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12/15/2015 02:30 PMSwimming is a great antidote for children’s holiday energy—but not every child knows how. Now, thanks to the Manny Liebenson Memorial Fund, that’s no excuse. Any child aged 3 to 10 can get four free swimming lessons at the Valley Shore Y for free during this holiday break.
For more than 50 years, Manny Liebenson taught swimming, lifeguarding, and water safety instruction at pool sites all along the shoreline, from Branford’s Walsh Intermediate School pool to the Valley Shore Y pools. And now, through the Manny Liebenson Memorial Fund, the Valley Shore Y can offer shoreline children the lifesaving skill of knowing how to swim—for free.
During the special Holiday SPLASH! Week, participating children between 3 and 10 will receive four free swimming lessons on four consecutive days. The special program is supported by the Manny Liebenson Memorial Fund and other program sponsors.
To sign up, adults can go in person to the Valley Shore Y at 201 Spencer Plains Road or visit vsymca.org/splash to download a registration form and fax it to 860-399-8349. Holiday SPLASH! will run during the school break from Monday, Dec. 28 to Thursday, Dec. 31; the deadline for class registration is Dec. 21.
Liebenson would be thrilled that it is thanks to him that shoreline children will get the opportunity to acquire the critical swimming skills that will keep them safe in the water, all at no cost to them.
“It truly was his passion. He felt that everyone should learn how to swim. He could teach anybody to swim, even those who were deathly afraid of the water,’ said Nancy Liebenson-Davis, Liebenson’s daughter.
“He always was committed to staying in shape. He swam and rode his bicycle and felt his friends and family [should also feel the same way]. He even carried a swimsuit in the glove compartment of his car. When I was in my mid-20s, all five of his children were water safety instructors,” said Liebenson-Davis.
Perhaps that’s why for the past 25 years, Liebenson-Davis, too, has helped herself and others stay in shape through the aquacise course she’s taught at the Valley Shore Y.
With a teacher’s work schedule, Liebenson spent his summers teaching swimming, and serving as pool and beach club swim program director. As a teacher at Nathan Hale School in New Haven until age 62, he worked for many years at the New Haven Y pool. When he moved with his family in 1969 to Madison, he began teaching swimming and coaching swim teams at Branford’s Walsh Intermediate School pool, other shoreline pool sites, and later, at the Valley Shore Y.
“He taught 95 percent of the Town of Branford to swim. He also lifeguarded, coached, and taught swimming in pools all along the shoreline.”
He was also a teacher of teachers, teaching many young people the water safety instructor course and the certification courses for lifeguards.
Finally, 25 years after retiring from teaching science, math, and music at Nathan Hale School, at age 86, Manny retired from pool work, too. Even at age 86, he was still working part-time as a Y lifeguard.
Nancy Liebenson-Davis hopes that those who remember Manny as their swim teacher might help him help the next generation learn to swim. To donate to the Manny Liebenson Memorial Fund, mail a donation to the Fund to the Valley Shore Y, 201 Spencer Plains Road, Westbrook, CT 06498.
In addition to supporting the Holiday Splash! Program, the fund helps pay for Valley Shore Y swimming lessons for children with financial needs. Other program sponsors include the Harbor News, Brown & Knapp, Tower Laboratories, Coast to Coast Auto Parts, and Reynolds Subaru.