One Krayzelburg summer - The Jewish Standard

Lenny Krayzelburg does things in pairs. He swam in a pair of Olympics, won two pairs of gold medals, and has a pair of eight-month-old twins back home in Los Angeles. And the Odessa-born Krayzelburg recently opened swim camps at a couple of JCCs in LA.

Here on the East coast, Krayzelburg — working with the New Jersey Y camps — will expand his patented one-week swim program to an eight-week, swimming-heavy, sleep-away experience. And he will make two extended appearances at the camps, during one he will run the program for an entire week in August.

Lenny K.

"The idea for the camps was born from what I’ve been doing the last couple of years at various JCCs around country," said Krayzelburg, 30, who struck gold three times at the ‘000 Sydney Games and once more at Athens in ‘004. "The JCC has been very involved in trying to grow the Lenny Krayzelburg experience, if you can call it that, around the country."

The New Jersey Ys will run several "Total Specialty Camps," or TSCs, this summer. In addition to the Lenny Krayzelburg JCC Swim Camp, the Y camps also include the Herb Brown Basketball Academy — named for the legendary NBA coach — and the Ron Blomberg baseball camp, named for the former Yankee. All three sports icons will be directly involved in their respective camps.

"The camps are definitely about Jewish identity as well as sports," said Krayzelburg from a Manhattan office. "The sports component is important, since through sports the kids learn about dedication and perseverance, and other characteristics that are important in being successful."

Other TSC camps include soccer, tennis, ceramics, jewelry making, painting and drawing, cinematography, and astronomy. Further information and applications for all the Y camps, including the TSC programs, can be found at njycamps.org.

As for Krayzelburg, the 11-time U.S. national swimming champion does not plan to compete at the Beijing Games in ‘008.

"Maybe it’s time to move on [from the Olympics]," he said. "I’ve got twin daughters who are eight months old, and they keep me pretty busy. And building the swim schools has been an exciting project for me over the last few years, and hopefully these camps can get bigger and bigger."

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