Free Swim, Food Truck Rally at BSAC's Summer Camp Open House

Home-grown Olympian swimmers will be at the Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center on April 14 for a summer camp open house sign-up, food truck rally, water-safety awareness program, demonstration lessons and a no-cost community swim.

The Summer Camp and April Pool’s Day Open House is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with triple Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett and Maritza Correia, a silver medalist, scheduled to sign autographs from 10:30 to 11 a.m.

Both Bennett and Correia as youngsters took swimming lessons at the (BSAC). Correia's brother, Justin, is the .

Community members at the April 14 open house can swim for free at BSAC through 5 p.m. The registration fee for summer camp will be waived during the open house.

The day’s events feature as well demonstration lessons in tennis, martial arts and gymnastics.

Scheduled to be in attendance at the food truck rally are Mister Empanada, Foodeez Mobile and Formaggio's Pizza.

Founded in 1963 as the family owned, for-profit  Brandon Swim and Tennis Club, the club became a center in 2004, buoyed by a reorganization that established the center’s non-profit status and more sweeping community mission.

At the helm for the transition, and for the center today, is executive director Chuck Burgess, who noted in an interview last year BSAC’s broad and varied mission and reputation.

“We have high-level athletes who go on to the Olympics, and high-caliber athletics, but just as important is what we’re doing for every kid, regardless of ability, socioeconomic status, background and ethnicity,” Burgess said. “We want to impact kids in families with both parents working, or where single moms or single dads are struggling with their time. We provide after-school sports, arts and crafts, cooking, music, a Wii room, an arcade and more.”

Moreover, Burgess said, the center is rich in tradition.

“You go around the community and a lot of people will tell you they grew up here at the center,” Burgess said. “They’re bringing their kids and their grandkids are here now. We have this legacy of these great things we do and our future will build upon that.”

That future begins one kid — one camper — at a time, which is the purpose of the annual open house, to start the summer camp season off with a bang.

This year the annual “April Pool’s Day” push to advance pool safety is being combined with the summer-camp open house.

“The number one cause of death for kids in Florida is drowning,” said Lori Bukaweski, the center’s associate executive director. “So, we’re putting the promotion on for swim lessons, and to make people aware of the risks that our out there when your child doesn’t know how to swim.”

Representatives from will distribute water-safety awareness materials and BSAC workers will discuss and demonstrate the center’s “womb-to-tomb” aquatics program and instruction.

The overarching aim, however, is to jump-start reservations and interest in the summer camp, whose theme this year, being an Olympics year, is: “Let The Games Begin.”

Summer camp, for kids ages 3 to 14, costs $130 a week for the full-day program. Cost for the half-day program is $70 a week. Drop-in camp is available, for $30 a day.

"Nobody can beat our price, nobody," Bukaweski said. "In this rough economy, when incomes are being reduced when hours are being reduced, it's very important that people get the best value for the dollar and that they know their kids are in a safe place.

Scholarships are available for children who qualify for the School Readiness program.