From a team parent:
The Maplewood Manta Rays, Maplewood’s premier diving club for children ages 2-18, will be hosting a fundraiser at Vineyard Vines (Short Hills Mall) on Thursday, June 30 from 4-7 p.m.
Come and support the team’s efforts to purchase a new 3-meter diving board for the Maplewood Pool that meets competitive standards. All shoppers will receive 10% off their purchase and Vineyard Vines will give 10% of all purchases back to the team.
This fundraiser is just one of the many ways the team gives back. Previous efforts funded the new 1-meter diving board that was installed last season, and the team has raised over $3,000 in charitable donations for Breast Cancer Research, Marine Life Safety and this year’s Dive-a-thon will benefit St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center.
Founded in 2013 by Head Coach Kayla Spinelli, the Maplewood Manta Rays was originally started as a teaching program and diving lessons. But soon Spinelli, a graduate of Columbia High School and the current Head Diving Coach at Seton Hall University, saw an opportunity to not only give kids a chance to develop diving skills but also to participate in an organization that strives to promote the ideals of responsibility, hard work, sportsmanship and teamwork.
The 2016 Big East Women’s Diving Coach of the Year, Spinelli has worked tirelessly to get the kids ready to compete and the team is now a member of the Tri-County Summer Diving League of New Jersey.
