His friend saw swimming as a force to change the world. His friend also believed swimming could be a driving agent of social progress. Then his friend died.
Andre Salles-Cunha of QuickSilver Swimming in Florida lost his friend Shawn Delifus, who was only 30 when he died in April, 2016. He said Delifus saw swimming as a way of life that can change the world, as it had changed his life.
How can it change our world? Swimming, Salles-Cunha said, is a sport that helps athletes learn life values. It hones mental and spiritual health, nutritional health and physical health. He said that for the past decade a “force” has been “carrying the sport of swimming into a brave new future.” This force would “rip the sport free from those content to settle for doing what has worked in the past.”
Salles-Cunha said that force was evident in Delifus. Delifus, he said, was making swimming become “more than just a sport.” He was helping it “become a driving agent of social progress.” For Delifus, that meant “doing what has been successful in the past isn’t enough.” Instead, Delifus believed every swimmer has to “push the boundaries” of the sport to a “place where every kid who needs a chance has access to the positive values that swimming brings.”
How can you do that? Salles-Cunha says to find someone to share your love of swimming with every week. “Make yourself a smarter, wiser, stronger, healthier, happier, more enthusiastic, better swimmer and teammate every day. And make yourself a “smarter, wiser, stronger, healthier, happier, more enthusiastic, better coach/teacher/parent/friend.”
Good advice that never dies.
Click here to read Salles-Cunha moving tribute to his friend.
