James M

When/where/why I started swimming
hmm I was thrown into the cold Canadian waters of Lake Erie by my father before I could walk for a sink or swim introduction to the wonderful joys of swimming...thankfully I immediately took to my new watery surroundings, I guess it was kinda like going back to the womb albeit a much colder womb than the one I had left 6 and 1/2 months prior but being from Buffalo it is all relative.  I started swimming competively in the fourth grade after a dismal season of outdoor pee-wee ice-hockey that I hated and was absolutely no good at, so my parents in their inifinte desire to have me fit in, put me in the local swim club cause "he might do better in the water."  I swam all the way through high school and went off to college to become the lazy, non-swimming, chain smoking, drinking party boy that moved out to Seattle.

when I started at orcas
I started swimming with Orca's back in the Medgar Evers Pool days....let's see probably 9 or 10 years ago...I'd swim regularly for a couple months and then Fall would come and it would get dark early and I'd stop swimming until summer would inspire me to get my lazy ass back in the pool. 

what i enjoy about swimming
I like trying to push myself beyond what I feel comfortable doing (I might bitch about doing it but like having done it when I'm done)...you know that extra 100 yards when you are already gasping for breath or feel like getting out of the pool for the day.  I hate leading cause I become mathmatically challenged in the pool,  but love following and nipping at people's feet, especially people I respect in the pool because it tells me I'm having a good day that I can even keep up with them.  I love losing myself in thought or a personal mantra and  having no idea where in the hell I am in a particular segment of the workout and just having to keep swimming until the person ahead of me stops

Matt L

My grandparents built a pool at their home in LaCrosse, WI.  I had an EXTREME fear of the water, and refused to engage in activities that involved actually submersing my body into it.  One early evening during spring 1979 (I was 5), I managed to let myself into the gated area, and fell into the pool.  I 'swam' to the side, and overcame my fear.  I've been swimming ever since. I started swimming with ORCA when I moved to Seattle in October 2001.  I swam with English Bay while living in Vancouver BC the two years prior to arriving here. I enjoy many things about swimming.  I enjoy the way it feels to  move in the water.  I enjoy the friendship of other swimmers.  I enjoy the adrenaline of competing.  And I enjoy swimming fast!

Paul C

I started swimming in the Middlewest, in creeks, rivers and lakes. My folks moved to Lake Tapawingo in 1967 where swimming became an all summer diversion. Skinny dipping parties were popular at Paul's. I began participation with ORCA swim team probably in 1990 in prep for "Celebration 90" - Gay Games. I enjoy swimming because of the mindless exertion that allows mental relaxation. I day dream a lot while swimming. The conditioning is also a benefit I enjoy, and of course the camaraderie.

Greg S

I started on a swim team when I was 7 years old at the Bellevue YMCA. While learning to swim, the swim team coach spotted me in the class and asked me to try out for the team. I swam continuously for 11 years in AAU, summer league and for Interlake High School until I quit swimming when I started undergrad studies at Seattle U.

I started with Orca just this past year after a 22 year hiatus from swimming. What I really enjoy about swimming is long distance workouts. Sprints are fun but getting that "high" while on a long distance workout is intoxicating.

Kathleen M

I learned to swim at the age of 4 in Tumwater WA. I remember winning some races at gymnastics camp on break day and wondering why the best gymnasts were such slow swimmers, but that's all the competing I did. I took up lap swimming in college. The Sydney 2000 Olympics had great web coverage, publishing race analyses that included stroke counts and splits. All this technical information intrigued me and I became less clueless about what competitive swimming is. Soon after, I discovered Swim magazine while browsing in Capitol Hill and saw the entry form for the 1-Hour Postal Swim in January 2001. I loved the idea that you could compete without knowing how to start off the blocks and without anybody but your lap counter seeing you. I also learned what Masters is. I joined Orca in December of 2000, hoping to find people to swim the event with me. I adore swimming because it's hard, but fun and rewarding and I don't have to worry about getting hit by all the balls I can't catch.

Michael Garrett

I started swimming when I was six years old, and started swimming competitive when I was seven years old. We only swam 25 yard events up until the age of ten - of course, that was the 1960s for me....! I even set a long-standing county record for ten years old for the 25 yard free style at 14.9 seconds. I loved swimming, because it was an individual sport as well as a team sport. Also, I wasn't good at any sports on dry land - swimming was my way to participate in sports, since I was not good at the more traditional sports, such as basketball and football.

I started with ORCA about seven years ago, and I haven't swum with the team in the last few years. My attention has been focused on my daughter the last few years, but now she is old enough to bring to a meet and cheer all of us on.

I just enjoy being in the water. It feels good - a freeing feeling, like not being weighted down with gravity. I feel weightless, and I can move in ways that I cannot on dry land. I can pretend to be in a different world while I am in the water.

Updated 6/17/02
  © 2002 Orca Swim Team