UAF is home to an incredible variety of clubs and organizations perfect for any interest.  In an effort to spread recognition among these consortiums, the Sun Star will be spotlighting a different club each week.  So stop whining, get involved.  Come on, everybody's doing it.

 UAF Masters Swim Team

Some gifts inevitably go to waste.  Case in point: the human body, at birth, can adeptly maneuver through water.  No joke.  Scuba Steve's got nothing on me.  Yet, for some reason, chucking a newborn into a pool is frowned upon by our kind.  And so, this innate talent withers, lying in wait for the eventual tyranny of purchased swim lessons.  It's sad, I know, but this is the way of things amongst a bipedal hierarchy.  Who will stand up to the insanity?  To the Patty Center (rapidly twirling and wildly zoomed pair of flippers)!

Nationally recognized, the Masters Swim Team facilitates older swimmers (18 and up) looking for the opportunity to maintain and/or hone a wide variety of aquatic abilities.  The UAF team, coached by Pieter deHart, has already made quite a name for itself among the winners' circle in Alaska.  "We placed third in state February, 2003, and fourth in the National Postal Competition, involving 322 individuals, last October," reports deHart.

Tri-weekly meets allow members of the UAF Masters Swim Team to practice and compete against each other.  But the organization isn't only for hard-core athletes.  "Our oldest member is in her late 60s," say deHart.  "There's no reason to think that you can't come just to have fun."  The club claims 20-30 members with an average session attendance of 12-24.

Monthly fees for participants ($15 a month for students/$40 for non-students – or $5 per drop-in fee) work towards renting the Patty Center pool.  Working towards continuing adult fitness, UAF hosted the Summer Solstice Meet this past June and will be hosting the Alaska State Masters Meet for the first time this year. 

"We love to have cooperation from Fairbanks.  While we basically have a business relationship with the Patty Center, we want to become far more involved with the campus and it's population as well as the people of [Fairbanks]," deHart remarks.

"The club has really grown in the past two years.  We want to reach out to people who may feel intimidated by the [organization].  We're talking about a lifetime shift here towards health.  I think every one capable should try us out."

The UAF Masters Swim Team meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00 to 8:30pm and Saturday morning from 9:00 to 11:00am.  For more information, contact Pieter deHart at 474-2758 or go to the web at www.akmswim.org.

Photo by Stephanie Taylor/Sun Star
UAF's Masters Swim Team Head Coach Pieter Dehart finishes a breast stroke at practice Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004.

Photo by Chris Houlette/Sun Star
The UAF Master's Swim Team practices at the Patty Center pool every Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30-8:30p.m.

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