Masters Testimonials
I am so happy I found the Crawfish Masters swim team. I swam competitively for 13 years, including 3 years at the University of Kansas. After college, work and life got busy, and I took a 20-year break from the sport. When my kids joined Crawfish, I realized how much I missed the sport, so I joined Crawfish Masters. I was very happy to learn the team has structured workouts and a coach who works with us on the latest stroke techniques. I was amazed at how quickly I became part of the Masters team. I met fellow swimmers who have become dear friends. When I broke my arm and leg and dislocated my shoulder in 2009, I spent 3 weeks in the hospital. My Masters teammates visited me every single day. They drove me to physical therapy and to practice for 3 months so I could recover. They encouraged me when I didn’t think I could swim, and especially when I didn’t think I could swim as fast as I had before. They cheered when I swam best times, and they are there for me, even if it’s just to help me get through a tough set. I recently swam the 200 Fly in a meet. As I struggled through the last 75 meters, the entire team got up to cheer me on, helping me finish. That swim was definitely a team effort. Chris Frederic
Crawfish Aquatics has offered me a flexible and well structured Masters Swim Team program. With offering morning, midday, and evening practice times the most demanding schedules have the opportunity to participate. The recently renovated pool and immediate area only complements the professional staff under the direction of the masters swim director Mrs. Nan Fontenot. Nan has over three decades of experience will all levels of masters swimming interest from lessons to competitive athletes. The location is central to the south Baton Rouge area and conveniently located less than a mile from interstate I-10. My swimming at Crawfish has been educational, very seldom interrupted, and has allowed me to become a more efficient and technically aware swimmer. Don Edgerton
I have been swimming with your Master’s team since the summer of 2008 and I never expected to gain so much from being a part of your program. I originally started swimming at Crawfish to train and prepare for a half Ironman race; I could physically propel myself across a pool, but I wouldn’t say that I was a swimmer. Coach Nan and the rest of the Master’s swimmers have been tremendous. Over the past two years Nan has always taken time to give me individualized attention and coaching to improve my stroke and swim performance. When my wife took up triathlon in 2009, Nan was instrumental in teaching her how to swim for distance and helping her feel comfortable in the water. What I thought would be a few months spent swimming in a pool has turned into over two years of new friends, great exercise, and expert coaching and guidance. I don’t know if I will ever be an expert swimmer, but because of my Crawfish Aquatics family, I am always well above average in my races and I am not scared of any swim distance or conditions. My wife can say the exact same and we both look forward to many years of swimming and the fellowship at Crawfish Aquatics.
Thank you for everything you do and for providing this opportunity to so many,
Jonathan and Lindsey Dziuba
My entire family swims at Crawfish and has for 9 years. It started innocently with swim lessons for one very young child and quickly turned
into year around swimming for both kids and (yikes!) beginners Masters for myself and my husband. The coaches and team are so positive in their approach to youth sports (and the Masters program); encouraging, inclusive, loving, while setting high standards in team behavior, sportsmanship and competition. It's a rare program that can offer an entire family something for fun and fitness - Crawfish accomplishes that along with many, many new friends. Susan Hayden
I have been a member of Crawfish Aquatics since 2007. I suffered an ACL tear and my Orthopedic Surgeon highly recommended that I try some non-weight bearing exercises to help strengthen my leg. Right from the start, Coach Nan inspired confidence in me. I quickly realized that the masters program offers swimming workouts for all levels of swimming from beginners to advanced swimmers. Initially it was very difficult for me to complete a workout. As I progressed my endurance increased and my technique improved. Still wanting to get faster and stronger I decided to start working out at Exerfit. The functional training offered at Exerfit is a great program that will help increase your general strength development. I have especially noticed it in the development of my "core strength", which has allowed me to be more efficient in the water. I would definitely recommend Crawfish Aquatics/Exerfit to anyone looking for a fun recreational activity that will improve their overall well-being. Michael Bourg
One of my friend's kids swam for Crawfish Aquatics. I called and spoke with Jan Ripple, and after explaining my injury, I asked if they had a program to work with adults. She convinced me to come in and swim with the team. My first visit, I was the only adult to show up, but the coach on deck was very patient and worked with me. I continued to return. I eventually dropped my health club membership and became a member of the Crawfish Masters team. I was so slow, didn't know any swimming techniques, and was very handicapped.
I am blessed to have so many wonderful people work with me, as every member of this team reached out to help me succeed. All of the coaching staff was patient and worked with me to get better. Nan Fontenot has been so supportive.
I have been consistently swimming at Crawfish Aquatics and working out at Exerfit. I am now swimming competitive swim meets. Recently, I made top 10 swimmer in our district. My goal is to compete in a triathlon in 2010. It wasn't long ago that I could not imagine doing anything like that. Exerfit and Crawfish Aquatics has greatly improved my quality of life. I am thankful to be a part of these programs. Ann Walton
The reason I joined Crawfish Masters in October of 08’ was to improve my overall fitness level. Workouts with the team were great but eventually I needed a little more motivation to swim on a regular basis. When Nan notified the team about the US Master’s GTD (Go The Distance) challenge, I was curious to see exactly how many yards I could swim every month. January, I swam over 67 miles. I couldn’t believe it. After seeing what I could do, I was motivated throughout the year to commit to swim. Of course the first month was the best month and I never came close to swimming that much yardage due to family, work, etc. However, the commitment to the program kept me motivated to make an effort to attend practice. I also ordered the milestone swim caps and patches offered by the GTD program which turned out to be a nice incentive. Although I did not make my annual goal of 500 miles, I did swim about 439 mile for the year. Without the challenge, I doubt I would have swam 1/2 that many miles or attended 1/2 that many practices. Thanks Crawfish/Exerfit for offering the community the chance to get fit! Diane Sabatier
After a year of encouragement from my wife, I finally went to the doctor back in January of 2010 for a routine physical. A week after the physical I received the results for the blood work and it was not good. My cholesterol and triglyceride levels were both in the high 200's. Worst of all, my fasting blood glucose was 121(pre-diabetic)! Needless to say at 38 years old, this was my wake up call. I came to the realization that there are many things in my life that are not within my control, but these things I had the power to change. For as long as I can remember, I've been a yo-yo dieter and exerciser. After seeing the lab results and consulting with my doctor, it became clear that eating a good diet and exercising exercising on a regular basis were no longer optional. My doctor and I discussed the possibility of medication along with diet and exercise, but I was insistent on trying without medication first. So, my prescription was 45 minutes of continuous exercise 5 days a week along with consultation with a registered dietitian. When it came to exercise, swimming was at the top of the list. Having been a member of Crawfish since 2007, I know how effective swimming can be for weight loss and overall health when done consistently. However, I never did swim consistently during those first three years of membership, but this was about to change. After 6 months on an diet/exercise program composed of consistently swimming 3 days a week, doing cardio 2 days a week, and weight training one day a week, I made tremendous progress. I had follow-up lab work done in July of 2010 and my cholesterol was now 136, my triglyceride level was 73, and my fasting blood glucose was 91!!!. That included at starting weight of 214 pounds in January 2010 and an ending weight of 174 pounds in July 2010. 40 pounds!!!! I have now been at it consistently for almost a year now and I truly believe I'll never go back to my old exercising and eating habits. I never knew how bad off I was until I lost 40 pounds, and I can't imagine being able to achieve these kinds of results without swimming. The bottom line for me is that I now know that eating a good diet and exercising regularly are no longer optional. After seeing those lab results back in January of 2010, the writing was on the wall. Get fit or suffer the consequences. I know Crawfish will be critical part of my lifelong fitness plan .God Bless and good luck everyone, Charlie Atwood
When the Doctor asked me 8 years ago how I could have possibly ruptured the discs in my lower back and upper back I was stumped for an answer. Between jumping out of planes and trees, motocross, bull riding, extreme skiing, football, and a couple of serious automobile accidents, I didn't have a clue. All I really knew was that I could not sleep for more than 4 consecutive hours at any one time, that my left arm was becoming numb from my shoulder to my elbow, and that I was having constant pain in my lower back. Going to work on 4 hours of sleep was tough. Maybe not on Monday or Tuesday, but by Wednesday, I was exhausted. After reviewing the MRI's, my doctor suggested I start with regularly scheduled epidural steroid injections in my lower and upper back combined with a physical therapy regimen. The 2 years of physical therapy had no effect and the steroid treatments were limited to three per year which left me with several months of extreme discomfort. Five years ago my left arm went completely numb with pain radiating down the entire length of my arm. I was told that epidural's would help somewhat with the pain, but I would still have to live with the numbness. At this point, I felt as if any type of active life was slipping away. I was on pain medication which left me feeling groggy all the time, I was always tired, and I was tied to having epidural's every couple of months. Doctor's suggested an operation, but the odds of tangible success did not look promising. I was unwilling to take the chance.
I had read that swimming was the least intrusive of all exercises and that a few people had found success in lessening the pain of having ruptured discs. As I used to love swimming when I was younger and had competed on a few teams, this seemed doable. It was five years ago this coming April that I began looking for an indoor pool, preferably 50 meters long.... because I only have to swim half the laps to accomplish the same distance. The Ketchum Center seemed like the ideal place, close to work, 50 meter heated pool, and open at 4:30 AM. The first two weeks were spent trying to figure out what I could and couldn't do in the water with respect to my back pain and my left arm (by the way, I'm left handed). I learned quickly that the Butterfly Stroke was the only one that proved painful and that putting a weight behind my head and swimming laps on my back was pure torture. Soon I began to develop a routine that specifically met my criteria. The pain began to subside within the first month and just a few weeks later, I began to get the feeling back in my left arm. Three months in, I was sleeping for up to six straight hours at a time and the numbness in my left arm was completely gone. I swam five days a week for over two years and then cut back to swimming 2 miles a day, 3 days a week. I am sleeping as much as 7 hours a night .....if I want to, I have not had an epidural since the spring of 2005, I am playing golf regularly again, my wife is disabled and I am able to care for her, and the quality of my life has improved ten fold. What more can be said other than I was about to lose the life I knew, but thanks to swimming, I gained my life back.
Barry Marionneaux
I was on a swim team for less than a year when I was a kid, but my family moved to a small town in West Virginia. There was no team—in fact, there was no lap pool in the entire county—so I ran track instead. It turned out I was a pretty good runner; I qualified for nationals in cross country my Junior and Senior year. I didn’t do sports in college, but I stayed in shape and always considered myself athletic.
A few years ago I had a close call—I almost let myself get old. I was in my late thirties, and after enjoying being fit and healthy most of my life, I was having back and knee problems and couldn’t run anymore. The disks in my lower back had become compressed from the time I spent as a firefighter and the resulting pain made it hard to sleep at night. I had lost feeling in my right thigh and the plantar fasciitis in my feet made it difficult to get through a work day. It seemed almost overnight I moved from being athletic to being a little overweight. I chalked it up to age, bought some bigger clothes, avoided scales and mirrors, and went on with my busy life. It wasn’t long before I realized I was moving from overweight to obese. As depressing as that was, getting back into shape seemed hopeless because of my health problems.
One day I got so out of breath going from my car to my classroom that I had to sit down for a minute before I could start teaching. It made me angry. I decided to work out in spite of the pain and joined a fitness club. Mostly I just worked out on an elliptical. It made my knees hurt, and my back problems didn’t improve, but I figured if I was going to be in pain anyway, I may as well be in shape. The fitness club I worked out at had a pool. I didn’t really remember the strokes, I couldn’t breathe without pulling my whole head out of the water on my freestyle, and doing a single lap had me so out of breath it was nearly comical, so I signed up for a swim clinic they offered. I learned how to swim passably, and started swimming laps instead of using exercise machines. After a while I realized I was swimming faster and longer than most of the people at my club, so I thought, “Hey, maybe I should join that masters team I heard about”--that was March 2010.
My first masters practice was a real eye opener. I couldn’t make the intervals even with fins on and everyone in the pool was a better swimmer than me. I was a little embarrassed and considered not coming back, but I swallowed my pride and started coming to afternoon practices twice a week. Chris worked with me on my technique, and within 6 months, I was swimming all four strokes at a swim meet. I’m not sure when it happened, but I have feeling in my right leg again, my plantar fasciitis and knee problems are gone, I’m in good shape, and I look and feel younger than I did five years ago. I’ll be 40 this weekend and I’m in better shape than I was at 30. I’m pretty new to swimming so there is still vast room for improvement in my technique and a lot of firsts to look forward to. Maybe one day I’ll qualify for nationals in my age group like I did in track when I was a kid. Maybe in 40 more years I’ll swim the mile for my 80th birthday.
Sherry Melancon
