NY Daily News: Swim Strong Foundation co-founder Shawn Slevin helps kids learn to swim

by Clem Richardson -- Daily News Staff Writer

Monday, March 07, 2011

The statistics read like some deadly math problem.

Nearly 60% of African-American children living in urban areas can't swim, according to a 2005 USA Swimming survey.

Add that to the fact that drowning ranks second - behind car crashes - as the leading cause of accidental death for children 14 and younger and the results are predictable.

African-American children 5 to 14 years old are three times as likely to drown than white children, according to a 2005 Centers for Disease Control study.

More than 3,400 people drown in the United States each year. Many of those who survive near drownings suffer permanent brain damage.

"The crime in all of this is that drowning is preventable," said Swim Strong Foundation co-founder and president Shawn Slevin. "I ask people why and you get a lot of different answers. I go scuba diving in Caribbean and a lot of people in the islands don't swim."

Closer to home, Slevin notes that in Far Rockaway, Queens, "there are hundreds of thousands of families that live within walking distance of the ocean and so many of them don't swim. How can you have that opportunity and not avail yourself of it?"

Swim Strong aims not just to teach children to swim, but how to swim competitively, Slevin said. "The thing is, once people get in the water, they regret waiting that long."

The foundation has a variety of programs aimed at enticing nonswimmers into the water, including "Get Ready, Get Wet," a 30-minute introduction to swimming for children who have never been in the water.

"They learn how to put their face in the water, how to breathe out of their noses and take air in through their mouths and just how to get long in the water," Slevin said.

The "getting long" idea comes from Slevin's swimming background. "I teach a competitive technique, not social swimming," she said. "It is about effective and efficient movement through the water. So children who get our training can go on to competitive programs."

Beginners learn basic freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly, diving and flip turns.

About 100 students are currently enrolled in the year-round program; about the same number are expected to enroll for a 10-week program that starts March 26 and for summer activities at the three Swim Strong sites: Flushing Meadows Pool in Corona, Queens; Far Rockaway High School and Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn. The programs cost $15 a half hour.

"It [enrollment] tends to drop off in the fall, maybe because summer is over," Slevin said. "But swimming is a year-round activity, the best womb-to-tomb sport."

Swim Strong was developed out of the swimming program Helen Coyne coached at St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Woodside, Queens.

Slevin swam competitively in that program; then, when she aged out at 14, was persuaded by Coyne to stay on as a coach.

Slevin incorporated the program in 2006.

The New York Chamber of Commerce nominated Slevin as one of its 2011 "Inspiring Women" candidates. The winner will be named at ceremonies at Madison Square Garden on July 27.

For more information, see the website, www.theswimstrongfoundation.org.

Being Prepared and Trained Saves Lives

During the downwind leg of the third race, competitor Russell Dunleavy collapsed in brisk conditions of about 15-17 knots. His sailing partner Chris Gill, who was aware that Russell has a heart condition, immediately called for a chase boat which arrived quickly just after another Ideal sailed by Betsy Sorenson came along side. Betsy is a registered nurse who along with Chris commenced CPR.

Russell has had a heart condition for some time and carries nitro pills. Russell was unresponsive and was transferred to the chase boat and brought to Fayerweather Yacht Club (Bridgeport, CT) where he was further treated (defribbed, etc) and transferred to an ambulance to Bridgeport Hospital. The committee boat had called 911 and an ambulance was waiting at the dock.

Russell has made it thus far. He had four complete blockages hit while on the water. The doctors have said everybody's efforts saved him, and were certain that if his heart hadn’t been massaged the whole way back into the dock he wouldn't have made it. Apparently one of the blockages was opened by compressing him. He is now being stabilized for quadruple bypass surgery.

This reinforces that we can't predict things out there. Here were some of the discussion items following the incident:

- Anyone sailing that carries medication that may be required should make it aware to your sailing partner and make its location known to them. Fortunately, Chris knew this which helped him immediately realize the seriousness of the situation.

- Having two people on a chase boat was critical in saving Russell. Having a nurse on the water was vital too.

- Encouraging CPR certification within racing fleets.

- Carrying onboard horns or whistles might be needed to expedite initial assistance in stronger winds or larger race courses.

If not for the efforts by Chris Gill and Betsy Sorenson, and Charlie Gulotta and Greg Wykoff on the chase boat, this day of frostbiting could have turned out much worse.

Thanks to Cliff Crowley and Bill Sandberg for helping with this story.

- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt

"A broken pool gate cost us our son" - An important article

It took less than a minute for two-year-old Kaine to drown in the family pool. Here, Karen George relives the heartbreak of losing her son

THIRTY seconds. That’s all it took. One moment, he was at my side; the next, he was floating in the pool.

My youngest son, Kaine, was a typical two-year-old – cheeky and headstrong, and robust and nuggety like his dad. He was learning to swim and loved being in the water – it was even hard to get him out of the bathtub. He was a little water baby.

I remember March 19, 2006, so vividly. When you find your child drowning, it’s an image that haunts you for the rest of your life. What you see, the emotions you go through – you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.

Six months earlier, our family had moved into a rental property in St Clair, Sydney. We noticed the pool gate was broken and filed a complaint, but the real-estate agent never got around to fixing it. That broken gate cost us our son’s life.

That day, my partner, Darren, and I invited some friends over for lunch. The children went for a swim in the morning, then we ate lunch. In the afternoon, the kids played outside while the adults cleared up.

I remember Kaine came inside to go to the toilet and, a moment later, he ran off to find his sisters, Brooke, who was 5, and Teaghan, 3. That was the last time I saw him alive.

He was gone for less than a minute when Teaghan asked, “Mum, where’s Kaine?”

“Isn’t he with you?” I said.

“No.”

My heart skipped a beat.

We ran through the house calling his name, then searched the back and front yards. I knew Kaine would never take a nap or play by himself in his room. He was fearless. He loved the water. Suddenly I had a sick feeling in my gut. I knew he must be in the pool.

I ran up to the pool gate and there he was, floating behind a li-lo. There had been no noise, no splashing, nothing. He’d been missing for less than a minute. I screamed.

I pulled Kaine out of the water. His face looked peaceful, but his eyes were fixed and dilated. I knew this was a terrible sign. When someone’s eye are like that, they’re as good as gone. I know because I’m an assistant nurse but, at that moment, my nursing went out the window and my maternal instincts took over. I had to try to save my son, even though I knew it was already too late. It was the strangest feeling.

Somebody ran inside to call an ambulance and the paramedics arrived three or four minutes later. The timing is a blur; to me those few minutes felt like an eternity.

The ambulance drove us to the hospital while Darren stayed home with the girls.

It took 45 minutes for doctors to resuscitate Kaine and, that night, he was moved to the intensive care unit at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. His body was bloated and his eyes empty, but I never left his side. The doctors said he was severely brain damaged and it was inevitable he’d die soon.

A week later, they asked if we’d agree to switch off his life support. It was the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make. Darren and I talked about it for a long time. Since that day in the pool, Kaine’s facial expression hadn’t changed. It was the same blank stare. He didn’t recognise us, his sisters or his two older brothers. He didn’t even know we were in the room with him. It was as though he’d already left us.

We refused to leave our son hooked up to life support for the rest of his life, so we told him, “You have to make a choice, you have to live or die – without the tubes and machines.”

The next day, the doctors switched off the equipment that had been keeping Kaine alive. Miraculously, he seemed to get stronger. In fact, he became so strong, the doctors told us we could take him home for Easter.

We cared for him round the clock and he made so much progress, we began to pray he might survive after all.

But our luck didn’t last. A few days later, Kaine caught pneumonia and his lung – which was weak from oxygen deprivation – collapsed. He died on April 21, 2006, just over a month after the accident.

We moved to a new house the day before Kaine’s funeral. We couldn’t live in the old house any more – the memories were too raw.

I’m honestly not sure how we began to pick up the pieces. I went back to work within two weeks – I had to stay busy. If I’d stayed at home, I would’ve gone nuts.

But we all grieved in different ways. I went to counselling because I found it helped to talk, but Darren tried a few sessions and it wasn’t for him. Instead, he drank heavily, which cost him his driver’s licence and job. He was devastated; Kaine was his only son.

We’re lucky we’re still together – many relationships don’t survive the death of a child. Kaine’s death put a huge strain on ours, but we talked a lot and that got us through it.

It affected the whole family, from Brooke, now 10, and Teaghan, 8 – who were there when Kaine drowned and saw him at the hospital – to my sons, Boyd, 29, and Clinton, 21, and Darren’s daughter, Cayley, 15.

After the accident, Boyd stopped speaking to me. He’ll never forgive me for Kaine’s death. But I can’t blame myself – children can drown in the blink of an eye. It’s impossible for any parent to watch them every second of every day.

Boyd has four kids of his own now, so not only have I lost my youngest son, I’ve lost Boyd and four grandchildren, too. I’ve accepted the fact we’ll never reconcile. It hurts, but I just live day-to-day.

