Tony Dapolito Recreational Center, Starting Block for Swim Team

The parents of the Tony Dapolito Aqua Devils, a youth swim team for kids aged 6 to 18, located in New York City, have come together to take action for the children in our community. The Aqua Devils are part of the free swim program provided by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The team consists of more than 40 swimmers from different boroughs and diverse backgrounds. Four times per year they compete in city-wide swim meets against 12 other Parks swim teams. This program serves hundreds of youth, mostly from middle and low-income neighborhoods and families.

The Aqua Devils train at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center in Manhattan. Unfortunately, this pool is not equipped with any starting blocks, which puts the young swimmers at a big disadvantage when competing against the other teams. A lot of the other teams’ training locations have multiple starting blocks, which enables them to practice starting dives multiple times a week. This is very discouraging for our team, since the swim start is a crucial aspect of the time attained in a swim race.

Despite multiple efforts in the past years, the NYC Aquatics Office has not been able to fund a starting block for the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center from their budget. Therefore the team parents started this campaign to raise funds ourselves and have a starting block installed – hopefully before the new season starts in the fall! The Aqua Devils are very excited at the prospect of having a starting block in the fall. We hope you will help us fulfill our promise to them.

1) Raise funds by mid-July and purchase starting block

2) Have starting block shipped and installed before Labor Day

3) Start the new season with a new starting block in October

We believe that children from all 13 NYC Parks swim teams should have an equal chance when they practice and prepare for their swim meets.  A starting block was identified as an important component of a competitive swim team and we believe that the community should respond to and support the needs of our local Recreation Center.  The Center serves youth from middle and low-income families in the neighborhood.  The New York City Recreation Centers are an important part of the community - providing wonderful programs for our youth and families - they should be utilized and strongly supported by the community.