Diana Schabert is spreading the word that swimming is fun and can take you places you never thought you would go. She wants to share her story because “swimming makes me feel so good, and it’s just so nice to share that feeling with other people.”

“Swimming is life, health, and happiness to me,” writes Schabert, 48. “I began swimming in high school. I was on the swim team, never very good but I did have endurance. It wasn't until my husband lost his kidneys before I really began swimming again. I went to college for the first time at 30 years of age, eventually getting my associates degree [at Chabot College]. More importantly, swimming came back into my life.”

When Mark Lambert’s son headed off to college last fall, Lambert decided to make swimming a habit. Although this low-key swimmer claims it wasn’t on purpose that the habit turned into a streak, on January 5, 2012, he swam his 100th practice in a row. His proud teammates toasted him with champagne at 6 a.m. “We popped the cork right at the end of practice,” says Lambert.

Bill Brenner is USMS’s new Club and Coach Services Director, and he is dedicating himself to expanding the quantity and quality of our local clubs and coaching. A mid and long distance freestyler who also places well in the longer breaststroke events, Brenner, 53, swims for the Sarasota YMCA Sharks and has also served as meet director for numerous Masters meets. A longtime Masters swimmer and coach who has a Level 2 Masters coach certification, Brenner is a natural leader who demands excellence of himself and those around him. Brenner has been an active board volunteer within the Florida LMSC and has served as its Top 10 recorder. He has also attended the last three annual conventions and has been a member of both the Championship Committee and the Coaches Committee.

With “clean burning fuel” and a sprinter’s mentality, Becky Fenson swam the recent 10K Little Red Lighthouse Swim in New York’s Hudson River all butterfly. For the second time.

Fenson, 44 and a part of the Virginia LMSC, was a meat eater and sprint freestyler in college at the University of Michigan. She is neither now, although she says she still tackles her races like a sprinter.

Do you know which USMS program is most popular? It’s not a meet, although Spring Nationals will often get close to 2,000 participants. It is the Nike Go the Distance program. The year-long event has seen tremendous growth since GTD was conceived by the Fitness Committee in 2007. Nike began sponsoring the event in 2009 and offering free prizes for different milestone achievements. Nike wanted to connect with fitness swimmers and encourage them to set milestone goals to keep them motivated. Of course, many competitive swimmers started to take advantage of this great program as well.

On a relay, you are a part of a team. When you contribute money toward finding a cure for a disease, you are also part of a team. The difference is that a relay swim has a finish line you can reach in a day or so. With ALS research, the finish line is far away.

Bethany Williston, 40 and a member of Great Lakes State Masters, is part of both types of teams, as are her fellow relay swimmers. They are planning a double relay crossing of the English Channel to raise money for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after its most famous victim.

This past July, Arthur Figur went back to his childhood home of Vienna, Austria to compete for the United States in the 2011 Maccabi Games, an international sporting competition for people in the Jewish community. The trip served a dual purpose for Figur; one goal was to enjoy the swimming competition, certainly, but another and perhaps more meaningful goal was to return as a successful and talented and strong American to a country whose leaders tried to kill him.

File this story under L for “Love of a lake,” and under W for “Wow, we have a lot of really interesting people in U.S. Masters Swimming.” Put your two files together and you also have the initials of an inspiring Masters swimmer.

Save nothing for the journey back and you’ll go some pretty interesting places—that is Lucian Wischik’s philosophy in a nutshell. The name of his workout group alone—the Seattle Open Water Irregulars—tells you that he also has a sense of humor. And that he references Beowulf’s literary swimming exploits in casual conversation tells you more about this thoughtful swimmer.

When you think of the Swimming Saves Lives foundation, what do you think? If you are like many people, you may think of the lifesaving aspect of swimming in terms of drowning prevention. While teaching people to swim safely is a big part of SSL, another way swimming saves lives is by preventing, and in some cases reversing, chronic ailments like heart disease, obesity and diabetes.