We celebrate Kaine’s birthday every year. Brooke, Teaghan and I make him a birthday cake and Teaghan blows out the candles. Sometimes we hear her whispering to Kaine as though he’s still here – they were only 18 months apart in age.

Special occasions will always hurt. Over Christmas, we took our caravan up the coast for a couple of weeks. It helps to get away and to stay busy.

As parents, we’re a lot more protective now. Teaghan and Brooke are still young, and they’re not allowed out of our sight. They don’t seem to mind, but they might become less understanding when they’re teenagers.

I rang the real-estate agent the morning after Kaine’s accident, and they sent someone over to fix the gate the next day. Of course, the repairman couldn’t touch the fence by then because it was under police investigation. I was furious. Why did they respond to our complaint letter only when it was too late? We received some legal compensation, but it pales in comparison to the pain we’ve suffered in the four years since Kaine died.

I don’t think you ever get over the death of a child. I still relive Kaine’s drowning every single day. The pain becomes more numb, but it doesn’t get easier. You just learn to deal with it because, if you don’t, you’ll crumble and your life will fall apart.


Danger In The Water

In 2009/10, drownings in Australia rose for the second year running, to a total of 314 deaths.

In that period, 33 victims were children under four. Of those, 49 per cent drowned in swimming pools.

Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in children under five.

For every drowning death, four people are hospitalised after near-drownings. Of those, 22.5 per cent suffer brain damage or disability, according to the Samuel Morris Foundation, which supports parents of children suffering such long-term effects. Visit www.samuelmorrisfoundation.org.au.

For advice about pool safety, visit www.royallifesaving.com.au.
Find the original article here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/a-broken-pool-gate-cost-us-our-son/story-fn
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Keep your athlete’s body fueled for optimum performance

By Elaine Lanzon

Have you ever experienced “hitting a wall”?  That is, you’re in the middle of a normal workout or typical race and your body feels like it’s running on empty?  It could be because you didn’t fill up on the right nutrients beforehand.

While most people know that you shouldn’t engage in heavy physical activity on an empty stomach, you might not know what to eat to optimize your energy level and performance.  Here are some things to keep in mind:

v  It’s always good to eat a variety of foods from all food groups, but the most crucial fuel for exercise is carbohydrates. 

v  The most important nutrient for athletes is water; drink water before, during and after an activity to replace your body’s fluids.

v  Although many athletes take vitamin and mineral supplements, they will not enhance performance unless there is a deficiency to begin with.

v  Sports drinks can help replace water and electrolytes and provide some carbohydrates for energy.  But please be sure to check the number of calories per serving on the nutritional label to make sure it’s worth it.

Pre-competition Meal

The most important meal is the one closest to the event.  The functions of this meal include getting the athlete fueled up (physically and psychologically), helping settle the stomach, and preventing hunger.

The meal should consist of mostly complex carbohydrates because they digest easier and faster and help maintain blood sugar levels.  You should also moderate fat, as high-fat foods take longer to digest and can cause sluggishness.

Substantial pre-competition meals are usually served 3-4 hours prior to competition; smaller meals or snacks may be served 1-2 hours prior.

What to Eat

Your imagination is the limit, but here are some meal suggestions:

·         Hot or cold whole grain cereals with low fat milk and fresh fruit

·         Whole grain muffin with low fat yogurt and fresh fruit

·         Whole grain pasta or rice dish with stir fry vegetables

·         Soups, stews or chili with lean meats, beans, barley and/or vegetables

·         Turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with cold pasta primavera

If you’re looking for healthy snacks, try bringing along one of these:

·         Whole grain bread or crackers with peanut butter or low fat cheese

·         Soft or hard pretzels (low salt preferred)

·         Homemade trail mix with a variety of unsalted nuts, dried fruit and seeds

·         Fresh whole fruit, like bananas

·         Light or plain popcorn

·         Carrots and hummus

The amount of energy required by the athlete depends on several factors, including the type of activity, its duration, frequency and intensity.  You may have to experiment for a while to determine the foods that work best for you.  But experimenting is fun, right?

Elaine Lanzon is a holistic health coach, helping her clients to achieve optimal health and wellness through eating and lifestyle changes.  In her free time she teaches Hartford children about nutritional cooking in an “Iron Chef” – like format, and partners with her dog, Daisy, to bring joy to the elderly and disabled. 

