Everybody into the POOL
After nearly two decades, the White Rock Wave masters swim club has grown to be about more than just swimming by Nick Greenizan
W
hen the White Rock Wave masters swim club was formed in 2001 it was, more than anything, a matter of convenience. A group of swimmers with the Winskill Otters club – most of whom knew each other through the White Rock Amateur Swim Association, where their children swam – had started to grow weary of driving to Tsawwassen, where the Otters were based, multiple times each week. Longtime coach Carole Gair was tired of it, too, and started
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| THIS IS THE LIFE | 2019 Peace Peace Arch Arch News News | THIS IS THE LIFE | 2019
checking around for options closer to home. Soon, they were granted space each week at the South Surrey Indoor Pool, and the Semiahmoo Peninsula-based Otters members splintered off to form the Wave. “We had three nights a week in South Surrey, and we started with about 30 or 35 swimmers,” Gair explained. “A lot of them had been swimmers as kids… with WRASA or at Crescent Beach, or they’d played water polo. And there were some that had no experience… some were just moms (of swimmers) who wanted to