Swim Chicks hold first annual Swim-A-Thon

LENOX – Move over, Michael Phelps. A new force is taking over the pool.

Meet the Swim Chicks – a group of about a dozen senior women who started taking up lap swimming at the pool at Cranwell. Many of these women had no previous swimming experience.

Now, they can’t stop swimming, and they’re inviting the community to join them in their first annual swimming for the cause Swim-A-Thon to benefit the Elizabeth Freeman Center.

From April 1-20, the Swim Chicks and other participants will each be swimming a certain number of laps or miles each day towards their own personal goals. Each swimmer can have friends and family members send in pledges in support, and all donations received go to the Elizabeth Freeman Center, a women’s shelter in Pittsfield that helps victims of domestic and sexual violence.

The Swim-A-Thon will conclude on April 20 with a daylong event at Cranwell that is open to the public. As a team, the Swim Chicks will swim for the entire day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and prizes for the top swimmers and fundraisers will be awarded.

But this is not a story about prizes and money. It’s a story about courage, strength and perseverance – about 12 women, ages 55 to 75, who each came to the idea of lap swimming for their own personal reasons.

One woman got involved because she was determined to face up to one of her fears – the fear of water.

“She went from abject fear, and doggy paddling, to becoming a lap swimmer,” said Rori Kanter, one of the original Swim Chicks.

Another woman joined the group seeking to achieve an inner peace through swimming, as she was facing a difficult time in her life. Several others were attracted to the group by its inclusive atmosphere and their desire to be a part of something.

Mrs. Kanter recalls going to Texas last year to visit her grandkids and being inspired to take up swimming after seeing this 81-year-old woman teaching swimming to handicapped children. The group at Cranwell started up last spring, when four women approached the then-new Fitness Director Shannon Lasorsa requesting a group swim lesson.

A former swim coach, Ms. Lasorsa embraced the idea of coaching these senior women in swimming. She added two classes to the weekly fitness schedule at Cranwell, and it has only grown since then.

“That was pretty exciting to me that they wanted to learn this new skill,” said Ms. Lasorsa.

Since October, the group has swum a combined 81 miles.

“In the beginning, we couldn’t even have imagined we would be where we are now,” said Mrs. Kanter, who praised Ms. Lasorsa for her hard work and dedication as a coach. “What she kept proving to us is that we could do it.”

As Mrs. Kanter explained, the idea for the Swim-A-Thon came about when the Swim Chicks started wondering, “Is there a way we could take this high energy and enthusiasm and do something good for the community?”

They wanted to do something that would help other women, and their Coach Lasorsa suggested holding a Swim-A-Thon to raise money for the local women’s shelter, a cause close to her heart.

All donations raised will go directly towards the Elizabeth Freeman Center to help battered and abused women. According to one former recipient of Freeman Center services, “I felt helpless, scared and alone – very alone. The day I met with my counselor at Elizabeth Freeman Center, my life began to change…I am not sure what my sons and I would have done without the counseling, services and program connections they provided for us. What I do know is the ‘love and gratitude’ I have from my experience will forever be in my heart.”

The Swim Chicks and Cranwell are planning to make this swimming for the cause an annual event, with the option of selecting a different charity each year that aligns with the theme of “love and gratitude.”

This first Swim-A-Thon is already turning out to be a huge success. According to Mrs. Kanter, people who have been hearing about the Swim-A-Thon want to know how they can get involved, and even some of the seniors at Kimball Farms wanted to participate.

“It just kept growing and growing, like a pot of yeast,” Mrs. Kanter said of the swimming challenge. “Everybody’s motivated by this positive feeling, and it’s just getting bigger and bigger.”

Annie Selke, who trains in deep water aerobics with Ms. Lasorsa at Cranwell, heard about the budding idea and wanted to become involved. So she jumped on board as a sponsor, choosing to donate some of her company’s items as prizes. She also committed to match up to $2,500 of all donations made during the daylong Swim-A-Thon event on April 20.

According to Ms. Lasorsa, they currently have 24 participants signed up for the swimming challenge. Anyone is welcome to sign up at any point to join in on the challenge.

They have also exceeded their expectations in terms of fundraising. Originally they thought they would raise just $500.

“Now we’re hoping to raise $5,000-10,000,” said Ms. Lasorsa.

She also said she “couldn’t even put it into words” how proud she is of these women. “To see them so on fire is so exciting.”

Mrs. Kanter said that even young people have come up to the Swim Chicks at Cranwell and admitted they are inspired by what these senior women are doing.

“We’re just a group of women who wanted to learn how to swim,” she said. “How did we get to be such an inspiration?”

Posted by Dana Drugmand on April 4, 2013. Filed under Community Events,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry