When she was just 3 years old, Carly Lennett broke away from her parents and jumped into a pool. That plunge scared her parents much more than it scared Carly. In fact, it started a love affair with swimming that has followed her for nine years.

Just three years after that first swim, Carly, of Lower Macungie Township, was diagnosed with type-one diabetes. Her father, Mitch, also has the disease, and he was determined not to let it slow down his daughter. The family participated in walks and other fundraising events to raise money for and awareness of diabetes, but Carly’s love for the water sparked an idea.

At age 6, Carly asked her dad if she could swim to raise money instead of walking. After thinking about it, the family set out to start an annual fundraiser where Carly would swim laps to raise money. Now, six years later, she has raised $150,000 and swam a 5K this year to raise money for the Team Carly Rocks Foundation, which donates the money to local diabetes groups and associations. The event was held Sept. 16 at the Emmaus High School pool.

Emmaus High School swimming coach Tim O’Connor helped to organize the event, as he has every year. He said he’s always amazed at how the event grows year to year. This year, he added a new feature - inviting other teams to the event. Teams from Whitehall and Liberty high schools, just to name a few, took part in the sessions and cheered on Carly throughout her swim. The day was filled with training for young athletes and coaching on sports psychology, fitness, nutrition and swimming techniques. Former Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr., who helped with the event for the second year in a row, conducted sessions for four different groups of athletes.

“Gary is outstanding with his personality and the way he’s relating to kids. You don’t get these kinds of opportunities often,” WHS swim coach Pete Rile said. “We were in the psychology group right off the bat, and it was very impressive, and I said, ‘Tim, how do I get a hold of this person to do that for our team?’”

Mitch Lennett admitted he had some concerns coming into the first year, knowing the huge task his daughter had undertaken. The first event was nearly cut short when Carly’s blood sugar levels started to spike, but she was able to finish. This year, she suffered an injury that kept her out of the pool for eight weeks, severely limiting her time to train.

“It’s routine, but it’s not. With diabetes, there is no routine,” he said. “I’m 49 years in, and it still surprises me because you’re cruising along, and all of a sudden, your blood sugar spikes, and you don’t know why. She had to miss all that time in the pool, and it was driving her crazy, so she’s ready to go today.”

“I really just want to help other people and other kids who have diabetes,” Carly said before starting the event. “Other kids have told me that I’m helping them and to keep doing what I’m doing.”

The program this year was opened up to swim teams other than Emmaus, and the Whitehall team took advantage of the opportunity. The experience turned out to be something that helped the coaches and athletes as they went through various clinics and cheered on Carly.

“I’m mad at myself for not getting involved a lot sooner,” Rile admitted. “First of all, in general, the idea alone and what Carly is doing is excellent. That’s what we want from our young people, and so I give her a lot of kudos for even getting this thing off the ground.”

While much of the activities were geared toward athletes, the coaches all came away with a lot of good information. The prevailing thought was that it may also help kids to open up about diseases or conditions that they have and encourage them to not let them stand in the way of accomplishing what they want to do in athletics or other areas.

For Rile, the event served as somewhat of an eye-opener that he will use in working with athletes.

“It brings awareness, and kids shouldn’t be afraid of participating because of health reasons and shouldn’t be afraid to let it be known,” he said. “I think sometimes, as coaches, we don’t have enough knowledge about things, and we don’t even know sometimes of a health issue, and we may misinterpret things. We may think that a kid is just not interested, and it may not be that at all. It may be something else, so the coaching staff needs to be on top of these things and be aware that it could be something else.”

The Team Carly Rocks Foundation held another fundraiser Oct. 29 at Schnecksville Fire Company where the foundation put on its first annual Carly Rocks for a Cure rock concert featuring five regional bands.

For more information on the foundation or to donate, visit teamcarlyrocks.com.