TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaq Barrett is dealing with the grief of losing his two-year-old daughter after her tragic drowning in April. 

He now wants to help other families while honoring his late daughter.

What You Need To Know

  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaq Barrett started 'A Ray of Hope' foundation to honor the memory of his 2-year-old daughter, Arrayah, after she drowned in a family pool in April

  • The foundation will provide free swim lessons and AI cameras will be installed in the event a child goes by the pool

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the top cause of death for children ages one to four in the state of Florida

  • Nathan Tritt, who oversees swim lessons at Tampa Bay Turners in St. Petersburg, says swim survival lessons can start as early as six months 

Swim lessons aren’t only about mastering strokes, or becoming the fastest: they’re also about teaching water safety.

Nathan Tritt oversees swim lessons at Tampa Bay Turners in St. Petersburg. 

Although some parents are nervous about beginning lessons, the reward could be life-saving.

“Here, we start with a lot of just basic skills — learning how to kick, learning how to blow bubbles. Hold their breath when they’re going under the water,” Tritt said. “The alternative is the risk of them drowning. Even though they’ll be crying for maybe a week or two, as long as you keep them with it, and show them the pool is fun, they’ll have a great time and start learning.”

 Swim survival lessons starting as early as six months can prevent tragic accidents. 

“Pretty much from around the time your kid can crawl, they’re in danger of going into any of these areas filled with water,” Tritt said. “There’s hundreds of kids every year that end up drowning due to all these accidents, so it’s very important we reach out as much as we can to any and all parents that we can.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the top cause of death for children ages one to four in the state of Florida.

It’s a statistic Bucs linebacker Shaqil Barrett is all too familiar with.

His two-year-old daughter, Arrayah, drowned in their family pool in April.

“It (doesn’t) get any easier, me being busy keeps my mind off of it for a little, but it’s tough, it’s always going to be tough,” Barret said.

Now, Barrett and his wife are starting a foundation in her honor.

Their mission is to educate parents on water safety, provide free swim lessons and install cameras.

“I was never, ever going to put my little kids in those early swimmer class, where they throw them in and let them figure it out, but I recommend people do that. We just started a foundation in her name, ‘A Ray of Hope.’ We’re going to be paying for swim lessons and we’re going to be installing AI cameras, so if a little child goes by the pool, an alarm goes off now,” he said.

He hopes the foundation will save other children and keep his daughter’s memory alive.

“She was the best. She was literally the best everything all around. Her smile, personality, even when she was naughty, she was so cute,” Barret said. “I could go on forever and ever about her, her smile I miss so much, her energy, putting her to bed every night, reading stories. She brought so much brightness, wholeness and completeness to our lives.”

Barrett said she was a blessing in their lives, and now, a ray of hope, saving others.

“We have all the precautions in the way to prevent it from happening, and that’s why ‘A Ray of Hope’ is going to be beneficial for a lot of families, I hope,” he said.