Linda Irish Bostic is the Head Coach at Palm Beach Masters Swimming Club, on the Florida Gold Coast, USA. She was a competitive swimmer for over 15 years and held?numerous Southern AAU age group swimming records during her younger years. ?Having worked alongside some of the Worlds best swimming coaches, Linda now has a swim programme with over 200 swimmers.
Margot Wheeler caught up with Linda and asked her a few questions about her love for swimming and her infamous Winnebago!
Your son Kedric played football for Princeton, and you detailed your Winnebago as a Princeton tiger. Now that he has graduated you have transformed the Winnebago into the swim team Wahoo bus. Where did you get this idea from? And what has it done for the team’s moral.
It was actually my husband’s idea! He suggested it. The RV was so successful as a tailgate meeting place for the Princeton football parents and alumni that we thought the same level of camaraderie and enthusiasm could be developed with our swim team.
The team really enjoys having the Wahoo Wagon, as they now call it. Having it recently at Greensboro, NC for the USMS National Championships worked out great. They could relax between events in it. Other teams were even envious that we had such a neat place to hang out at and to celebrate together after each session of the swim meet.
You started the program with 1 pool and it has grown to 3 pools with over 200 registered swimmers. Why is the program so popular/successful?
First and foremost, swimming is a great sport. People swim for so many different reasons. We try to understand what brings each swimmer to the pool. Some swim for fitness, others swim for health and then there are those of us who like to compete. Many on the team are triathletes. We welcome everyone.
And we offer a variety of workout times to fit everyone’s schedules.
But, I believe the key to our club’s success has been our coaches! We have great coaches on deck for every workout! They are positive, fun, have a passion for swimming, and spread a contagious enthusiasm. Wahoo!
Swimmers tell me all the time they come to our practices as much for their mental state as their physical. They leave the pool feeling better, smiling, and happy because of the positive energy from our coaches and swimmers. They keep coming back!
Word spreads and other swimmers notice when people are having fun while working together toward their individual goals.
Today we have 288 registered USMS swimmers with Palm Beach Masters! I feel very blessed and fortunate that the program has been so successful. I never thought at 52 years old (and after 25 years in Corporate America), I’d be making a living and having so much fun as a Masters Swimming Coach.
Forty- Eight Palm Beach Masters went to the Nationals in North Carolina and the team finished 3rd in the Nation. How proud are you of that achievement? What was the highlight of the weekend?
I still can’t believe it!!! I’m so happy and so, so proud! I NEVER expected we would place 3rd to get our very first Top 10 Local Club banner to hang at the pool!!! 2 years ago at Santa Clara, CA we placed 47th with 8 swimmers and last year at San Antonio, TX we placed 91st with 4 swimmers! This year … 3rd place by JUST 4 points (over the 4th place club) with 48 swimmers! An amazing achievement!
There are so many highlights it’s hard to list just one.
– We had swimmers who swam grueling events for the first time and completed them.
– 46 swimmers scored points for the team!
– Our 65+ mixed (2 women & 2 men) relay broke a USMS record in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay!
– My UF college roommates joined us, swimming in a meet for the first in over 30 years.
– We had lots and lots of FUN supporting each other!
But the really great thing was seeing everybody come together as a team. Our swimmers all swim at different workout times at our 3 pools across Palm Beach County. And yet at this meet in Greensboro they were all cheering for each other like they had swum in the same lane together for years. I was very, very proud of each one of our National Team members.
The Olympics are in 3 months, other then swimming what sport or sports will you be watching?
I enjoy watching the amateur athletes more than the well-known professional athletes of say basketball and tennis. So, I’ll be watching gymnastics, track & field, along with ALL the swimming finals.
Author: Margot Wheeler is a self-proclaimed sports junky. Loves everything about sport, has played, coached and refereed many sports in particular basketball. She is a graduate from York University in Toronto and played varsity basketball while attending. She is currently working for the Raptors-905 D-league basketball team. Last summer Toronto hosted the Pan Am games and she volunteered as the television graphics person. 2016 Rio count down is on and Margot will be glued to her social media following all stories
23rd May 2016 at 7:26 pm
WOW….LINDA!!!
23rd May 2016 at 7:39 pm
So enjoyed this interview and so proud of our daughter in law Linda. She is quite the achiever. She and our son Keddy have been so supportive of the sport activities of the early JTAA, and kindergarden through college years provided for their son and many, many friends and families of their son. Congratulations Linda, we are so proud of you and all that you have accomplished.
