Community bands together to support Weltz

For an athlete to reach the Olympics takes an incredible amount of hard work, including hours of training each day.

Since his graduation from UC Davis in 2010, Scott Weltz has been working with coach Pete Motekaitis, a veteran mentor of Davis swimmers of all levels from youngsters to Davis High to the Aggie program. When Weltz touched the wall first in the 200-meter breaststroke at last month’s U.S. trials, his Olympic dreams finally came true. He is now in London preparing for his event, which begins with qualifying on Monday.

Unfortunately, for first-time Olympians like Weltz, competing at the highest level takes more than just hard work — it also takes a lot of money. And when you train in the pool and the weight room for many hours each day, then spend some of your precious down time mentoring young swimmers — in Weltz’s case with the Davis AquaMonsters — it doesn’t leave a lot of room to earn a living.

That’s why friends of Weltz set up www.gofundme.com/scottweltz where fans and supporters can contribute to help defray Weltz’s expenses.

According to Christine Lamson Taylor, who is listed as the site’s creator, ”This has been a very expensive journey. The Olympic Trials alone have cost him over $2,000 — this is in addition to the many trips all over the country in the last 18 months so Scott could race against world-class swimmers and practice competing.”

On the website, she adds that “Scott is not expecting this nor is he asking for help but any financial contribution would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.”

The effort has already been a success as the site listed $18,874 in donations on Monday evening.