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August 14, 2014
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August 14, 2014
It’s never been hard for South Lafourche junior Shakerrin Dillon to score a touchdown on the gridiron – he’s been doing it his whole life with ease.
Likewise, gold medals and first-place finishes on the track and field rubber have always been commonplace for Tarpons’ graduate Zaron Jenkins, who exited the school in 2013 as one of the fastest sprinters in the entire state of Louisiana.
But when it came to the water, both Dillon and Jenkins spent the better part of their lives as Tarpons who were unable to swim.
That got remedied this summer as the duo joined family, friends and neighbors to learn the water, while rallying to support a fallen former classmate and friend.
Both Dillon and Jenkins took part in Braxton’s Gift for Life two weeks ago in south Lafourche, a week-long course that taught water safety, boating safety, CPR and other environmental lessons to the 39-person class in attendance.
The namesake for the event is South Lafourche student Braxton Bourda, the 15-year-old Larose native that was shot and killed in June.
Bourda loved to swim – he was a top-notch competitor for both the Cut Off Hurricanes and the Tarpons’ school squad.
To those closest to the young boy, he was compared to Michael Phelps, because of both his love for the water and his nack to have strong finishes, while making the sport look easy.
His great grandmother Peggy Bagala founded the event because she said Braxton had a gift on the water – a gift that all children, including Dillon and Jenkins, deserve to possess in life.
“Look at them. They are still learning, but they are in the water and they are swimming freely,” Bagala said on Aug. 1 – the final day of Braxton’s Gift for Life. “Braxton had this gift from God when he was out on the water. But he was blessed. It doesn’t come to everyone naturally like it did for him. I wanted to let other kids have this gift. Now, look at (Dillon and Jenkins). They’ll always have that gift, too, and it makes me smile.”
For Dillon and Jenkins, the path to learning this stems from their love toward their fallen friend.
Bagala said both boys were friends with Braxton – all three growing up in Larose together. Wanting to honor their friend, the two athletes decided to enroll in the class so that they could learn to conquer their inner demons on the water.
“Braxton is the reason why I’m here,” Jenkins said. “He inspired me to do this, so that’s why I’m here.”
For Bagala, Jenkins and Dillon’s swimming were the icing on the cake of a successful week.
She said that she’s done research that shows that there are several children every day that ride parish school buses to and from school that do not know how to swim.
In a community that is separated in half by a giant bayou, that is something that is troubling to Bagala, who said she believes this topic deserves extra attention in our area.
“We spend so much time trying to save our wetlands, and that is an amazing thing – a truly worthwhile cause,” Bagala said. “But I think we should do a little bit more to try and save the kids that actually live in the wetlands. Too many kids on that bus every day don’t know how to swim and don’t know how to survive on the water or in the wetlands. We wanted to remedy that.”
So in addition to the swimming instructions, Braxton’s Gift for Life taught the pupils environmental survival tactics, as well as how to handle oneself while out on a boat. The program was free to anyone interested in attending, thanks to “lots of fund raising,” and “multiple generous donations from the awesome people in the community.”
South Lafourche native and Special Olympics Gold Medalist swimmer Sean Adams spoke to the class during one of the days of instruction, spreading his positive message to the pupils.
“We talked rip tides on the beach, what to do if you’re swimming and there are sharks. You name it and we touched on it in some form or fashion,” Bagala said. “You see, in this area, a lot of people take the water for granted. But that’s not something that you should do. A lot of dangerous and bad things can happen out there if you don’t know what you’re doing. We wanted to show some of those dangers and teach the kids what to do if they’re in that situation.”
Bagala said that the event started in 2013, but became Braxton’s Gift for Life in 2014 after the young man’s unfortunate death.
As long as she’s able to find support in the community, the great grandmother said she aims to keep the program going.
As long as there are people like Dillon and Jenkins gliding through the water at the end of the instruction-filled week, Bagala has all of the fulfillment she needs to keep going strong.
“We’re blessed. We have had so much support,” Bagala said. “And look at these kids. They are all having a wonderful time. It’s so great to see. It’s really starting to pick up, and it’s really starting to get a lot of interest. This is something that we really would love to continue doing in the future.”
When asked what Braxton would think about the event, Bagala smiled and shared a laugh. She said Braxton’s gift was so natural that he never had to work hard to be an accomplished swimmer. She joked that he’d probably be looking down from Heaven with pride at what his friends are doing.
“Braxton was one of those kids who never had to work hard. It came natural to him,” Bagala said. “He wouldn’t understand why it’s so hard to them, but he’d appreciate it and be happy for what they are doing. I think he definitely is smiling at us today.”
South Lafourche athletes Zaron Jenkins (left) and Shakerrin Dillon clown around with one another while preparing to dive into the Cut Off Youth Center’s pool. Horseplay around the water is something new to the boys who just learned how to swim, something they did to honor their friend, Braxton Bourda – an avid swimmer who was shot and killed earlier this summer in Larose.