If you’re interested in a free health history consultation you can email her at ECL333@comcast.net, or visit her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/elainelanzon.  Can one conversation change your life?

Swim Strong Foundation and the NYC Surfing Community

The Swim Strong Foundation is featured in this story on the NYC surf scene.

Surfing NYC from Mia Legg on Vimeo.

Swim Strong Foundation aims to stop drownings, keep kids fit

(By Patrick Clark)

About 40 percent of New York City public school students are overweight or obese, according to the Department of Health. The Centers for Disease Control, meanwhile, lists drowning as the second-leading cause of injury-related death for kids 14-and-under.

Into the fray steps the Swim Strong Foundation, an all-volunteer nonprofit that promotes water safety and physical fitness by providing beginner and competitive swim lessons at affordable rates.

On a recent Saturday, I spoke to Swim Strong founder Shawn Slevin at Far Rockaway High School swimming pool. In addition to the health and safety benefits of learning to swim, Slevin stressed the life skills that the swim lessons are teaching young swimmers and volunteer instructors. You can listen to the audio tracks here.

Swimming to the Other Side

Elaine Howley is a freelance writer and Masters swimmer living in the Boston area. She is a frequent contributor to SWIMMER magazine. Look for her to attempt a 44-mile swim around Long Beach Island in New Jersey and a double crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar in 2011. For more information or to keep up with what’s next, visit Howley’s blog, “Tales of the Beer Baby” at: http://blog.talesofthebeerbaby.com/

Some highlights from her swimming resume include:

· Record-holder for fastest Boston Light “Double,” a 16-mile out-and-back swim across the Boston Harbor (between L-Street and Little Brewster Island). Second female to ever complete the course and first tandem solo swim. Completed on August 12, 2010 in 7:07:48, breaking the 41-year-old record by 2 hours, 23 minutes.

.Current National Athlete of the Month for Strength USA http://www.strengthusa.com/athlete.html

· Successful solo crossing of the English Channel, England to France, completed August 3, 2009, in 13 hours, 55 minutes, www.dover.uk.com/channelswimming/swims.

· Eighth female finisher, 17th overall, at the 2009 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim held June 6, 2009, in New York City. Completed the 28.5-mile circumnavigation in 8 hours, 39 minutes, 50 seconds,www.nycswim.org.

· 158th person to successfully cross the Catalina Channel on September 22, 2008 in a time of 10 hours, 57 minutes, 44 seconds, www.swimcatalina.org.

In July 1984, at just eight years of age, I lost my little sister to Leukemia. She was only three years old, and I had been the bone marrow donor in the transplant that signaled a last-ditch attempt to save her life. I was devastated and felt inadequate for what I perceived as a failure of excruciating magnitude. I felt like I’d let my sister down in the highest stakes game there is, and I still struggle to articulate how that’s influenced who I’ve become.

After my sister died, I drew in on myself and muddled along in a fog. It was a tough time. But there were two things that got me through it: music and swimming. I eventually swam up on the other side of that deep, dark ditch.

Beginnings

Despite the difficulties associated with the terminal illness and loss of a child, my parents strove to provide the most stable, normal childhood for me and my brother, full of all the same wonders and growing pains that any other children in our suburban Philadelphia community were experiencing. I learned to swim at 18 months and spent long summers playing at the local pool. My family would spend a week at the Jersey shore every summer in a neighbor’s second home. There, I learned to read the waves and lose myself in the lap of the ocean and the tang of the salt. Sunburned and blonde, we’d sadly leave the shore for another interminable fall and winter, but always with the promise that we would, eventually, get back to the beach for more ocean time.

All these years later, it’s the promise of more ocean time that gets me through so many of life’s trials. From the mundane of work stress and deadlines to the more dramatic—the loss of my father, moving, starting a new job, and every other problem that arises— the water is a place for me to reconnect with myself and focus on the bigger picture.

Proving Myself in Competition

I started competitive swimming at age five, largely to follow in the footsteps of an accomplished older brother who is an excellent swimmer. Sibling rivalry dictated that I should hurl myself into the sport with everything I had, and I obliged. I’ve never really been able to extricate myself from the pull of the water, nor would I want to. It’s the swimming that keeps me sane.

I swam in high school and in college, and loved being a part of a team and ready-made family that made such a difference in my acclimation to both new institutions. After college, I joined the Peace Corps and swimming became much more difficult, so I drifted away from it and from the lane line that kept my life on track. It took a long while of struggling, but I eventually found my way back to the pool, and after grad school, I sought a new challenge. Open water marathoning seemed like just the right combination of spiritual release and athleticism, of peace and competition.

