Coming time now for our community connection right here on K one, the one you trust, and we've got the Splash Club in with us today, and my goodness, sakes, it's always great to have familiar faces in here. We have a coach at Cha had Englehart and Christian Richards here with his Splash Club. Now that's been synonymous with Bartlesville for farers I can remember. But we had a starting point. First of all, what is splash Club and how long you've been around?
Splash Club is a year round competitive team that does lessons all the way through college. We started in nineteen fifty, yes, very nice here with the building of the Adams Building. They built that and wanted to do get heavily into recreations and family fitness and family recreation and Ken Treadway, who was the head of fitness services at that point, had the grand idea of starting a swim team for the employees and their families. And that's how Splash Club began seventy.
Five years ago.
So this fall, I guess Labor Day weekend we will be celebrating our seventy fifth anniversary.
So you teach kids how to swim, first of all, because therefore the splashing has some kind of purpose just staying live, But this is a big life saving program for a lot of people. Their families probably would ever even think about having their kids learn to swim, but.
Research says that a child who was introduced to structured from US since is eighty eight percent more likely to avoid a life threatening situation in the water. So we believe that what we offer is life saving training. Not only do the kids the kids safer in the water, but as they grow to be adults, they've got the skill set to be able to save someone else's life, not just their own. So we believe that we're saving on multiple phases. And it's the only sport you can
do from diapers to diapers. Tom, you can do this from birth to passing away, just some all the day, all the time you want. It's easy on the joints, it's a wonderful fitness scenario for your health. And so we're not only saving lives, but we're enriching lives for their entire duration.
You know, you mentioned that it's one of those sports or activities that you can do for your whole life. I used to work with a guy who worked well up into his mid eighties, swam at least a mile every day. You want to talk about a fellow who was sharp at a good metabolism, and you know, kind of sort of thought it was Johnny weisballer, you know, but it worked out well for him because it was a body, mind, soul, the whole whole darn thing. It's
really really pretty cool the sport of swimming. We've got a lot of benefits, like you said, with the kids, but when it comes to competition, that's kind of where Splash Club is.
That's right.
My daughter has been on the team for ten years. She graduated this year, and I think beyond the competition. I mean, obviously that's a fun part of it for them, and they learn a lot from competing, They learn a lot from their coach, but it's really the discipline of the sport as well, all the practices that they have. You know, we have our team works out at the high school and they're one of the few teams that
are there even lifting weights in the summertime. So there's a lot more to it than just the competitions in the pool. It's the mind body balance there. They are student athletes, and so balancing those two practices a day through high school with their school work and all their other activities.
Those are lifelong lessons.
I think that, you know, beyond just being able to swim for your whole life because it's good for your body, I think it teaches them lifelong lessons. That's one of our missions and part of our mission statement is you know, creating those champions, but also you know, lifelong disciplines that they can take through their life as well.
Oh yeah, you can apply that to everyday life, you know, like I said, getting up, really working hard, being ledg of being goal oriented, setting goals and knocking them down twice a day right most days?
Yes, Okay, how early.
Because I know what they did when I was in night school.
He's like, we're usually.
In the water by six or in the weight room by six, and then we finish up in the evenings by about five thirty or six.
Okay. So it's good in compact, but burns up a lot, a lot of energy.
Yeah, they don't have to worry about what they're putting in very often, just how much they can put in. Yes, they get to eat eat healthy, and eat eat a lot.
First breakfast, second breakfast, first dinner, second dinner.
Oh real things.
Well, you got to feel that machine. You know, you're doing a lot of work. It was really kind of interesting. I went to a school to be just big enough to have a swim team. I mean just big enough, and sometimes the football players would get the swimmers a little bit, and the football coach would come over to the guys, going, they actually.
Work harder than you do.
We might have heard that a couple of Yeah.
We do have a reputation and as you mentioned, competition. The Barsville High School team has won forty two state titles in Oklahoma, and I think that it's a testament to the talent that Splash Club recruits and develops and helps the school system.
Take advantage of.
I would say about ninety five percent of the kids that are on the high school team are also Splash I mean very few are not on both.
Yeah, good, good crossover. I love that. Now, when it comes to economic impact in our community, well, folks will say, well, that's a bunch of kids swiming. Well, there's a lot of swim meets that take place, correct.
We do host three to four every year, including the last five state championships in the winner the senior state champions have.
Been hosted in Borlswelle.
We love that the last several years we've done close to three million dollars is the estimated impact, the financial impact in the community, and we take a lot of pride in that bringing people to Borbolsville, helping out with the restaurants and hotels and just showing off Barlsville.
It is a wonderful, small little town.
It is. It's one of a kind, and it's great. And the thing is, you know, it helps the engine go, as they say, so it's really wonderful here now seventy five years. Not too many entities stay around seventy five years anymore, so do But I understand we got a big to do about seventy five I'll.
Let Tricia talk a little more about that. But the Labor Day weekend.
You throwing the party trade I am, well, I'm trying to coordinate this big party.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
They have had the previous parties at the fiftieth and sixty sixth, and so we thought that this was a good time at the seventy fifth to really mark that. We have swimmers that have been in the program from all over the United States that are coming into town Friday, August twenty ninth Saturday, August thirtieth, Labor Day weekend. We're going to have a nice reception for them on Friday, be able to let them mingle and see some of that history that we have from.
The team through the decades.
