7/12/07
Master’s swimming class teaches competition strokes
By Konstantin Vengerowsky

KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY/Manning Times

Master’s swimming class member Bucky Mock listens intently as instructor Millie Berg gives him pointers about his swimming technique. Class member Cherie Hale listens in.

Have you ever wanted to learn the basic strokes of swimming: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly or backstroke, and never had anyone to teach you? The Zone has just the class for you. It’s called the master’s swimming class.

Forty-four years of swimming sounds like a long time to be in the pool.

But that is how long Millie Berg, instructor at the YMCA in Sumter and The Zone in Manning, has been teaching swimming. Berg has been a competitive swimmer since she was 10 years old. From being a coach for novice swimmers to teaching master competitors, Berg has done it all.

“I started swimming competitively when I was 10 and felt like I had a natural ability for it,” Berg said. “That’s when I decided I should try and teach those skills to others.”

The master’s swimming class, which has been ongoing at The Zone for about a year and a half, focuses on teaching technical skills and basic strokes, while at the same time providing a cardiovascular workout.

“I try to focus on technique when people first join the class,” said Berg. “Once they have those skills down I start pushing more cardio work. That way they will be able to maintain the techniques learned at a higher level.”

The course is offered to both recreational and competitive swimmers, as well as triathletes.

Cherie Hale, 37, of Manning, has been taking the class for the past six months, and has felt tremendous improvements in her strokes.

“I could barely swim the length of the pool before taking this class,” she said. “And now I can do four or five laps without stopping.”

Hale also added that she has gotten a great cardiovascular workout from the class.

“It just gives you an alternative to aerobics for example,” she said. “You also don’t have to worry about injury ‘cause it’s a non-impact sport.”

Bucky Mock, 63, a competitive swimmer from Manning who has been with the class since it’s inauguration, has felt significant changes in his swimming technique.

“My time as well as the smoothness of my stroke has improved,” he said.

“I feel like I can use less energy to maintain the same speed of my strokes.”

Berg said that she has seen improvement from the participants.

“The best swimmers could swim maybe 200 meters (or 4 laps) at the beginning of the course, and now they could swim a lot further without stopping,” she said. “I also had some that could barely swim the length of the pool, and now they’re able to swim easily for several laps.”

Some of the Manning participants got a chance to test their skills last year when they competed against master swimmers from Sumter at the YMCA.

“It wasn’t timed or anything like that,” said Berg. “It was just a good opportunity to see where they were at, and have some fun.”

To join the class a person has to be able to swim at least 25 meters, or the length of the pool, with a freestyle stroke and be able to do one of the other four strokes.

“Because everyone works at a different level, I gear the workout towards an individual’s abilities,” Berg said.

Berg also added that no matter how much experience a swimmer has had, they can always become better in a particular stroke.

“No matter what level swimmer you are there is always something you can improve.”