I entered my first race, the 2006 8-mile Boston Light Swim, on a dare. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to finish that first Boston Light Swim. I trained well for it, but knew next to nothing about nutrition or what to expect. I did my homework and tested my limits in training. Still, despite the hard work, I was astonished that I’d actually finished the eight miles.

After that race, I realized that there was a whole new world opening up to me. Where I had only ever heard of one-mile open water swims when I worked as a lifeguard on the Jersey shore in college, suddenly I became aware of a host of big challenges ranging from 2.4 to 50 miles or more. The horizon expanded and I was hooked.

Discovering that there was a whole 'nother world of ultra-long-distance, open water swims out there gave me a new focus. And as it turned out, I was pretty good at it. I can be a lot more competitive over a distance of 20 miles than I can in a 500-yard pool swim. It’s all physics and hydrodynamics. I’m built for warmth and endurance, not speed; I look more like a beluga than a shark. And here, news to me, was a sport that favored my special talents. I began dreaming big and wondered just how far I could swim.

The next summer, I took on the 12.5-mile Around Key West swim. I had trained hard all winter with some friends and finished the race comfortably, even though the swim was officially cancelled in mid-run due to weather and other factors. It was a boost to me to finish that race feeling so good, especially since I was slated to participate in the 41K Lake George Swim Marathon two weeks later in New York. There’s nothing quite like taking that wide a leap of faith and doubling your longest race distance in two weeks!

Growing Up

Lake George may be the most important swim I’ve done so far. I felt like I grew up in that lake. I battled 12 hours worth of strong headwinds, doubting my plan, my nutrition, my training, and myself with nothing to do but listen to my own strokes, the pulse of the water and wind against my ears, my crew’s shouted directions, and the hum of the guide boat’s motor. I struggled a lot emotionally, as well as physically, and I think I slayed a few demons out there. The old familiar doubts and fears from my childhood— my feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty, that old, familiar distrust of self— reared up and threatened to swamp me, in collusion with the heavy head wind. But I just kept chugging along.

When time was finally called on the course for safety reasons— as a result of the adverse conditions, only one swimmer had actually finished the whole 41K in the allotted 12 hours— I couldn’t believe how good I felt. I was swimming very strongly and gaining on the next nearest swimmer. I was also gaining on that ever-elusive confidence that I needed to learn to build; swimming for 12 hours straight and feeling like you could just keep going forever afterwards does wonders for how you view yourself. My training had been solid. My feed plan had worked. I had listened to all the dark voices in my head for 12 hours and didn’t give up. For the first time in a very long while, I felt truly and utterly alive— electrified and in love with this sport that gave me back so much of myself.

But I’m one of those people who can’t just leave well enough alone. Every single day when I wake up, I consider it “starting at zero.” It doesn’t matter what I did yesterday, it only matters how far I can get today. Swimming helps me cope with this insatiable drive to do something, anything. While in Lake George, I reflected for a long while about a conversation I’d had with one of the race officials the day before: I would be Catalina bound if I managed to survive this swim. The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming wasn’t far behind.

Quest for the Crown

The Triple Crown of Open Water swimming is a series of extreme open water swims: the 21- mile English Channel, the 21-mile Catalina Channel, and the 28.5-mile around Manhattan Island Swim. Fewer than 50 people have successfully completed all three cold-water swims, and the Crown has become a recognized goal for many open water marathoners.

I started with Catalina and was successful in September 2008. Then came Manhattan in June 2009. That was followed in short order by the English Channel in August 2009. In all cases, I had good conditions and uneventful swims. Uneventful, that is if you’re speaking from a boater’s perspective. For me, they were life-altering adventures that have set me on a new course, have helped me develop life-long friends, and have given me just the slightest edge over that lingering suspicion that I’m somehow not good enough.

Swimming has done all of these things for me, and it’s not just the fact that I take on big, cold expanses of water. I believe I would have achieved the same sense of a life’s mission and self-assurance had I chosen to focus on breaking a minute in the 100 free, or qualifying for Masters Nationals in the 200 backstroke. The key was learning to invest in myself and trust my judgment. Swimming has given me the opportunities and the tools to do that, and that has enriched every other aspect of my life. I’m more focused and driven at work. I maintain better relationships. I relate to others better in both personal and professional settings, and I have a better sense of who I am as a person. All because of the simple arm-over-arm motion of cutting through water and the learned self-discipline to get out of bed and just keep working at it every single day.