23rd May 2016 at 8:06 pm
What an amazing Article Linda!! I so enjoy watching you accomplish all your dreams with so much enthusiasm and success! You truly amaze me.
23rd May 2016 at 8:29 pm
great article–as a member of the Delray Team I can attest that it is a great program.
23rd May 2016 at 8:59 pm
congratulations Linda. This is a well deserved article. You’ve done a great job. So happy to be a member of the Wahoo!
23rd May 2016 at 8:59 pm
Awesome interview! So proud of Linda.
23rd May 2016 at 8:59 pm
A beautiful tribute to a truly amazing person. One only has to watch this energizer bunny at a swim meet! She has this gift of knowing exactly where and when ‘her’ swimmers are competing- running from lane to lane and from pool to pool, shouting ‘Wahoo’ and other words of encouragement. To top that off she’ll get splits and analyze your performance. Next thing you know, Linda herself is driving off the blocks to RACE for the team as well.
More importantly Linda values relationships and is very creative to getting the ‘gang’ together for a happy hour, a social party, post meet tailgating, etc. Our Linda is an extraordinary coach, leader, and friend. Lucky us!
23rd May 2016 at 9:03 pm
Linda, all the accolades you’re receiving are well deserved but probably not enough. After many physical problems I had to turn to swimming for fitness and well being (certainly not for competition at my speed!) and you have gone way beyond the expected to make me feel that I belong and am welcome. You treat everyone according to their needs with skill and enthusiasm. It is no wonder the program has grown so strongly since your arrival–and there is no doubt it will continue to grow because of you and the environment you’ve created.
23rd May 2016 at 9:03 pm
Great program, great coach, what more can you say ….. except maybe ……… WAHOO!!!
23rd May 2016 at 10:19 pm
Great article. To know Linda is to love Linda!! She inspires me to be positive and keep improving. She’s really a life coach?
23rd May 2016 at 10:34 pm
Great coaching, a family and team atmosphere is creating a great program that is enjoyed by so many, I am so happy to be a part of this swimming family??
23rd May 2016 at 10:56 pm
Hi Linda. I moved to Orlando, but really miss swimming with you! You are awesome, your coaching is perfect, you respect our limits and at the same time pushes us to get new ones. Really miss it!
24th May 2016 at 12:20 am
WAHOO! HOO! HOO! Great article, and all true!
24th May 2016 at 2:02 am
Fantastic!
24th May 2016 at 3:24 pm
Way to go Linda! Great update! I miss being at workouts! I hope to be back in the pool soon!
24th May 2016 at 5:12 pm
WOW Linda .. you deserve all the recognition. Since you took over the program at Delray …it has grown and grown. Just the number of people at the workouts makes push myself harder and get a better workout. Keep up the great work and will see you next season.
24th May 2016 at 6:11 pm
Linda’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious. I have met so many nice people on this team. Its great to be a Wahoo.
24th May 2016 at 6:30 pm
I am very proud that I joined Wahoo
24th May 2016 at 6:32 pm
Great article! Linda has done a tremendous job building Palm Beach Masrers into a great team. Everyone enjoys practices and team events!
24th May 2016 at 9:45 pm
A great tribute to you, I enjoyed reading it and very proud of you!! With love , Mom
25th May 2016 at 7:19 pm
Holy coolness!! Congratulations on building a fun team with so so many options for different swimmers. Morning workouts with Linda are a perfect way to start your day.
25th May 2016 at 9:59 pm
When you join Palm Beach Masters as a new swimmer, Linda greets you like a friend, gives you the run-down, introduces you to your teammates, and checks in on you regularly. You immediately feel at home and want to be in the pool.
Her work-outs are a lot of fun, stretching me beyond my abilities and set to higher levels for better swimmers. Every day is different, always something new.
Seeing Linda swim is like watching ballet. Her dive practically takes her to the other end of the pool, and her grace continues.
I love the Wahoo-mobile, it says it all about Linda’s skill in building camaraderie and team spirit. No effort spared, ever. We are so lucky to have her.
20th June 2016 at 1:40 am
I am 65 and swam with the Palm Beach Masters for the first time in Greensboro, North Carolina and I have never really enjoyed swimming until I became a member of several relays that Linda put me in. Now I’m so excited to be part of Linda’s program that my goal is to participate in as many meets as can no matter how far we have to travel.