swimming

We start week two of our Summer Camp programs!

To date: South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Corp. has 71 children attending.
Green Island Neighborhood Center (at Crompton Park) has 35 children enrolled.

The seven interns from the College of the Holy Cross are wonderful. Highly organized and energized, they have executed a good program for the kids. We have all six weeks scheduled out with a full and rich program.

Minor issues are as expected: lack of particular supplies and a need for swim suits. (The new pool at Crompton Park does not allow cut-offs or shorts.)

Reading is each day at 12:30 p.m., moved up a half hour so we could prepare better for swim time. Click to continue »

By Becky Fenson

Swimming is my passion. I learned to swim when I was 7 years old and have been drawn to the water ever since. I love it all—sprinting, long-distance swimming and everything in between. I once swam the English Channel, and I’ve swum around Manhattan Island numerous times.

But if there’s one thing that will get me out of the water, it’s jellyfish. While most swimmers shun jellies in order to avoid their painful stings—1,800 people were stung by mauve stingers off the coast of Florida over Memorial Day weekend—I’m more concerned about harming the jellyfish. I know that a misplaced stroke can easily damage a jelly’s delicate body. And now there’s another reason to give jellies their space: New research shows that these animals are far more complex than we ever imagined.

As a recent article in the New York Times reported, we now know that box jellyfish possess a complex visual system that allows them to navigate the murky swamps in which they live. Some of box jellies’ 24 eyes—yes, 24 eyes per jelly—are relatively simple and respond to light and shadow. But box jellies also have eyes that are surprisingly similar to our own—with lenses, retinas and corneas—that unerringly point skyward. Click to continue »

Worcester – Great news! Sure the city of Worcester is swimming pool needy, but City Manager Mike O’Brien has tried to accommodate all with yet another summer of Wheels to Water. Kids will be bused to their favorite city swimming facilities for free, courtesy of City of Worcester/Friendly House. The program is for kids 7 to 17. It runs from July 5 to August 14 (Mondays through Fridays).

Coordinated by Gordon Hargrove and the fantastic Friendly House crew, this great program entails swimming, arts and crafts programs and summer lunches/snacks. This is a fantastic way for city kids to stay healthy and active/stimulated during the summer months.

Children will be taken (by bus) to the following swimming sites: the Boys & Girls Club, YWCA of Central Massachusetts, YMCA — Central Branch (Main South), Girls, Inc, WPI, Holy Cross college, Shore Park, Indian Lake, Coes Pond and Bell Pond.

The new Crompton Park pool and Greenwood Spray Park open July 1! To anyone who can make it there on their own steam!

For more info, go to the city’s website.

By Christina Lenis

Smiling faces awaiting summer fun radiate from behind the green nylon seats of a yellow school bus. Outside, staff members wearing light blue t-shirts with the Wheels to Water logo on the front, hold clips boards, marking off names and checking for bright blue wristbands as children continue to board.

The bus engine starts to rumble. The excitement of children on summer vacation can be heard throughout.

The chatter soon seizes as the rules of the day are read by one of five staff members. The rumbling of the engine intensifies and the bus departs.

Unfamiliar streets aligned with three deckers pass by on either side of the bus. Suddenly, the wheels hit the freshly paved parking lot, as the bus glides to the entrance of the multi-million dollar Boys and Girls Club on Main St. The chattering intensifies, as the children quickly exit the bus, happy to have arrived. Click to continue »