DAVENPORT, Iowa — After 30 years in their original location, the long-time club, QC Masters Swimming, is moving their weekly practice to a new facility. For many of the swimmers, it was a bittersweet farewell.
For three decades, anyone who went for a Saturday morning swim at Davenport's downtown YMCA, could find the group working out, practicing drills, and chatting.
"We just got used to meeting down here. They gave us a dedicated hour of swim time every Saturday all the way back to the 80s," explained Norm Bower, the groups volunteer coach and coordinator.
QC Master Swimming is a part of the national network of masters clubs that have over 60,000 registered participants across the country. The local group began in the mid-1980s, and has seen five state championships over that time, with the most recent win being in 2004. Through it all, they've always practiced out of the same tiny, humid, familiar pool at the YMCA.
But now, the group is saying goodbye to that home.
On Friday, Dec. 11, the Y will close its doors, before the opening of the brand new facility, just a few blocks away, on Dec. 21.
QC Masters Swimming will also migrate over to the new building, and pool, but says it'll be a bittersweet transition.
"I just think the sense of continuity is important," said Bower. "We've loved this pool, but we think its day is passed. You just have to be adaptive and say 'Okay, we have good memories here,' but we're gonna make more good memories at the other place."
And over the past 30 years, there's been plenty of memories made.
QC Masters Swimming has about ten members, of all ages, who come down to practice on a regular basis. And Bower says when they attend their half-dozen annual competitions, there's usually 15-20 swimmers that show up.
Depending on the week, the group will grab breakfast together, attend a farmers market, or have a social gathering at one person's house.
"It's extended family at this point. We really know each other really well and we all have compatible values and ideas. It's a pretty tight knit group," said Bower. "Just that little break from the rest of the world for an hour every Saturday feels pretty good."
He went on to say that for as much as he loves the drills and workouts (and the wins), the minutes spent chatting with each other in the hot tub afterward, or across the buoys in-between laps, are some of his most cherished moments.
A life-long swimmer, Bower has been in a pool since he was 10 years old and a pool was built just two blocks from his childhood home in Indiana. After years of lessons, high school swimming, and lifeguarding, he eventually swam for Notre Dame, where the backstroke was (and still remains) his favorite event.
"It just gave me a lot of confidence as a sport. In Indiana if you're not a basketball player, you hardly count," laughed Bower. "But I was good at it and I stuck with it and it kept me healthy. I have a family and a career and I'm proud of all those things too, but swimming's a pretty important part of my life."
When him and his wife moved to the Quad Cities in 1988, he immediately joined the local Masters team, and even served at the state level for years. He describes the organization as a great way to stay fit and connected - both with friendships and the sport itself.
For Joan McCarthy, one of QC Masters Swimming's original members, that same passion has always been present. She grew up a swimmer on the south side of Chicago and went on to compete both in high school and in college. After moving to Bettendorf with her family, she began swimming at the YMCA before the masters club was even founded.
"My first love is just to always come back to the pool," she said.
There's a lot of memories built into 30 years of practicing in the same place, but McCarthy had to laugh at some of the odder recollections that stood out while we were chatting.
"If you look at these squares up here," she said, gesturing to the colorful tiles lining the walls around the pool, "There's all color. The ones on the ceiling used to be colored too! It's weird how you remember things."
When asked about leaving the pool, she said that it'll be a nice, but still sad change. However, being with the team has always been what's most important to her.
"We're just one big family," said McCarthy.
That family has seen plenty of change over the years. Members have come and gone, numbers have grown and shrank, and those who have been around for a while are getting a little older.
"Our pace and our focus has calmed down a little bit over the years. We're all in our 50s and 60s now - I'm 67 - and we enjoy the comradery as much as the hard workout," laughed Bower. "But we do like to get our blood pumping and stay fit, then go to the swim meets and show the world what we can do."
And that energy will carry over to their new home... along with a more tangible mark of their transition. The team collected water from the original YMCA pool, stored it in a bottle, and plans on releasing it into the new facility's pool, together.
After that, they say they're looking forward to splashing around, then getting back to work: resuming their typical 1,500-yard Saturday morning workouts.
"There's a motto of swim till your armpits bleed," noted Bower. "We never took it quite that seriously, but we did take our swim team pretty seriously. We did well."
Anyone 18 years old or older can register with the team here and attend both practices and competitions.