Comments on: One Big Happy Family: Marcinkowski’s Masters

By: onefish

onefish — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:21:03 +0000

Great article. Coming back to competitive swimming after many, many, years away I can relate, too, that it’s so often the people that we will remember – comaraderie, humor, competition, friendship. I know several compatriots that have tragic stories and keep coming back to train and compete, or just to train and have fun. My own simple existence is strengthened by just showing up and participating. Competition, well, it’s about as frustrating as my golf game.

As John Updike wrote: “We enter the ocean with a shock; our skin and blood shout in protest. But, that instant, that leap, past, what do we find? Ecstasy and buoyancy. Swimming offers a parable. We struggle and thrash, and drown; we succumb, even in despair, and float, and are saved.”

Keep up the fine work.

By: durham

durham — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:59:38 +0000

what facilities is CUBU masters using? It used to just be the 8-9pm shift at Burke after the Prep II’s finished up.

By: swim fan, too

swim fan, too — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:24:10 +0000

Great article & some good feedback as well. Another thing that everyone in the swim community needs to note is Amy’s comment that they want AND NEED input from us and that includes support & promotion of Reach for the Wall. The site is a great pr tool for the sport and to show our support we need to continue to spread the word.

By: Liz, a Curl-Burke swimmer

Liz, a Curl-Burke swimmer — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:13:09 +0000

Thank you so much for a great article. Frank is a great motivator, a fabulous coach, and an all-around great guy.

By: masterswimmer

masterswimmer — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:26:38 +0000

Great article about masters swimming. It’s great to see a master team getting some publicity. As a “younger” master swimmer, I think it’s important to show age groupers and their parts that they can keep swimming and competing after high school and college

By: Amy Shipley

Amy Shipley — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:51:57 +0000

Swimfan, thanks for reading and thanks for the ideas. We already have an Anna Johannes story in the works; we plan to run it closer to when she competes in October. Amy

By: swimfan

swimfan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:15:10 +0000

You are right Amy, it is a good and worthwile story but RTW is beginning to look like the CUBU pr page. and it is not because they are the only ones with a story”fit to print”
You had several comments about Potomac swim school being the same kind of program that has been around for awhile when you did the piece on Rick Curls “new” swim school…you could do a follow up with them.
Or how about RMSC’s David Kraft being named age group coach of the year. Or all you have to do is check the pvs webpage and see that the Potomac Marlins have a very gifted swimmer,Anna Johannes that many would love to see an article on. And how about the increase in fees for club swimmers and how the economy has effected programs, is their a shift to lower cost and parks and rec’s now? Or I would love to see a story about swim parents..Lots of good stories, lots of good teams.
And finally, kudos to Marcinkowski and his program..his repuation proedds him and he has truely done good things for the sport and earned some recognition

By: Amy Shipley

Amy Shipley — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:01:10 +0000

First of all, thanks for reading. Please understand, we want nothing more to unearth all of the good swimming stories in the region and feature them on this site. You can reach us at info@reachforthewall.com and me, personally, at amynshipley@gmail.com. Let us know about news big and small. If it’s a good story, I promise you we will follow up — though we have a pretty small staff, so be patient with us, too. This a new venture for us, and we are just learning, but we are committed to doing it right. We welcome — and need — input from the swimming community. And, finally, I hope you read this particular piece. I think a story about a guy who has grown a masters swimming program from a dozen people to more than 500 in five years — while working full-time and caring for a wife of nearly 25 years with cancer — is pretty worthy of some ink… whether it’s a Curl-Burke Masters or any other program!

By: local swim parent

local swim parent — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:57:22 +0000

Is there no other swim program in Metro DC willing to talk to the Washington Post about what they do? Why is it Curl-Burke every day? Between Paul Tenorio and your other columns, CUBU gets frre ink 3-4 times a week. There are over 30 PVS clubs, each with it’s own unique story and it’s own history and accomplishments. How about some exposure for other programs??