Hydrocephalus is a neurological condition impacting ~1 million Americans; there is no cure and the only treatments require brain surgery. The Friars are using the talents they honed in the pool to swim from Alcatraz to support this worthy cause!
San Francisco, CA. The Team Hydro Foundation will host the 19th Alcatraz Swim for Hydrocephalus Research on August 19th, 2023. This year, the Boy’s Water Polo Team from Malvern Preparatory School in Malvern, PA will take the plunge into the icy-cold waters off the notorious Alcatraz Island. The Friars will use the swim to kick-off their rigorous pre-season training trip to Northern California. This event highlights the schools Augustinian Core Values of Truth, Unity, Love.
“My family have been big swimmers and water polo players since we were kids. We started swimming when my sister needed physical therapy as part of her rehab from brain trauma associated with her hydrocephalus. She developed into a Championship swimmer, and my brother and I both played Division 1 water polo at Stanford. Our sister Kate loved swimming, but unfortunately her life was cut short by hydrocephalus,” said Peter Finlayson, Co-Founder of Team Hydro. “To see the Water Polo community rally around the cause like this really means a lot; it is inspiring to see these young men willing to look beyond themselves as part of Team Hydro!”
The Friars will contend for the Inter-Ac title again this season, and their coach Jay Schiller is delighted to get the campaign underway by challenging the boys to accomplish together something that was thought to be impossible for decades, while giving back to the world around them. Peter will help out the Friars this fall as a volunteer assistant coach.
“As soon as I learned about Team Hydro and the ground-breaking research that Team Hydro is enabling, and the amazing cause I knew that it was something we had to be a part of,” said Coach Schiller. “Our team is hoping to be able to raise at least $5,000 towards the overall goal of $100,000! The boys are looking forward to it, and I’ve decided to join them myself!”
Dr. Samuel Finlayson, MD, PhD, is a Team Hydro co-founder who helps direct Team Hydro’s peer-reviewed research grant process in conjunction with the Hydrocephalus Association. “At Team Hydro, we take our founding mission to help cure hydrocephalus very seriously”, he says. “This means directing every dollar donated for research into projects designed to uncover novel mechanisms of disease and/or to design and develop new treatments. It also means building up a research community by investing in up-and-coming researchers in the field to help them secure large follow-on grants from public and private organizations.” To date, this approach has been very successful: Team Hydro has funded a dozen research projects on three continents, which together have already identified several new potential therapies and secured >10x multiplier in follow-up funding from government agencies. “Seeing this next generation of athletes join the cause is a great reminder both of where we have come from, and all the excitement we have for work yet to come.”
100% of funds raised by the Team Hydro Swim for Hydrocephalus Research will go directly toward funding these important hydrocephalus research grants.
You can support the Friars and the cause by making a tax-deductible donation at: