Up on the bluffs, on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, is a gorgeous, Olympic-sized pool that’s a swimmer’s dream. Once the marine layer has lifted, the pool gets full California sun and even has a grassy area nearby with picnic tables. This pool is the shining star at the Burns Recreation Center and is available to students, faculty and the community alike, for a very reasonable fee.
Home to the LMU Lions Water Polo Team and the L.A. SeaStars, the synchronized swimming club, it’s the Masters Swim Program under the guidance of head coach Bonnie Adair that Westchester/Playa residents of all ages are crazy about. For some members it’s about fitness or getting mentored by Adair; for others it’s about keeping that competitive edge. But for everyone involved, there’s an undeniable social aspect to swimming that’s unique to this community both in and out of the pool.
For two decades now, LMU Masters Swim Program Director and Women’s Swimming Head Coach Bonnie Adair has brought her expertise and passion to both university students and the local aquatic community. Something about Westchester has always had a hold on her. In fact, the first home her parents ever bought was on Denrock, just south of little Vons.
“We moved to the San Fernando Valley when I was only six-months old so I have no actual memory of this home, but I feel like there was a boomerang aspect to my life to be where I am today at LMU,” says Adair. “I just wish they had held on to the property and passed it down to me as it is probably valued in the $1.5 million range in today’s market!”
At just 5-years-old, Adair began to explore her natural aquatic abilities in the pool and on the edge of the diving board, sending her on a 13-year career of competitive swimming. After attending UCLA as an undergraduate and then getting a law degree at LMU, she stepped away from the pool to pursue a lucrative law career. Though she found great success as a legal eagle, she missed her amphibious life and sharing her passion for the pool with others.
“I couldn’t let go of the swimming stuff,” says Adair. “And then at some point, I just felt like it was my calling and gave up law. I was in my own firm at the time and I wasn’t enjoying myself. I thought, ‘You know what? I want to get back on the deck!’ And so here I am now, 20 years later, with kind of a second career with the Women’s Swim Team at LMU and the Masters.”
Adair thoroughly enjoys coaching the LMU students, but she’s also invigorated by the swimmers in the Masters Program who come from all different backgrounds and ages–from some high school kids to adults in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and even a few in their 80s.
“It’s a social outlet for me to coach adults of all levels that want to stay healthy,” says Adair. “It’s more of a fitness program than it is anything competitive. We do get ex-college swimmers, but we also get a lot of new people that have never swam in an organized kind of environment. It’s fun to get them started and then they get hooked.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was hard on everyone and to keep students safe, the university shut down the pool for two whole years. Finally, last May, it reopened.
“They said, ‘OK, you can bring your Masters Swimmers back, and we’re going to open the pool back up.’ Now we’re at full steam and this summer we’re doing our swim camps again,” Adair says.
One person thrilled to be at the pool is Pam Bearly, who calls swimming her “soul.”
She retired from a job as a Billing Specialist in healthcare in February 2020 with big plans to travel. But everything, including the pool, shut down in March.
“All the things that would have augmented the travel just never materialized. It was really hard. I felt like I lost a part of who I am,” she says.
Coming from a swimming background, Bearly loves many things about the Masters Program. Though she doesn’t consider herself competitive like some of the other swimmers with Olympic dreams or who compete as triathletes, she says the program has something for everyone.
“You have the physical aspect and the endorphins from that. But the Masters is made up of just some really nice, good people. And the coaching is great– Bonnie is a master at managing a pool full of people while making you feel like you’re her only lane. It’s just inherent in who and what she is in terms of making sure everybody has a great workout. And if you just want to have a social swim and chat in one of the lanes, you can have that, too!” says Bearly.
For Adrienne Durand, swimming in the LMU pool is a family affair. Durand swam competitively as an undergrad at Pepperdine University where she first crossed paths with Bonnie Adair.
“We swam against her!” says Durand.
These days, Durand is focused on her career as an instructional coach for LAUSD and her family. Adrienne and her husband James compete in the annual two-mile Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim from Hermosa Beach Pier to Manhattan Beach Pier.
“We do that for fun,” she says.
But on most free days, the entire family can be found at the LMU pool. She says it’s a way for them to bond.
“So, this sounds really nerdy, but every time I go home, I insist on telling my family exactly what times I went and what intervals I was making, and it’s kind of a fun thing because my daughter is now approaching my speed,” says Durand.
Daughter Ashley, who swims in the Alpha Aquatics program, has also officially passed her dad James’ time in freestyle.
Like the Durands, Dr. Carl Feld grew up swimming with his entire family, so being in the pool as part of the Masters Program is a chance to reconnect with his younger self and the perfect break from the rigors of being an internist. Though he says he swims mostly to stay in shape, he loves the way the program and Coach Adair challenge him.
“It gets me up early and gets my workout in. Swimming with others pushes you. You have someone behind you, next to you, or in front of you. Since we leave every five seconds, you have to keep up,” he says.
He also likes that Adair gives timed sets specific to her swimmers– nothing too hard or too short.
“You need to hit those sets. If they are too hard, then the entire lane knows and changes it–it’s a difference between Masters and other swimming programs. But if the times are right, you just have to step up and do them,” says Feld.
But Feld admits he enjoys the social aspect too.
“If you are a regular, then you are missed when you are not there and you miss others when they don’t show up,” he says.
One thing all the swimmers I spoke to have in common is how much they love and appreciate their coach who always goes out of her way to make each swimmer’s experience special. They recently had a celebration for the one-year anniversary of the pool’s reopening that included a bit of sunshine, fun refreshments and plenty of socializing.
“It’s not just coming and swimming on your own and being isolated. It’s the community that makes it special,” Adair says.
To find out more about the LMU Masters Program, please visit lmumasters.com or email swim.masters@lmu.edu.
Story by Shanee Edwards. Photos by Zsuzsi Steiner.