Swimming is the most forgiving sport as we get older. Thanks to U.S. Masters Swimming, swimmers aged 18 to 100+ can enjoy self improvement, team life, and competition as much as the youth do. Readers of the Connection may not be aware that our local team, the Reston Masters Swim Team (RMST), participates in national as well as regional swimming competitions. It regularly punches above its weight in competitions, and its 4th place in the National Long Course Swimming Championships held in Richmond, Va., Aug. 3-7, 2022, is RMST’s best finish yet.
U.S. Masters Swimming is affiliated with the World FINA Masters Swimming organization, which sponsors international competitions. Some Masters swimmers compete while others swim for fitness or to get coaching to improve strokes. RMST swims at the Reston Community Center in the Fall-Spring and in the 50 m Lake Newport pool in the summer.
Swimming exercises all the muscles and promotes cardiovascular health. A memorable story was told by an RMST swimmer. He was in Reston Hospital for an infection when nurses saw a pulse rate below 40 on his monitor and rushed to his bedside. As they reached him he seemed fine. “Are you a runner?” the chief nurse asked. Long-distance runners are known for low pulse rates. “No, he said, “but I swim up to 3000 meters a day!”
Frank Koval recently celebrated his 24th year as coach of the Reston Masters Swim Team, whose members include fitness swimmers, triathletes, and competitive swimmers. RMST also runs the annual Jim McDonnell Lake Swim in Lake Audubon (Reston Va), which includes nationally sanctioned 1 and 2-mile open-water competitions and periodically hosts the U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water National Championships. Persons interested in swimming with RMST can contact Coach Frank Koval at rmstcontact@gmail.com.There is a lane for out-of-shape or inexperienced swimmers. Initial trial swims with the team are free.