Meet Dylan,
A computer nerd from Tasmania whose previous pinnacle of sporting prowess was protest-walking a 1600m foot race in a sports carnival, he fell in love with swimming in 2014, half a nation away from his home state. “It’s been ten years and my parents are still shocked that I’m doing sport by choice”.
After spectating at a Masters Swim Meet he finally understood how the Masters sport could be “non-competitive” and decided to give Aqualicious a try.
“When I first started with Aqualicious I could barely swim a 50. I’d get to one end of the pool, heave my lungs up for a few minutes, and then swim back.”
“My first sessions, I was doing 500m in an hour and fifteen minutes and I was totally stuffed!”
Working with Aqualicious’s Coaches he improved, and clubmates celebrated even the small wins with him. “My first 100m continuous should have been nothing special to anyone, but my lanemates in the cocktail lane knew how hard I was working to be able to manage that, and they were so encouraging!” Dylan smiles.
Never in a million years did Dylan expect to be interested in competition, until that one fateful day. “Aqualicious was holding our swim meet in 2014 and I decided I was going to give it a go! I just entered the 50m freestyle as a taster. Did I win? Nowhere near! Was I fast? No. Was I happy? You bet!” One of the things that made the competition fun was the attitude of Masters swimmers from all clubs. “Sitting in marshalling people would ask you about yourself and your swimming, I had so much encouragement from people in my first ever race wishing me luck and telling me to have fun”
Less than a year after joining, Dylan raced his first 50 butterfly in Hobart at the 2015 Nationals Masters Championships “It was more ‘electrocuted moth’ than butterfly, but I got through and wasn’t disqualified!” he says, laughing.
Breaststroke is his passion though, and he revels in the long distances. “It amazes me that less than 2 years after joining, I was doing 800m Breaststroke races, and soon after, my favourite, the 1500m!”
Taking home various awards over the years including Coaches awards, Swimmer of the Year, and Club Person of the Year, the thing that keeps Dylan coming back and striving for more are the people.
“I was pretty new to Brisbane, and didn’t know many people. Throwing myself into the vibrant social aspect of Aqualicious really gave me some amazing friendships and I have been lucky to meet, know, and love some truly wonderful people. Medals are shiny, but the true gold is in the people here.”
Almost 10 years after joining, Dylan is Head Coach and President of Aqualicious, and Chair of the Masters Swimming Australia Gender Diversity Subcommittee.
If you want to experience Aqualicious like Dylan did, there are three ways to get started: