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A spirit that is not afraid

Masters Swimming club builds a community of athletes

<p>Auburn Masters Swimming program member and equipment during practice on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019.</p>

Auburn Masters Swimming program member and equipment during practice on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019.

Masters Swimming is a club for swimmers ages 18 and up who come together six days a week to build a community of athletes. While the club has many members who train in order to compete, many swimmers are there to enjoy swimming with like-minded teammates or to stay in shape.

“[Swimming] keeps me sane,” said Bennett Paradis, a member of the club. “I liked to swim when I was in undergrad, and I just wanted to keep it going. Pretty much from day one, I started here with Masters Swimming.“

Although a team, the club is very individualized,with coaches giving workouts and advice tailored to each member’s individual goals and skill level.

“I appreciate the coaches, too,” Paradis said. “They give a lot of feedback to help us improve in whatever we want to improve.”

While basic swimming capabilities are required, Masters Swimming presents an opportunity for people without a background in competitive swimming to discover the culture and experiences of swimming on a team.

“Generally, if we need to make exceptions or tailor specific workouts to specific people, we do that,” said Coach William Mckinley.

Swimmers have many opportunities to measure their progress because they have the opportunity to attend meets, including a competition that Auburn will host Feb. 16-17.


Auburn Masters Swimming program member during practice on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019.


Masters Swimming isn’t just about the swimmers. Coaching the Masters team has brought new meaning to the sport for Mckinley, former Auburn University swimmer.

“If you’d have asked me a year ago if I was gonna do any kind of swim coaching ever, I probably would have told you no,” Mckinley said.

After burning out on the sport and then graduating from Auburn and her swim team, Mckinley fell into the job of Masters coach. 

“And then, when I got into this, it was just kind of refreshing to see people that have goals that are so different from where my goals were in the sport, and that’s actually really cool,” Mckinley said.

He especially appreciates the variety of challenges that he encounters in meeting swimmers’ needs. 

“This goes back to each person’s individual goals,” Mckinley said. “Outside of these workouts, there is not much I can do. There are some people who are like ‘Hey what can I do outside of the water to benefit my swimming?’ I’ve written weight programs for them and suggested people who are better at that sort of thing. I’ve suggested those sources for them to improve their weight training.”

For swimmers who are out of practice and are unsure about the commitment, Mckinley urges anyone who is remotely interested to come down to the pool and try Masters Swimming.

“It kind of builds that feeling of having a team that I think we lose when we go on to do other things and we’re not, you know, exercising with a team, we’re not working out with a team, we’re not competing with a team,” Mckinley said. “It’s very different from when you’re like in the office with people. You can build that camaraderie and stuff, but it’s just different, so I think it’s pretty good. I would recommend it.”

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