Sophia Gao ’26 works to welcome swimmers of different backgrounds to a summer league swim club, fostering love of sport and team.
This summer, I started a summer league swim club in Rotterdam, New York at Mohonasen High school, inviting swimmers from ages 5-17 to participate. I achieved one of my main goals of establishing a community for adaptive swimmers, athletes with cognitive, developmental, or neurological challenges, while also supporting an underprivileged community. These swimmers trained with each other from June 10th to August 3rd. We competed at dual meets with other teams in Suburban League, and we ended our season with a championship meet.
I worked with an experienced USA Swimming certified coach and other volunteer coaches to keep our swimmers in the water, specifically in a pool that is accessible and local for them. Our adaptive swimmers’ previous training season didn’t extend into the summer, and so, we met their needs and welcomed them to our practices.
This wasn’t the only way we provided for athletes of different backgrounds, and we adjusted practices to the needs of our swimmers, acknowledging that we were working with an incredibly diverse pool of experience and competitiveness. Ultimately, we created a space for all our swimmers to enjoy the sport, regardless of their capabilities.
As a result of being able to work with these incredible athletes, I learned the importance of flexibility in my own schedule. I balanced my own summer swim season, and coaching for these swimmers. This then led to communication, both with parents and with other coaches. I worked to communicate changes in regards to competition information and practice times. Most importantly, I learned the strength of loving a sport. So many of my days were made by walking into the pool and meeting the excitement of my swimmers. My main focus was always to foster early passion for the sport of swimming, making sure that our athletes were having fun and enjoying practices. Second to that, perhaps, was always explaining, and helping them understand why we do what we do in this sport in regards to technique and training.
I put my grant money towards purchasing team caps for our twenty swimmers and offering any scholarship needed to support families. Since this club was started as a sub-category under my own club team, I have worked with my team’s treasurer for official transactions and invoices. I will be covering pool rent and lifeguard fees as well. Mainly, I worked with my local swim sportswear store, the Deep End, to put together equipment bags for our swimmers. I was excited to work with the Deep End to process this bulk order, and with their support, I can promote my swimmers’ future athletic careers and help them pursue swimming the the future.
