Special Needs Aquatic Program, Monroeville Marlins team up for new initiative

When Monroeville resident Jamee Kovacs sees her son, Caleb, having fun in a swimming pool, her heart is filled with excitement and also the desire to give him more opportunities in the water.

That was the main impetus for Kovacs, a board member with the Monroeville Marlins Swim Club, to spearhead the formation of SNAP — Special Needs Aquatic Program — for families with children such as Caleb in Monroeville and throughout the area.

“We belong to Haymaker Swim Club, and Caleb was on the team there,” Kovacs said.

“We really didn’t do the practices with the team, but we would go to the meets and would swim one event, 25 yards across the pool. I would swim in the lane with him and behind him to make sure he didn’t go into the other lane.”

Caleb, 11, was diagnosed at age 2 with Angelman’s Syndrome, which displays in the child being nonverbal with such things as balance and sleep issues and developmental delays.

“A very prominent clinical implication of Angelman’s Syndrome is a fascination and obsession with water,” Kovacs said.

Through it all, Caleb learned to swim by age 5 — mostly dog paddling, Kovacs said — and is able to take himself across the pool.

“He was just so happy when he would get to the other end of the pool, and everyone was cheering for him,” Kovacs said. “He would swim with his head above water the whole time and smile the entire length of the pool. My husband and I wanted something for him to keep the momentum going and also have a team for him and others to belong to.”

SNAP is a two-pronged program.

A family swim, in connection with the Municipality of Monroeville, will be Saturday afternoons from 3 to 3:30 p.m. at Gateway High School. It is designed to get children comfortable with the water.

The second part, in more of a team environment, will be Tuesdays and is connected to Marlins team practices at Gateway. It is for children who already have some established swimming skills.

Twelve children, mostly from the Monroeville area, have signed up for the program, which was to begin Tuesday during the Marlins practice from 6 to 6:45 p.m.

The family swim, which is scheduled to run through Oct. 23, begins Saturday.

Five of the program members are set to swim in the team environment Tuesdays and will join the other seven for the fun swim Saturdays.

Kovacs said the seven from the family fun swims Saturdays also can join the Tuesday session at any time. It runs concurrent with Marlins practices until March.

“There will be Marlins swimmers there practicing in their own lanes, and some others also will be volunteering to serve as models as how to swim and how to follow directions in a practice setting,” Kovacs said.

“When the meets start, hopefully there will be time before or after one of the events when the kids in the program will be able to take part in an alternate race not part of the competitive meet but just for activity of it.”

Kovacs said there are no deadlines to signing up, and you pay as you go.

“With this, I know, as a special-needs mom, you plan something and are walking out the door and something happens, and you can’t go. So, we don’t want anyone to pay a fee and then not be able to come,” she said.

For more information on the program, call Kovacs at 724-989-2491 or email to jameekovacs@hotmail.com.

“Hopefully, this program can grow, even this year. Everyone with special-needs children is welcome to consider the program and its benefits,” she said.