Number of Participants: 19
Hours Donated: 2
Value of Time Served: $321
Event Type: Health & Medicine
Sport: Girls Swimming & Diving
School: Sayville High School
Date: November 1, 2022
Location:
Sayville High School
Brook Street, West Sayville
NY
About:
Breaststroke for Breast Cancer is hosted by the Sayville/Bayport/Blue Point Girls Varsity Swimming & Diving team. It was born out of an idea from one of our swimmers, Paige Kolar, about 10 years ago. Over the years we have invited other teams like Connetquot and Smithtown to join us in our efforts. We have raffled off baskets, held a 50/50, and had face painting. The event starts with synchronized diving. (We have the rare opportunity to do synchronized diving at Sayville because we have 2 diving boards.) Then athletes compete in fun breaststroke relays like the 2-woman relay, where one swimmer is the arms and the other swimmer does the legs; or the pass-the-ball relay, where swimmers must swim breaststroke while holding a ball in their chin; or the swimmer vs. coaches/alumni relay. We usually get 100% of the team involved in decorating and competing in the meet, donating about 2 hours of their time. The girls look forward to it all season. This year our entire team of 19 athletes, 1 parent, 1 alumnus, and 1 coach swam in the meet. Unfortunately, because of this year’s meet schedule, none of the other teams were able to join us.
We did not have any baskets this year, but in the past, members of the team received donations (gift certificates and prizes) which were raffled off. This year we had a 50/50 and face painting. Besides raising money with the raffles, there is a $5 donation to swim in the meet and $5 optional donation at the door. We also received donations from people who could not attend the meet.
Every year, we have at least 1 athlete on the team who has a family member who has suffered from or currently surviving breast cancer. In the past, we donated the funds to Sloan Kettering. Last year, as well as this year, all funds were donated to the Islip Coalition for Breast Cancer. The Islip Coalition has helped many of our athletes’ family members, having an immediate impact in their lives. Last year, a representative spoke about how the Islip Coalition has helped our community and the importance of early detection.