "no more important topic than water safety." Gaines said of 42 drownings this year in the United States, nine were in Arizona. There are an average of 10 drownings daily in the U.S. per USA Swimming Foundation statistics.

Franklin, 20, recently filmed a public service announcement with her mother that will air on 900 stations in this Olympic year. "This is a race I really want to win," she says in the PSA. "A race to save lives."

Franklin will return for the Arena Pro Series Mesa meet, April 14-16 at Skyline Aquatic Center, that also features Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky and many other swimmers vying to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Ledecky and Franklin are 1-2 in the series overall leader standings with four meets remaining. The U.S. Olympic Swim Trials are June 26-July 3 in Omaha, Neb.