Living in SoCal we can’t escape the backyard pools. Even if you don’t have one, chances are good that a neighbor, friend or relative does. The motto of Academy Swim Club has always been “Learn to swim . . . for life!” Now we’re adding another – “Every child a swimmer by 3!” A motto and a mission.

Two summers ago, back in 2008, July was a particularly difficult month at ASC. Every weekend for an entire month brought news of another child drowning in Santa Clarita. Thankfully none of our ASC family was hit with this tragedy, but some of their neighbors were. Naturally, all of us were shocked and saddened, but in the end we were motivated to do something. A little education would go a long way in preventing further incidents, so in response ASC offered a free CPR and Water Safety course – not just for our members, but anyone in the community. The following spring we dispatched our Aquatic Safety Awareness Program (ASAP) Ambassadors to pre-schools and elementary schools all over the valley to educate and empower over 2100 children to save their own lives with basic water safety. No one wanted to see another summer like ’08.

Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children under 5. Many parents do not think of signing their child up for swim lessons until they are almost 5, so when you think about it, this is hardly surprising. Water is everywhere – pools, fountains, toilets, buckets – and kids love the stuff. Can’t keep them away. Nothing replaces supervision (even for excellent young swimmers), but learning to swim adds another layer of protection.

We want summer to be about fireworks, camping trips, blockbusters and pool parties. So that’s our motto and our mission – “Every child a swimmer by 3!!!”

SURFER magazine – September 2008 issue, volume 49 number 09

Article “Molding Clay Marzo” by Chris Mauro and Jake Howard

Naturally, she wanted her son to fit in.  When she noticed him retreating more into his world Jill wondered – as any parent would – what the hidden cause was.  “What I knew about how he acted didn’t worry me, it was what I didn’t know.  After a while, my biggest fear was how other people would react to his little quirks that I was used to,” she says.  “Like if he doesn’t know you he has a tough time making eye contact in conversation.”

But even while Clay’s unique personality traits were becoming more pronounced, his athletic prowess in the water kept him center stage. When he was 14 years old, Clay beat every kid in his age group in the 200-freestyle at the Hawaii State Championships.  In short order, he became the Lahaina swim team’s secret relay weapon.  But just when mom though he might be connecting with a new group of friends, Clay abruptly walked away from the team, citing a severe distaste for Speedos.

“Now I can see that it was much more than that,” says Jill, who’s been doing a lot of retrospective thinking over the past six months.  In that time she’s also undergone a life altering transformation, and the incredible sense of relief she’s feeling is “totally indescribable.”  Her anxiety – the anxiety that’s been eating at her for well over a decade has been all but vanished.  The reason? Jill’s finally been given a crystal clear window into her son’s mind, and the beauty she’s finally discovered there has changed everything.  “I have a whole new appreciation for Clay today.  I can honestly say I finally understand my son.”

The new view came via the confirmation, just six months ago, that Clay has Asperger’s syndrome, the mildest and highest functioning form of autism.  While this came as quite a shock to some, for many of those in Clay’s inner circle, especially those who’ve been delving into research, it makes complete sense.  It explains perfectly almost all of Clay’s familiar patterns of behavior.  “We understand now how his brain handles – or doesn’t handle – sensory overload.  Looking back at the swim team stuff, it’s pretty obvious that the crowds and hoopla from strangers was just too much for him,” she explains.  Those are the kind of dots she and others have been connecting ever since doctors confirmed his test results.

Asperger’s syndrome got its name from Hans Asperger, and Austrian physician who defined the condition in 1944 (although the medical community didn’t officially recognize the syndrome until 15 years ago when autism awareness was just coming into its own).  What confounded physicians for years was the inability to define autism in black and white terms.  It has many faces, and its wide variety of disorders make up a very broad spectrum with several shades of grey – from the high functioning brand of Asperger’s syndrome to the incredibly debilitating variety of autism that renders its victims in need of constant aid; it all essentially depends on which neurotransmitters in the brain are being affected.

While Clay’s symptoms are very mild, the socially debilitating hang-ups he suffers from are linked directly to the more negative affects of Asperger’s.  The more obvious are the lack of eye contact in social situations and his inability to demonstrate the empathy he feels for friends and loved ones – both classic traits of Asperger’s.  Other characteristics, while more quirky, can be just as intolerable if uncontrolled, like his routines.  There’s also his intense preoccupation with narrow subjects and his incessant hand wringing, plus more endearing gifts, like his incredible memory and complete inability to lie.

SURFER magazine – September 2008 issue, volume 49 number 09

Article “Molding Clay Marzo” by Chris Mauro and Jake Howard

Clay Marzo has always operated on a different level.  He was only seven moths old when his mother began to notice,  “He never crawled,” Jill Marzo explains,  “He just started walking one day at seven months and one week.”  But even more that his uncanny coordination, it was Clay’s ability to absorb the tiny details of anything that interested him that impressed his mom most.  “He was more focused on his interests than any kid I’d ever seen, even when he was three years old.  It started out with seashells that he’d collect for hours at a time.  Then he graduated to these little sea animal toys- he could tell you everything about each one, and later it was all about baseball cards.  He had stacks of them, and knew everything on them.”

