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--></style><title>[PacMasterUpdate] Pacific Masters Update October
13, 2005</title></head><body>
<div>MARJORIE SHARPE (1917-2005)</div>
<div>After suffering a stroke two months ago, Marjorie Sharpe passed
away yesterday. She was 88. Marjorie was known for her love of life.
She always had a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye. At
the time of her death, Marjorie held six national records in the
backstroke.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At the end of the Update, there are remembrances of
Marjorie.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>CHANGE IN SWIMMING RULES</div>
<div>Starting Sepetember 19th Backstrokers could start with their toes
out of the water (but not curled over the gutter).<br>
<br>
The Breaststoker can now do a dolphin kick off the wall. I would not
try it now, as everything has not been sorted out. So there is a
chance you could do it leagally and get dq'ed or do it wrong and get
away with it. As USA Swimming and US Masters figure it out,
information will be in the update.<br>
</div>
<div>UPCOMING MEETS<br>
Wine Country Invitational</div>
<div>Santa Rosa Masters will be holding the Wine Country Invitational
in Healdsburg, October 14 and 15 . You can enter on race
day.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>STROKE CLINIC</div>
<div>DAVIS AQUATIC MASTERS will host stroke clinics for fitness
swimmers from 1-2:30 pm on the following dates at the Civic pool
in Davis just off the corner of 5th and B St.<br>
</div>
<div>Clinics are $10 each, pre-paid, for non-DAM members. Coach Rick
Powers has given more than 100 clinics in 30 countries. DAM staff and
swimmers will assist you in the water with your technique. Butterfly
Sat. Oct. 15; Breaststroke Sun.</div>
<div>Oct. 16.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Contact Rick Powers at rpswimmer@hotmail.com</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>TUOLOMNE COUNTY SHORT COURSE MEET CANCELLED</div>
<div>The Tuolomne County Short Course Meet on October 29th has been
cancelled. All meet entry fees will be refunded.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>CHANGE IN SCHEDULE</div>
<div>There was a problem with the Heather Farms pool schedule. The
2005 Pacific Masters Short Course Meters Championships have been moved
to November 4th, 5th and 6th. This meet is the first meet where the
distance events will be held on the last day.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>COACH NEEDED</div>
<div><font face="Verdana">Bay Masters (BAY) is in need of an Assistant
Masters Coach to run the evening practices at the newly opened
UCSF Bakar Fitness Center (at Mission Bay). The facility has an
outdoor 6 lane x 25 yard pool on the roof overlooking the bay.
Interested candidates should contact Annette
Wheeler, Aquatics Manager at:
http://awheeler@cls.ucsf.edu or
phone: (415) 502-4446.</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>YOUR ANSWERS ARE HELPFUL TO PACIFIC MASTERS SCHEDULING</div>
<div>Toulomne County Aquatic Masters (TCAM) regretfully decided to
cancel their pool meet scheduled for Saturday, October 29, 2005.
Pacific Masters would like feedback from you to assist in future meet
planning.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>1. How far would you travel to a meet?</div>
<div>2. Would you rather attend a one-day meet on Saturday or
Sunday?</div>
<div>3. Do you prefer to attend multiple day meets (3-day championship
meets) or one-day meets?</div>
<div>4. Are there certain times during the year you prefer to attend a
meet (for example, you only go to meets during summer months)</div>
<div>5. Any other comments on the timing or location of Pacific
Masters pool meets?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Please send any responses to
MAILTO:barryfasbender@comcast.net</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Opportunity Knocks<br>
- Swim for Malaria!<br>
Pacific Masters Swimming encourages you to support the World Swim for
Malaria, a global grassroots swimming initiative partnering with
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Speedo, and Microsoft that can be swum on or
before December 3rd. The goal is to have a million people participate
in this event. 100% of all monies raised will go toward the purchase
and installation of mosquito netting - the single most effective way
of preventing malaria.<br>
<br>
Though we don't experience malaria first hand here in the US, at
least a million people die from malaria each year. Some put the
estimates as high as 2.7 million. 70% of the deaths are of children
under 5. You can find all the information you need at
http://www.worldswimformalaria including sponsorship forms, how to
collect and submit donations, the background and goals of this event,
and the pledges of participation of individuals, groups, Masters
teams, and corporate organizations around the world.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You can swim this event at Stanford Swimming pool this event on
December 3rd or you can organize this event at your own pool. Pacific
Masters encourages you and your friends and teammates to join in this
effort to make a real difference in the world.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Have a good week</div>
<div> </div>
<div>michael</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>---</div>
<div>MARJORIE SHARPE</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Tim Edmonds, Coach of Stanford Masters</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It is with a sad heart that I write to tell you that Marjorie
Sharpe passed away yesterday morning. Marjorie suffered a stroke
about two months ago and was able to have some nice moments with
friends following the stroke. Her last days were quiet and
peaceful.</div>
<div><br>
Marjorie was, without doubt, one of the most vibrant and
wonderful individuals whom it has ever been my pleasure to know.