They kind of have a little competition for the between the decades and they want to be able to meet and mingle and reminisce about that. We're also going to have an awesome silent auction and raffle as part of that. So part of the reason we want to get together is to obviously have these memories celebrate the seventy five years,
but it is a fundraising event for our team. We have those corporate sponsors, but we also need every dollar that we can get to keep our program going as far as those life saving skills in lessons as well as the Splash Club program. So having some fundraisers through the reunion will be part of our focus as well. I think what I'm really looking forward to seeing the
most is Saturday morning the fun meet. One of the former swimmers who's been also a coach in our program, Skipper Shipman, is going to lead that fund meat along with Chad as I hear that some of it will include some very different rokes than the four standards that those kids are used to, So I'm looking forward to seeing that and seeing some of our alumni get back in the water.
So that'll be a fun, fun event.
And then Saturday afternoon that really the big culmination of our event is a picnic at wool A Rock. We're going to have a live band and this band is actually made up of former members from Splash Club. They are called the Hot Links, and so they are coming to town, but really capstoning the whole weekend. And one of the things that we're most excited about is Rowdy Gains.
Rowdy Gains the voice of swimming as yes.
Three time gold medalist at the LA Olympics in the eighties. He is coming to mc our meat, announce our meat and just be there with us. So a big opportunity for our current Splasher program as well as our Splash Club program kids to be involved and meet him as well as him interact with our alumni.
Okay, I got you got the hook, al baited pretty well.
Okay, I'm ready to nibble. Where do I get a.
Ticket, you get a ticket.
Can we have an event bright link up splash Club seventy five dot event bright dot com. Tickets are on sale through that gets you a ticket for the whole weekend. You can go to just our splash Club website and there's a link there as well.
So yeah, all right, this is really cool. Now you know what other support can the community offer a splash Club. I mean, we can throw a dollar here, a dollar there, but you need a lot more of those single dollars.
Well, Tom, Yes, the corporate world has changed.
We still have corporate sponsors, but they have changed significantly, and we're real excited we are creating in the process this month of creating a life saving endowment. The splash Club Endowment will be a fund that funds our life saving some lessons program and make sure we have instructors, make sure we have facilities, make sure we have opportunities to present water safety to the community.
And we're real excited about that.
We're going to the club is going to see that, and then hopefully through this event, we can build that to a point where it is self sustaining. So no matter what happens with splash Club will always have an opportunity and a place to provide water safety.
To the community.
And we really feel strongly that that is that is the legacy that Ken Treadway started seventy five years ago, is to provide safety and health and just that that great awareness to.
The community and pretty cool kicking that off. It's really exciting.
You talk a lot about how well we swim and the competition and things like that, but when you watch a three or four year old swim their first length across the pool and the look on their face and then the realization that that child is so much safer, so much less likely to have a life altering experience in the walter, that you just just it's a source
of pride, it's a source of joy. It's a source of accomplishment that I think every parent I hope has the opportunity to experience and they they're they're helping their child live a safer and more rich life.
There's a little bit icing on the cake too. There's a bit of confidence that comes with set. It's like, Wow, I did it, I can do more now, and you feel like you're unchained as a kid, absolutely, and that confidence on top of knowing what to do, how to do it, and how to be safe. That's a great combination. Every kid needs this, every kid needs this. So let's do what we can here to help out. Now, what's the future of Splash Club looking like here in Bartlesville.
We've got a wonderful young group of ten unders that are coming along nicely. That's our that's our strength right now.
Like I said, the.
High school team has been very successful over the last several years. In a small community, you have some ups and downs. So we're a little small in our high school team this next year, but I think we'll continue to fill the newspaper with some accomplishments and I think we'll do well. I think the future is that endowment and that legacy of stability in the community. The community
can depend on us. That we are going to bring events in, We are going to continue to teach life saving skills, and we are going to continue to be a vital part of Bartlesville for many, many years.
Oh, Christia, you've got a youngster who's been with this for ten years, first time getting involved. Couldn't get the kid out of the water, could you know?
It took a little bit. She wasn't sure.
She wanted to go initially and then was all in after that. I think, you know, it's always overwhelming when they walk into a pool that is extra long when they go to law course. But you're right that confidence that they build in that program that lets them know not only can I swim one length of it, but four lengths of it or a mile you know in that pool, the camaraderie that they have with their team really something that you is important and valuable to those kids.
Great program to build that.
No, this is very attractive to kids. But let's talk to mom and dad here real quick. How does this pay dividends to mom and dad? Mom and dad, I know if you've got kids who are in activities, your family just seems to just huddle around.
Yeah, that swim family is our family. Those parents are our friends. We spend a lot of time together.
It's been kind of as I said, my daughter graduated, and so we've made it a point to say we're going to continue making sure that we're together because those are.
The bonds that we've built.
Obviously, our program runs on a lot of volunteers, and so our opportunity to be involved with this program has been also invaluable for us to be able to get to know those kids, support those kids, and celebrate the seventy five years that Splash Club has been together. It was memories made for lifetime as well for us.
What's the website again, so folks who find more information and also get some tickets.
Yes, please come to our events. Splash Club seven five dot event. Bright dot com is where tickets are available.
All right, appreciate coach, thank you both for being here.
Absolutely time. I appreciate your time.
Oh, we appreciate you being part of our community. You've been watching and listening to our community connection on K one Hi. I'm Todd Starn, host of The Todd Starn Show