Cheshire Sea Dogs In Race to Win Cash

Twice in two years the Cheshire YMCA Sea Dogs have faced homelessness after the collapse of the Cheshire Community Pool bubble, and now they are harnessing that misfortune in an attempt to win a compeition — not in the water, but online.

The Sea Dogs are one of 27 finalists in the MasterSpa Michael Phelps video competition. They are the only Connecticut team represented. The competition runs for another week and the team with the most votes wins $5,000.

Senior team swimmer Holly Driscoll made the video that sheds light on the challenges that the team faced with the bubble collapse at the Cheshire Community Pool both in the winter of 2011 and during this year's February blizzard.

"Our swimmers have worked year in and year out for the past several years not knowing where or when their next practice was going to be," says the teams' entry description. "When other clubs would have folded and called it quits they got stronger and formed a tighter bond, working harder and swimming faster than ever before."

If they win the cash, it will be used to replace training equipment destroyed during the collapse and to reward swimmers for "their continued commitment to reaching their goals."

As of Wednesday night, the Sea Dogs are currently in second place with 7,851 votes but are being outvoted by more than 2,000 votes for the strong team from Palo Alto, California that is coached by a former Olympian.

Votes can be cast once a day, every day, from separate email addresses. The team represents both Cheshire and Connecticut so well, and the video shows the hard work they (and their parents) put in to get them to the top level in this competitive sport.

Check out their video at http://goafteryourgoals.com/index.php vote Cheshire!