Sophia ’26 works to support the community of Rotterdam and Mohonasen in starting a summer league swim club with the intention of creating a team that welcomes all swimmers of different backgrounds.
I entered the summer with the goal of starting a program in my hometown specifically for adaptive aquatics, and I hoped to hold practices for these swimmers with cognitive, developmental, or neurological challenges. Since then, this program has taken form as a summer league swim club, called the Rotterdam Community Summer Swim Club, with four coaches, including myself and an experienced USA Swimming certified coach. Of course, we welcomed our initial adaptive swimmers, but we have grown the team beyond that to accommodate for the amount of competitive swimmers in the area looking for a summer club to train with.
The practice schedule began on June 10th, and will continue until August 3rd, which will mark the end of the season and the date of the team’s championship meet. Four other dual-meet style competitions will be held throughout the month of July (one already happened on the 2nd), allowing swimmers to have some experience racing others and practicing their skills in a competitive environment. Practices happen at the Mohonasen High School Pool.
We have created a space for varying levels of competitiveness; Most of our members are age-group swimmers who are relatively new to the sport. Practice for this age range is for technique work and introducing the primary elements of swimming. We also have a few older high school swimmers participating with the club who are looking for a less intense club compared to the rigor of other summer clubs in other areas.
This summer team was started as a sub-group under my own swim club at home, the Schenectady-Saratoga Swim Club. And since there is a need for financial support (this team was just formed this year from scratch, and the Mohonasen School District is facing a fiscal crisis that impacts the community around it), I have used my grant money to purchase team caps for our twenty members and offer any scholarship needed to support families. I have worked with my club team’s treasurer as well for more official transactions and invoices. As the summer comes to an end, I will look to cover financial needs regarding lifeguarding and pool rent, and I am excited to put together equipment bags for swimmers to promote their future swim career.