She had two great loves in her life, her husband Al, who passed away
nearly 9 years ago, and the water. On too many mornings to count
you could find Marjorie seeking the perfect backstroke, the perfect
flip turn, or the elusive perfect freestyle in her lane. Always
there to share a tidbit of advice with a new swimmer or share a story
about her travels with Al she was a wonderful ambassador of
Swimming and a true reminder of what it can mean to have a long very
full life. Swimming well into her 88th year kept her young and
gave her a fulfillment that she could never quite put into the right
words. She would never argue about being called a "kept
woman", constantly seeking the warm embrace and the support of
the chlorinated water of the Stanford pools.<br>
<br>
You will be missed my "sweetheart"......our pools will be a
little less full without you in them.<br>
<br>
A memorial service will be planned in the near future and I'll send
out details when they are available. Please feel free to
email me or use the Masters Misc. list to share memories or stories
about Marjorie. I would love to hear them....more now than ever.
Warmly....Tim</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>---</div>
<div> Whenever the alarm goes off at 4:50am on a winter morning,
and the rain is pounding my roof, I always ponder the thought of
skipping morning Masters swimming. Then, without exception, I would
think about Marjorie, walking so tentatively down the pool stairs with
both crutches, saying hello to everyone, and absorbing the rain as if
it were a petty nuisance.<br>
<br>
She has always been my inspiration for putting up with the little
annoyance of swim practice. She would muscle through anything in life,
and make tons of friends along the way. My understanding is that at
Ocean competition swims, someone just carries Marjorie out beyond the
waves and tosses her in for the start of another great swim.<br>
<br>
She was an angel, and God is probably thrilled to have her swimming on
the Master's Team up top.<br>
<br>
Brian Avery</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>----</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>One of my fondest memories of Marjorie was early in the fall of
my freshman year at Stanford. It was 6:50 in the morning and because
Marjorie was also an "honorary member" of the varsity team,
she often shared our locker room. We were all getting changed after
cycling, and I remember being shocked that she had already been in the
water for an hour and a half (here I was thinking we were the tough
ones!). She was tying her Keds over her swimming socks, and during our
conversation I asked her how swimming was going. She lit up and said
she was so excited because it was her birthday and she was "aging
up" and was ready to break all the world records for the 85+
group. We laughed and I wished her luck, and sure enough, the next
week she reported back that she had done just that. Every day Marjorie
amazed me with her smiles and motivation. That tiny body housed one of
the biggest hearts I have ever known.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Tinley Bick</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>----</div>
<div>Majorie was a regular entrant at open water events all over
northern California. I saw her time and time again, usually with Al
when he was alive. I'll always remember the Whiskeytown Lake swim one
year, which offered both the 1-mile and 3-mile events.
Whiskeytown is up by Redding, and Majorie wasn't about to waste a four
hour drive each way by entering only one event, so she swam both!<br>
<br>
She could barely walk on land, but was she a terror in the water!
Quite an inspiration, and always ready with a smile and a
compliment!</div>
<div><br></div>
<div> Jim Merchant</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>--</div>
<div>I knew right away the first time I met Marjorie that she was a
very special and inspirational person. That was nearly a decade ago --
it was after workout in the women’s locker room at Stanford.
Marjorie was dripping wet, smiling and making some sort of comment
about her time for a swimming event. Being impressed that this
older lady was still competing, let alone swimming masters workouts at
Stanford, I asked her when she started competitive swimming, assuming
she had been competing most of her life. “Oh no!” she said, “I
only started competing in my 70s. That made a huge impression on
me. Now I think of Marjorie every time I think I’m too old to take
on something physically challenging or new. I thought of her when I
finally decided to learn how to do flip turns in my late 40s I sucked
so much water up my nose those first few months, but stuck to it and
succeeded knowing there are people like Marjorie in the world.</div>
<div><br>
<br>
Another incident I’ll never forgot and speaks to the strength, humor
and joy of life that Marjorie had. It was at PMS Short Course Yards
Championships in Santa Cruz a couple of years ago. Marjorie had
slipped off the blocks during her dive on an early event and scraped
the skin off one of her shins. That didn’t stop her from
swimming her other events that day. One of the meet officials had
taped-up her wound and she proceeded to swim her next event.
Apparently the tape started to unwind during her swim and by the end
she was dragging a long tail of bandage through the water. She
finished her swim fine, but was having a hard time untangling the mess
and getting herself out of the lane, so I helped her out. I was amazed
when I saw the bandage and bleeding wound she was swimming with, but
she told me what happened, just shook her head and said chuckling
“That if you live long enough everything is bound to happen to
you!”<br>
<br>
<br>
What a wonderful lady! I will miss seeing her at meets and will think
of her often.<br>
-Lisa Ryner</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>---</div>
<div>I first met Marjorie when I first started swimming Masters in the
early 90's with the Peninsula Covenant Community Center Masters. Back
then Marjorie was using a walker. But, as time went by she gave up the
walker and started using a cane. It was as if the more she swam the
younger she became. It has been a privilege to swim Masters with
Marjorie. I don't know anyone else who managed to break so many
Masters records as she was able to do. She knew all of her competition
by name. And she knew what she had to do to win. She just kept showing
up and winning. Here's one for a wonderful person and a great Masters
swimmer.</div>
<div><br>
Ken Merritt</div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div>michael<br>
Michael W. Moore</div>
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