Community Service Which Comes Naturally
Rams join with No More Under to teach local children water safety
Mike Brohard
The why behind it all isn’t hard to find, particularly when presented in a spectrum of visions.
The excitement of some of the children before they even step on deck, having looked into their goodie bag, finding a pair of goggles and a swim camp. They excitedly sit in the stands at Moby Pool with their parents, shooting waving hands up in the air to be called on to answer a question, then put a safety badge around the neck of the person who brought them.
Then they jump the pool. On Monday there is some trepidation from the youngsters, some of whom have never been exposed to the water. Many will spend the first hour never straying far from the wall, if they ever leave it, joined to it as their hand creates a vice grip.
Tuesday, some of them venture out. Wednesday, a bit father. By the end of the five-day Swim Safey Series hosted by No More Under, they are splashing around confidently away from the wall, floating on their backs without aid and some are even making the first attempts at doing the backstroke.
What is consistent is the smiles all around. From the children involved in the lessons, it takes some time, a delay between the initial fear and the eventual fun. For the instructors – all 28 members of the Colorado State women’s swimming and diving program took part – they are immediate and genuine.
It takes them back to when they first learned to swim.
“I definitely think it hits home a lot because I think a lot of us maybe don't realize how privileged we are to learn swimming and how special it is to be able to go far in the swimming world and that a lot of people actually don't have the ability or access to learn how to swim,” senior Sophia Hemingway said. “So it's really gratifying to be able to give those opportunities to people who maybe wouldn't normally be able to learn how to swim at this age. And especially for me, one of the only reasons why I swam or was put in swimming originally learned how to swim is because my mom never really learned how to swim.”
The smiles extend to the stands, where parents and guardians watch the kids gain confidence in a fun atmosphere, presented with a chance to do something some previously didn’t have the access to pursue.
Near the top of the Moby Pool stands on Monday sat Malcolm Johnson, enjoying all he witnessed. The spectacle was more than he envisioned when the proposal came across his desk at Canvas Credit Union, where he is the vice president for community engagement and additionally chairs the Canvas Foundation. He said they jumped at the chance to fund the program -- $15,000 -- so none of the 50-plus children involved or their families would have to incur any costs.
According to Tash Lloyd, the director of the program for No More Under, those costs reach beyond $100 per enrollee, in large part due to the insurance coverage for the five-day program with two sessions each day.
Canvas Credit Union has not only been a valued campus partner for Colorado State, but Fort Collins as well, making this outreach all the more impactful to Johnson.
“That was one of the main attractions for this. We have such a deep relationship with Colorado State University,” he said. “We wanted to try to expand that beyond just the school and start reaching some of the neighborhoods around the school as well, and we saw this was a great opportunity to do that.
“I am a big fan of teaching kids how to swim. I think that's a fear a lot of kids have. I know a lot of adults my age who don't know how to swim, and I'm like, ‘how do you get through life without knowing how to swim?’”
But it's really fun to see them see this whole new person in their child, like we're bringing out something that they didn't even know was kind of there.Lindsey Blake
No More Under is a non-profit intent on teaching water safety through swim lessons – particularly to under-represented populations -- as well as pushing forward water-safety legislation. It’s website displays the numbers they are trying to change – drowning is the No. 1 cause of accidental death for those aged 1-4 and the No. 2 cause of death for the 14-19 age group.
The organization was founded by Chezik Tsunoda, whose son, Yuri, drowned at the age of 3.
Lloyd, who earned her MBA at Colorado State after a successful swimming career at Auburn and representing her home, New Zealand, on national teams, was drawn to the organization and its message, so much so when they posted a part-time job, she not only applied she contacted every board member and the executive director pleading to be hired.
“I was part of water-safety advocacy as a high schooler who had done well in swimming. I would go to local public schools and do presentations,” Lloyd said. “So it's been a part of my life forever in both the safety side and the competitive side.
“Now to have the chance to invite families to enjoy swimming for the first time, to have the chance to welcome these families into a space that they may never have been welcomed into before, is just so important to me. And beyond that, the drowning statistics are so concerning and riddled with exclusion, which you also see in New Zealand with New Zealand's indigenous population, Maori people, have higher-than-average drowning rates. Similar here, we look back into the U.S. history, you have Black families being excluded during the Jim Crow era, so they have higher than average drowning rates. It's about stepping up and removing those barriers and helping them be safe but also helping them find joy in a place where I've had so much joy.”
The part-time job grew to full time as the program director as well as the creation of the Swim Safely Series – born out of a brainstorming session which included Lloyd’s father – which partners with college swimming programs as swim instructors to help lead the weeklong lessons. Those were created in addition to the swim lessons the organization provides by working with cities and local YMCAs.
To Lloyd, the fit was perfect to help expand the No More Under platform.
“We're sharing with these athletes who are living in the community, breathing in that community, a part of that community,” Lloyd said. “We're giving them the skills to then share that into the community, which then lifts that whole community up because also part of our program, which is very unique, is that we do a water safety talk and demonstration as part of the lesson.
“We're not only teaching the kids. We're teaching the parents. We're teaching the guardians, so we're making sure that we are sharing this knowledge with so many elements of each community that we go into, whether it be with University of Illinois-Chicago, Colorado State University, or the University of Hawaii.”
In the 2026 calendar year, the Swim Safely Program will grow to 13 universities, outperforming the first three years as it was being built. Lloyd is not only seeking to see the number grow (and her alma mater will take part for the first time this year), but see it become an annual activity for those who have hosted.
Lindsey Blake, who along with Hemingway is one of the CSU lead instructors, most certainly hopes CSU will remain involved, as it is perfectly intwined with the team’s outreach.
This will be the third successive year the swimming and diving team has led the athletic department in community service hours, and this year the figures aren’t even close. The average for each member of the team is 25 hours of community service.
“I would love to. I mean, it's such a great cause, and I also think the amount of time that we get to spend with the kids is really great,” Blake said. “It's a very intensive program, but it's so rewarding to kind of see that payoff in the end.
"I've heard a lot of parents saying things like, this is not like my kid, they've turned a whole new wheel, whether it's one side or another. But it's really fun to see them see this whole new person in their child, like we're bringing out something that they didn't even know was kind of there.”
When a parent walks up and is overjoyed to see how much their child has changed, either through the confidence of doing something new or jumping into an endeavor which once scared them. For the instructors, who watch as the child they are paired with goes from clutching the wall, to clutching them a few feet out to celebrating putting their head under water without aid or floating off without help into the great, blue yonder.
It comes from the memories of their childhood, when that first jump into the water led to an amazing journey of discovery of self through sport and the chance reimagine it years later through the eyes of another child.
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