U.S. Masters Swimming Club of the Year Award
| Recipient: | Palm Beach Masters |
| Year: | 2017 |
| LMSC: | Florida Gold Coast |
Palm Beach Masters Wahoo (PBM) considered themselves unique and the team for everyone. Head Coach, Linda Bostic Irish, promoted passion and fun in many ways, most notably in the unique Wahoo Wagon RV. The RV’s presence transformed local and national swimming events into a social event with drinks, snacks, and fellowship, and made it fun to be a Wahoo.
The inclusiveness of being a team for everyone, gave their members passion and enthusiasm and allowed them to achieve both team and individual goals. The team had swimming champions, open water participants, triathlete champions, and fitness swimmers.
PBM was committed to safety and quality coaching, with stroke correction, video analysis, encouragement in workouts, and a YouTube channel drill of the day. PBM held many clinics: George Quigley Freestyle, Glenn Mills Go Swim, Karlyn Pipes Faster Freestyle, and Coach Linda’s 10 week “Swim Smooth” clinic. Their coaches led an open water swim with video stroke analyses. More swimming education came from a PBM swimmer, Daniel Lebost, who wrote “A Lazy Man’s Guide to Fast Swimming”, a book on competitive swimming physics, diet, and dryland training.
PBM had 500 members and incredibly, they had 11 volunteer USMS Certified Coaches, 6 USMS Certified Officials, and 4 LMSC board members. Their annual Snag Holmes Invitational signature event had 169 swimmers entered.
PBM supported their local community and sponsored the Turtleman Triathlon with proceeds benefiting the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. They planned a USA Paratriathlon training camp for disabled veterans and a camp for the US Military Endurance Sports Team. Ten local businesses sponsored PBM and PBM actively promoted its sponsors.
PBM offered frequent and unique social events for members. The Wahoo Wagon provided a base for pancake breakfasts, an open water swim, and barbeque. Most distinctive was a “Salt Suite” outing, where they immersed in a zen-like room which promised respiratory ailment and skin condition relief. All of the team’s events and gatherings made them proud of their achievements and happy to be Wahoos.