Like many kids who grow up in Hawaii, Clay’s affection for the water was something he seemed born with.  “I nursed both my boys in the tub half the time,” says Jill, “they were both going underwater as infants and they loved it.”  And later while toddler Clay was collecting his seashells, his older brother Cheyne Magnussen who’s got six years on him, was hitting the lineups on Maui. That one day Clay would eventually take to the waves was a given.

“And from the moment he stood up on a surfboard all of that intense focus of his was transferred to surfing, and being in the ocean- rolling and floating in the water.  Looking back on the home movies, and knowing what I know now- you can see that he’s at peace, and how good the sensory input must have felt for his body and mind.” But what Jill understands today regarding Clay’s modus operandi is something she didn’t understand at all during his salad days as a wide-eyed grommet.

Clay’s surfing provided Jill even more evidence to suggest that her son was developing way ahead of schedule.  Like everything else he took a real interest in, he progressed rapidly in the water.  But as those early years passed, she began taking notice of Clay’s more quirky personality traits, which were becoming more pronounced.  While Clay’s peers were becoming more socially adept and emotionally mature, he seemed to be enjoying his own private world more and more.  While his friends were growing their horizons and their social networks, Clay showed very little interest in breaking the rigid routines he liked adhering to.  The routines had become rituals, and breaking out of them in any way made him completely uncomfortable.  He’d usually start wringing his hands and make excuses mot to go or do whatever was being asked.  Eventually, even meeting new people and making new friends was becoming a struggle.  As primary witness to it all, Jill had the gnawing suspicion that her son’s many gifts had some hidden costs.

What merits the word amazing?  Is it an “A” on a homework assignment, a beautiful sunset, a newborn child, or a baby going underwater for the first time?

At Academy Swim Club anything can be amazing!  But what is most remarkable is a child’s joy and power once they have conquered their fear of water.  It is truly amazing to see their attitude change from terror and panic to respect and admiration for water.  They begin to see water as a useful tool for playing, exercising, and surviving rather than a scary device that will only cause harm.

For the past 30 we have experienced this amazing transformation of fear to respect in over 40,000 children and babies.  We have watched them grow from one level to the next overcoming and mastering strokes, breathing techniques, safety techniques and basic water survival skills.   At the end of their training they leave Academy Swim with a love and joy abut swimming and a new intelligence about interacting with the water.  It is our mission that every child experiences this momentous conversion.

Over the past three weeks children have had the opportunity to display what they are thankful for on our Thankful Tree.  Before and after their lessons the kids have been writing what they are most thankful for on fall colored leaves, then they taped the leaves to our tree in the viewing room for everyone to see.

We expected the kids to put up things like “toys”, “candy”, or “superman”, however they were surprisingly mature and insightful!  Instead they put “my mommy and daddy”, “Academy Swim Club”, “my friends”, “my swim instructor”, “my home” and “Grandma and Grandpa”.  By committing this valuable action, well beyond their years, they have reawaken all of the parents to what life is all about, they have paused our busy schedules to show us that there are things more important than clothes or the newest electronic gadget.

What started out as a bare brown trunk and branches is now a huge tree blossoming with hundreds of fall colored leaves.  Our viewing room has been transformed into beautiful scene from a fall calendar.  Best of all, on each of these leaves we are all reminded of a child’s heart.  The children here have opened up their thankful hearts to show us what this winter season is all about: love and gratitude. Our swimmers, instead of complaining about what they don’t have, realized that not all kids have a mommy and daddy, or grandparents, or a home and showed is they were grateful that they were lucky enough to have all of those things.  Their love for their parents, friends, and swim instructors is evident in their thankful leaves; I only hope that our love for them can be just as evident in our word and action.

Over seventy kids competed last Saturday (Nov. 7th) for the gold.  At the end of the day everyone was a winner with the love and joy from their parents and a medal around their neck.  It was clear that the support of the parents truly inspired each young child, they wanted to impress their parents and earn that hug at the end of the race; and each and every child did!  Every parent was overjoyed at the child’s abilities in the water, even if the instructor held the child the entire way across the pool, the parent still could not be happier or more proud of their son or daughter.
We all know how important it is to be present at your child’s activities, no matter how seemingly insignificant they are.  Especially in the field of competition a child needs to see their parent and know that no matter what, win or loose, finish or not, their father or mother will be there to love them.  At our facility this is all we see, loving parents who enjoy putting their child’s needs and wants before their own.  I am sure Saturday night could have been filled with many other activities, but our parents decided to watch their children swim from one end of the pool to the other, and I am sure not one of them regretted it.
Prior to the swim meet one of our instructors observed this first hand.   Here is Reagan’s story:
“Ariana was an Octopus and really wanted to move up to a Seahorse.  She would   switch between great arms and great rollovers but not both at the same time.  We worked on this for several weeks.  At the end of one lesson she asked if her dad cold come in and swim with her.  So we planned for this to happen.  That following Thursday dad came in his suit with Ariana and swam with me.  The three of us practiced together; she would reach with great arms to her father while I helped with the rollover part.  So on a crowded Thursday Ariana’s father and I went back and forth with Ariana in the deep end.  She loved impressing her father and seeing his big smile whenever she did something right.  He was so supportive.  It was the first time a parent had been in the water for a long time.  Both Ariana and dad enjoyed the lesson and a couple of weeks later she moved up to a Seahorse!”