Learning How to Swim with The Riviera Club Foundation — The Riviera Club

You may think about swimming in terms of a relaxing summer day at The Rivi. Racing to the center island. Jumping off the 10-foot board into the deep end.

But for some, swimming looks much different.

Every summer, while Members enjoy the pool with family and friends, another kind of swimming story unfolds at The Rivi. Through The Riviera Club Foundation, children and adults from across Central Indiana are introduced to something many of us take for granted: learning how to swim.

For many participants, the program is about much more than recreation. It's about confidence. Opportunity. And in some cases, it's about safety and survival.

This year alone, the Foundation has served more than 478 swimmers through learn-to-swim programs while providing water safety education to more than 1,000 individuals. Through partnerships with local organizations, schools and community groups, the Foundation helps bring swimming instruction to people who might otherwise never have access to it.

The impact is especially important in Marion County, where drowning rates exceed the national average despite the city not being located near a major body of water. Learning to swim is not simply a recreational skill. It is a life skill.

In many ways, this work reflects the very reason The Riviera Club exists.

Swimming built The Rivi.

For generations, families have gathered around this pool to learn, compete, grow and create lifelong friendships. Parents have watched children become swimmers. Swimmers have become coaches. Families have returned decade after decade to share the same experiences with a new generation.

Today, the Foundation extends that legacy beyond our membership and into the broader community.

As longtime Member Cynnie Halsmer shared, "So many generations of people in our neighborhoods have learned to swim at Rivi. Now our Riviera Club Foundation is teaching kids who traditionally don't have access to pools to swim. Rivi is truly a life-saving place."

Rivi Aquatics Director Therese Love has devoted much of her life to teaching people to swim. She often reminds us that swimming is about more than competition. It's about confidence, safety and skills that last a lifetime. As she put it simply, "Learning to swim saves lives."

Let's not forget that every swimmer starts somewhere. Before the first lesson, we all stood at the edge of the pool wondering if we could do it.

Someone taught us how to float. A friend encouraged us to jump off the diving board for the first time. A lifeguard celebrated when we swam across the pool on our own so we could go down the big slide.

Not everyone has had that someone. Perhaps you've seen Foundation instructors in the water with their students, celebrating each small victory. Sometimes it's blowing bubbles. Sometimes it's putting a face in the water for the first time. Sometimes it's swimming independently.

And eventually, it's racing down a slide, jumping off a diving board, flashing big smiles and discovering the joy that comes from knowing you belong in the water.

Those small moments eventually become confidence. Confidence becomes skill. Skill becomes safety. And safety can save lives.

That is the ripple effect of swimming.
That is the ripple effect of our Rivi.

Help Us Help Others

Swimming is for everyone... and Rivi is for swimming. If The Rivi has been part of your family's story, consider helping someone else begin theirs.

"Members should feel proud that their club is doing something no other private club in the area is doing," said Foundation President Katie Gray.

To serve participants in its learn-to-swim program, the Foundation is currently seeking donations of swim goggles and larger swim caps. A swim cap can cost as much as $25. Goggles can cost $15. These simple items help developing swimmers feel more comfortable and confident.

Because learning to swim doesn't just change a summer.
It can change a life.