Sylvie Patterson was 11 years old when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, leaving devastation in its wake and stranding many residents without power for months. But Patterson, a swimmer, was struck especially by coverage of Puerto Rican swimmer and former U.S. Olympian Jesse Vassallo’s swim team, Nadadores Ponce Leones.
The Caribbean island suffered another natural disaster, an earthquake, in 2020, compounding the need for support.
Patterson and fellow members of Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics-Dana Kirk Swimming (PASA-DKS) have held three fundraisers to help their Puerto Rican counterparts. After a hiatus – they took 2019 off due to the Northern California wildfires and 2020 off due to the pandemic – PASA-DKS returned this year with a fundraiser for its two “adopted” swim clubs in Puerto Rico, Nadadores Ponces Leones and Academia Deportiva Inter-americana.
On the chilly morning of March 5, PASA-DKS members gathered to swim relays and eat pancakes. With help from her teammates, Patterson organized approximately 20 middle and high school swimmers into relay teams and guided them to create team cheers. The swimmers in Nadadores Ponce Leones are planning to swim the same relays and videotape them to share with Patterson – the closest they could get to swimming together.
The money raised will help Nadadores Ponces Leones and Academia Deportiva Interamericana pay for essentials ranging from salaries for assistant coaches to chlorine. This year, Patterson said, they added a way for families to sponsor a swimmer in Puerto Rico.
“It’s kind of like an exchange student – except the swimmer stays in the pool site,” she said.
Swim sponsorships are critical because, “it’s pretty expensive being a swimmer,” Patterson said, noting that membership fees to swim clubs, travel expenses for meets and costly equipment like tech suits that run as much as $500 add up. As of last week, PASA-DKS had raised more than $1,749 of its $6,000 goal.
To support PASA-DKS’ efforts, visit givebutter.com/PASAtoPONCE.
