Side-Kicks and Piranhas swim for funds

PLAINS – Participants churned out laps on Thursday evening as members of the swim team and the community pitched in to help fundraise for the Piranhas.

The Plains Piranhas swim team hosted their annual Side-Kick swim fundraiser and ice cream social at 7 p.m. in the EL Johnson Memorial Pool Park, drawing a large crowd on the warm summer evening.

“Members of the swim team recruit a sidekick and they raise pledges for the fundraiser,” Sydne Connolly, who assisted with organizing the event, said.

Connolly added participants in the event receive pledges in one of two ways.

The teams can receive a flat total for swimming at the Side-Kick swim or they can receive sponsorship on a per lap basis.

Participating duos swam for an hour, taking a break at the half hour mark, before vacating the pool and making way for the next batch of Piranhas and sidekicks, who continued the fundraising efforts into the next hour of the evening.

The duos of swimmers put forth a consistent effort, knocking down laps and swimming for lengthy periods of time before their hour was up.

Participants used a wide array of strategies to tackle the hour long swimming event, often employing creative tactics to complete laps.

Many members of the swim team used swimming strokes they were most comfortable with, as the freestyle and breaststroke were a common site during the marathon swim sessions.

Some of the Piranhas side-kicks got creative in their approaches, breaking out variations of the backstroke to ensure they maintained the stamina to complete the hour-long session.

Those swimming were given a little extra motivation by the bake sale going on nearby across the pool park, where a number of treats were available.

Ice cream, brownies, giant cookies, root beer floats, key lime pie and a selection of berry pies were all available, contributing to the fundraising efforts.

Funds raised by Piranha swimmers, their sidekicks and the money brought in by the sweet treats at the bake sale all go towards keeping the swim team up and running each year.

Money from the event helps the team purchase equipment, including swimsuits and cover insurance payments keeping the Piranhas competing in pools across western Montana during the summer months.

The Side-Kick swim fundraiser has become somewhat of a tradition within the town of Plains, with the Piranhas using the fun event to support their team.

Connolly explained the event had taken a break a few years ago but this year’s event marked the second year in a row the fundraising duos and bake sale had returned to the pool area.

The event has been going on for years and some of the adults at the fundraiser participated in the event when they were youths on the swim team.

“I was on the swim team in the 80s and we used to do this,” Gennifer Deschamps, who also assisted with the Side-Kick event, said.

Swimmers form the Piranhas will resume competitive swimming next weekend.

The swim team will head up to Columbia Falls and kick off the meet on Saturday, July 19.