Pacific Update
Week of January 4, 2021 |
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Happy New Year! In this issue you will find information on upcoming swimming events and other information of interest to the local adult swimming community.
The next issue of the Update will appear on January 18, 2021. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, January 14, 2021.
Stay fit,
The Pacific Masters Swimming Committee
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TAM's Miracle Mile Postal Swim
January 1-February 28
Swim a mile in your own pool and help find a cure for lung cancer. TAM's Miracle Mile is unique because what you pay to participate is completely up to you. 50% of your payment is tax-deductible and will go to the Go2Foundation for Lung Cancer. So join us and swim for a cure! More information |
Postal Sprint Pentathlon
February 2021
Over several years, Albany Armada Aquatic Masters hosted Splash & Dash, an annual Sprint Pentathlon to kickstart the new year. In 2021, this tradition will be kept by switching to an online postal format. To participate, just swim and get a time for any of the five sprint events (50 Butterfly, 50 Backstroke, 50 Breaststroke, 50 Freestyle and 100 Individual Medley) within the month of February. At the event's conclusion, we will host an online event for all participants and announce award winners. More information in our next issue of the Update. |
Pacific Masters is happy to share videos of their autumn swim clinics. We have created a Vimeo account where you will find videos of our October Special Pandemic Coaches Clinic and November Open Water Swimming Through the Winter Clinic. As we hold other online clinics we will add more videos.
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Congratulations to all who participated in the December MEMO Kick for Time. Don't forget to submit your times before January 10, 2021. Information here. |
Pacific Masters Monthly Meeting
January 20, Doors Open at 6:45; Meeting at 7:00pm
The meeting will begin promptly at 7pm via the Zoom platform. If this is your first time Zooming, we suggest you sign on a little early to ask questions and address technical issues. Even if you are familiar with Zoom, sign on early to say "hi" to your fellow swimmers. All members are encouraged to participate. Our monthly meeting reminder email will provide the Zoom link. If you are not on that list and would like to attend, please contact Chris Ottati, Administrator, for details.
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Volunteer Profile: Carol Nip 
Congratulations to Carol Nip, featured in this month's USMS Swimmer Magazine in the Volunteer Profile column. Carol is no stranger to doing good work and helping others; she earned the Kerry O'Brien Coaching Award in 2018 and has been supporting swimmers in the Bay Area for over a decade.
Carol is also an editor of the PacMasters Update, and we've appreciated her enthusiasm and insights as we put together this bi-weekly newsletter. Carol is retiring from editing, but we hope she'll continue to contribute to the Update in other ways. We'll miss you Carol! But we know we can always find you in the pool.
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Pacific Masters Virtual Annual Celebration and Meeting
By Linda Hepworth
Every year, Pacific Masters swimmers look forward to the Annual Celebration and Meeting. It is a chance to see each other for a relaxed, fun, informative day. Usually, the festivities begin with a group swim practice led by our award-winning Pacific Masters coaches and a dry-land exercise class showcasing workouts designed specifically for swimmers.
The world has changed, forcing our 2020 Celebration and Meeting to be held virtually. Virtually? How can this be done if we cannot even congregate? Read more.
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2020, A Very Strange Year
By Rich Burns
In one of our early organizing committee meetings for the 2020 virtual Annual Celebration and Meeting, I volunteered to make a video about this year for Pacific Masters Swimming. I quickly realized that there were no activities during the year, no content to work with. I also never made a video in my life.
The solution was to ask members to send in their stories about how they weathered the pandemic. Many of you were gracious enough to share your stories. That solved the content problem. I still needed to turn it into a video.
While exploring my options, I kiddingly asked my 11-year-old grandson if he could make a video. He'd never made one either, but unlike me, he didn't know what he didn't know. Together we produced this video capturing the essence of Pacific Masters Swimming during 2020. You can view it here.
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Swim Coach Round Tables
Coach-to-Coach Mentoring
On Wednesday, February 3, 7:00-8:00 pm, Pacific Masters will host their first of six bi-monthly Round Tables for masters swim coaches and coaches-in-training. Stu Kahn, Head Coach of Davis Aquatic Masters, is our featured speaker. His talk will focus on Swim Technique: Best Ways to Coach Masters Swimmers.You will definitely want to hear the directions he has for our coaching community. Your questions will be collected and considered. Register here.
Dates throughout the year for Swim Coach Round Tables: April 7, June 2, August 4, October 6, December 1.
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The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory
By Julie Checkoway
We've been sharing some of our Update Editors' favorite swimming books to help ease the stress of the pandemic restrictions. Reading about swimming is not as therapeutic as actually being in the water, but it keeps us tuned in and has the potential to open our eyes to all aspects of our sport. See the full list here. 
If the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics left you craving inspirational swimming stories, then you might want to check out this engaging, surprising, and heartfelt story about one coach's quest to transform a rag-tag group of Japanese-American plantation kids on the island of Maui into Olympic swimmers. The children had no pool, so they trained in the filthy irrigation ditches that lined the sugar cane fields.
This remarkable, true story of a group of feisty, perseverant athletes beating the odds takes place in the 1930s. It also recounts many stories of other swimming greats of that era and a time when dual swimming races would draw huge crowds. You can read more about this book here. |
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Chasing the Sublime
Winter swimming inspiration
As many of our readers take to the ocean during these cooler winter months, many friends and family probably wonder why you do it. Why do you seek out the discomforts and risks of winter swimming? How can winter swimming bring you such joy? "Chasing the Sublime" explores the physicality of cold water swimming and the connections it allows us to have with nature and other human beings.
The Outdoor Swimming Society was formed in 2006 to promote wild swimming in rivers, lakes, outdoor pools, and the ocean. Its founder, Kate Rew, shares her love of cold water swimming in this short film released in 2019. She admits that "getting in" is much harder than "being in," a reality many winter swimmers have experienced. Whether you are a wild winter swimmer, or prefer to stick to your local pool, we think you'll enjoy this short 6 minute film.
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