What makes Bruce McLeod swim?
Probably that two week stint as a cross country runner in high
school: he likens it to insanity.
”You run as far as everyone else, but if you don’t finish
in the first three, the day is wasted in terms of points. You
gotta be nuts to do that!” said Bruce.
“In California, everybody swims. I lived in the neighborhood
where Mark Spitz started out swimming. I started swimming summer
league,” he recalled. After the family moved to Chicago, he
still came back to swimming because it seemed “easy”.
“Because I was from California, it was assumed I could swim.
Swimming had sets that started with the word ‘easy’--you know,
easy 25, easy 50, I liked that attitude, so I was on the swim
team,” said Bruce.
He swam in intramural events at Texas Christian University
and while in the US Navy, which he joined after graduating from
the University of Maryland Dental School. After completing his
Naval service, Bruce moved to Hendersonville and began looking
for a place where he could swim.
“Faced with the possibility of having to run for fitness,
I started asking around and found Sea Star, and the rest is
about 10 or 11 years of history, I guess,” says Bruce.
“When I started with Ron, he and Joan Pennington Dyer (Team
USA, 1980 Olympics) swam in the lane next to me, emphasizing
my lack of speed, skill and endurance. I’m not really sure why
I kept coming back,” Bruce recalled with a smile.
Not that Bruce hasn’t had his own moments of glory in the competition
pool. The team still remembers his “showing” in the 2004 Dixie
Zone Championships in Brentwood, Tennessee.
“There I was on the starting block. The Dixie Zone meet in
Brentwood--50 fly, the gun goes off; I hit the water with power
and perfect stream line...unfortunately, I should have remembered
to tie my suit! I didn’t want to DQ, so I bobbed the buns to
the wall, pulled the suit up as far as I could on the turn and
brought it home,” he recalled.
MTSC Masters has been “behind” Bruce as a team leader ever
since.
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Marisa Gordon listens
to her grandmother, Fan Benno-Caris when she tells everyone she
meets to “Get up and MOVE!”
Grandma knows best. After all, at age 91, she
is an international race walking champion. She is also Marisa’s
biggest fan when it comes to swimming.
“I am moving and having so much fun!” says Marisa.
“I hope one day I am the kind of superstar she is!”
Marisa started swimming with MTSC Masters in
October 2008. She was waiting for her daughter, Chloe, to finish
her swim class at Sea Star Swim School. After learning about MTSC
Masters, she decided to take the plunge. Completing her first
workout gave her a real sense of accomplishment.
“I went with the flow and finished my first
swim! I did it! What a rush! That whole day at the office, I felt
a skip in my step!” says Marisa.
Not only has Marisa gained a new family with
MTSC Masters, she has found a new love—open water swimming. To
support one of the members of her swimming family, she braved
the icy cold waters of Lake Michigan to participate in “Swim Across
America” in Chicago.
“I swam the half mile in Lake Michigan in 27½
minutes! You’d swim fast too in 62 degree water--my lips were
a lovely shade of blue when I finished!”
When she’s not swimming, Marisa is the Director
of Sales for the Hometown Suites in downtown Nashville. She’s
also a busy mother of two. Swimming has become more than just
a sport for Marisa; it gives her an opportunity to relieve stress
and stay grounded.
“All day long, I am using my hospitality skills.
In the water, it is just me; no talking--just the sound of the
water and my MTSC Family!” she said.
Like her grandmother, Marisa offers some advice to those who aren’t
pursuing any kind of fitness activity.
“My advice to you is ‘Get up and move’! Come
join us at 5:30AM and feel the skip step in your step! I’ll be
saving a spot for you!”
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