MVP Swimathon

As we were nearing the end of the kids fall swimming season I wanted to have a party or do something fun to mark the last day of practice for the kids. We had roughly 40 kids who swam the beautiful fall season at Moraga Valley Pool. In the past we've never done anything to mark the end of the season and it seemed like we should celebrate the efforts of our children who loyally swam every day after school through November. Another parent suggested the idea of a swimathon, so off I went to plan something on a whim.

MVP alum and Olympic Gold Medalist Heather Petri has been a long time supporter of our pool and community. One of the fabulous organizations that she serves as an ambassador for is Right to Play. I reached out to the folks in the San Francisco office and told them about my idea to have a swimathon and that we would like to have Right to Play be our beneficiary. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they responded to me and how excited they were for our event. They arranged a conference call for us to chat and work out logistics of setting up fundraising pages and to make sure I had everything I needed to move forward.

I really had no idea how the event would be received or if we would manage to raise any money for such a great organization, but I had high hopes that it would be fun for the kids and in the end we could make some sort of positive impact for all involved.

Yesterday at 3:45 pm the kids and parents started to arrive and it looked like it was going to be a great turn-out.

Heather talking to swimmers about Right to Play and their mission

Our swimmers

Getting ready on deck

Swimmers at the wall

Mixing it up with some breaststroke

Hamming it up for the camera

Sisters circle swimming 

Olympians get pool side service of snacks 

How many more do I have to swim to win the candy?

Coaches and masters swimmers also enjoy pool side service

At the end of the night I was so thankful for our MVP community of swimmers who came out and swam over 2500 laps to raise money for a great cause. Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped us raise over $700! Many thanks to Heather Petri for swimming with and cheering on all of our swimmers to help everyone meet their goals.

I am so lucky to be part of such a great community of families at Moraga Valley Pool!

Final stats for the Yox girls:

Sydney - 134 laps for 3350 yards
Kylie - 66 laps for 1650 yards
Meredith - 100 laps for 2500 yards