56th Annual Milford Rotary Swim Meet

The Milford Rotary Club is very pleased to announce that the 56^th Annual Milford Rotary Swim Meet will be held in-person this year on July 24^th and 25^th at the Keyes Memorial Park, 45 Elm Street, Milford NH!

 

Last year the Milford Rotary Swim Meet tradition was “kept alive” by holding a “virtual” meet in which five teams swam at their team pools, race times were combined, and winners announced. We are very grateful to the Milford Keyes, Jasper Valley, YMCA of Greater Nashua, Nashua Country Club, and Agiochook Aquatics swim teams for helping us keep this tradition going during the height of the pandemic!

 

In addition to the host team from Milford’s Keyes Pool, around seventeen teams from across New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts are invited to attend this year’s meet. We expect 400+ young athletes to participate. Once again they all will be trying to better their individual performances and score points for their teams as they compete in one or more of the 86 individual and relay events. Many of these athletes are second and third generation participants! For some of the summer league swimmers the Rotary meet is the biggest swim meet they attend each year. And unlike other competitive swim meets, no individual or team entry fees are charged to participate in this invitational event.

 

Milford Rotarians will be working on-deck and in the field passing out ribbons, timing races, flipping burgers, chopping onions, selling commemorative tee-shirts, parking cars, cheering on the athletes, fielding a swim team for the Coaches Relay Race and so much more. This definitely is not a “Rotary in name only” event. But Rotarians don’t do this alone - community spirit and volunteerism carry the day or in this case the two days. Hallmarks of this event have always been cooperation and collaboration along with a great deal of community support and participation.

 

Collaboration with the Town of Milford, the Milford Recreation Commission, the Granite State

 Swimming Association (GSSA), the Milford Keyes Swim Team family and the visiting teams has been essential to the success and longevity of the meet.  From the “Welcome Rotary Swimmers” signs posted by local businesses to the many community volunteers who share their time, all of it comes together to ensure that the athletes, the spectators, and the volunteers all have a fun and enjoyable experience at the annual Milford Rotary Swim Meet.

 

As Coach John DeCaprio from the Concord YMCA has said on more than one occasion, “This is a great swim meet! It is extremely well organized and my team loves to come each year!” The tremendous poolside work is managed by a group of dedicated GSSA and Keyes Swim Team volunteers led by Jim Rezzarday of Brookline, and Becky Anderson and Pat Whalen of Milford. Incidentally, Mr. Rezzarday has been volunteering at the Rotary meet as a team coach and then as meet director for well over thirty years.

 

The Milford Rotary Club’s support of local swimming initiatives dates back to 1963 when club members championed community efforts to get a new pool built in Milford.  To celebrate the opening of the new pool in 1966, Milford Rotarians, lead by the late John Bilodeau, organized a statewide swim meet that hosted 5 teams and over 150 athletes, and included events like walk-the-plank and a tug-of-war between Rotarians  and the Milford Selectmen. Research indicates that the Milford Rotary Swim Meet is the oldest continuously operated Rotary sponsored swim meet in the country and quite possibly the world! For Milford Rotarians, the annual swim meet is a fun community service project that reflects the club’s dedication to supporting positive youth activities.

 

If you are in the Milford area or have some free time on July 24^th or 25^th, come join the Fun!!