If you wander by the Washington College Casey Swim Center in the early morning hours and see lights on, chances are good you will find a dedicated group of Masters Swimmers working out under the watchful eyes of one of the Washington College swim coaches. “There is a certain personality type that is attracted and addicted to and then empowered by this program,” says John Vail head organizer for the Chester River Aquatic Blues a.k.a. the CRABS Masters Swim Team. “It is someone who knows they need another compass to their life, something that challenges them and supports them in their quest for self-improvement.”
Now in its sixth year the CRABS Masters Swim Team boasts a former national record-holder and All-American swimmer, triathlon trainees, those returning to a sport enjoyed in their youth or people just wanting to learn to swim better. The team, while small compared to other Masters Teams, is consistently competitive in regional swim meets and open water swims.
This past June, CRAB club member Brad Johnson, recently recovered from open heart surgery, placed third in the men’s 55-60 age group for the one mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge swim. “I challenged my CRAB club members to beat me; if they could I would donate extra funds to the charity. It gave me a goal to work towards.” Recently the CRABS hosted a regional meet at the Washington College Casey Swim Center and placed second overall among sixteen competing teams. The highlight of the event was team member Ellyn Vail (the former All American swimmer) swimming two events after nine months of multiple hip replacement surgeries, contributing essential points to help the CRABS women’s team score first in the meet. Says team member Lotte Bowie, who placed a fifth and seventh in the 2014 50-meter national long course competition just 9 months after a life-threatening injury, “Our Master’s Program gives you a lot …it gives you a second family, and it challenges you to step out of your comfort zone – there is no better drug!”
Many CRABS swimmers are former competitive runners, who because of injuries turn to swimming for therapeutic purposes and then turn into swimmers. That’s the case for athlete Pat Starkey, a Washington College graduate and one of the regular 6 am swimmers. Per Pat “This summer I competed in a 2.2 mile open water swim in Maine. Being a part of this group gets me out of bed in the morning and pushes me to continue competing and evolve as an athlete.”
So what is Masters Swimming? It’s a world-wide program for anyone age eighteen or older who wants to learn to swim better through coached workouts. Some people swim for fitness, some swim for competition, and most swim for the exercise and companionship the program provides. In the USA, sixty thousand masters’ swimmers are supported by US Masters Swimming (USMS.org) in more than 1,500 masters swimming clubs or workout groups like the Chestertown-based CRABS. The USMS publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Swimmer, which carries many great articles and many time advocates the notion that swimmers live longer.
Matt Harris, Associate Head Swim Coach at Washington College and former All-American at swimming powerhouse Kenyon College, has been working with the CRABS for 3 years. Assistant Coach Warren Dolben, comes to Washington College from coaching at King’s College where his swim team broke school and meet records. Dolben who has been coaching masters for 2 years believes the job has improved his skills as a coach. According to Dolben, “working with swimmers older than myself is challenging to a degree because of the authority dynamic that comes with it. …it’s hard to get around the fact that you’re telling them what to do. I try to be conscious of how I come off and make it fun rather than didactic. It’s great to be able to coach people of different ages who have a passion for the sport. Coaching the sport and seeing it through the lens of people in varying points of their life is good for my progress as a coach.”
Valerie Shearer Overton, a CRABS and former college swimmer, has seen progress evidenced with all of her teammates due to the expert coaching of Matt Harris and Warren Dolben. “I’d given up on the sport for nearly a decade because it became so stale and punishing. The coaches really know how to push us to our personal best but in a fun and nurturing way; I feel stronger and healthier now than I ever did in my 20s.” So what is the secret to successful coaching for adult swimmers? Per Coach Harris: “…swim coaches are like caddies in golf. We recommend the club to use, inform them of the wind speed, and recommend techniques, but it’s up to the golfer to hit it. I feel this way a lot with Masters swimming because our swimmers are really dedicated to listening and improving themselves, and it’s a really fun process moving from the instruction to seeing them execute it in hard sets or in competition.”
The CRABS will start a new three month session on January 18, 2016. Workouts are at 6 am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 9 am on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Any swimmer interested and intrigued by the program is encouraged to try out the program. There is no speed requirement to participate and endurance comes with time. Make a New Year’s resolution that will pay off in your life on so many levels.
Like a good wine swimming gets better with age.
:To find out more about the CRABS Masters Program
contact John Vail [email protected] or visit crabsswimming.com
Want to learn more about why swimmers live longer, read this article from USMS Swimmers magazine Swimmers Live Longer
Front image: Warren Dolben
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