THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410060215
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Don't think for a minute that cooler weather chased Helen Lee's hearty group of souls from the Cypress Point Country Club pool.
Oh sure, they've packed up their towels and sun visors and headed indoors for the winter, but only because the country club doesn't keep the pool open after September. Left to these gals, their outdoor aquarobics classes would continue to meet at 9:30 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday well into the fall.
They proved that point Labor Day, when the water temperature dropped to 74 degrees, down from 80 plus a week earlier.
``I said we'd do it as long as the water temperature was above 75 degrees,'' said Lee, who has conducted the sessions for the past six years, ``but it gets colder than that and they keep on coming.''
For now, the sessions have ended, except for a small contingent that continues throughout the year, moving to the indoor pool at the Bayside Recreation Center for the winter.
``The ones who have health problems and do it for medical reasons,'' Lee explained about those who refuse to give up, come hell or cold water.
It's not surprising that many participate for therapeutic reasons, as this is not exactly a young person's exercise club. Lee said the youngest is 48; the oldest (there are two) are 75, and the average age is around 64.
``Some do it to lose weight,'' noted Peggy Shockley, who has been with the group since its inception. ``But I do it to get my blood pumping. It gets you going. I thoroughly enjoy it, and feel so much better when I come out. We put up with the cold because we like the outdoor sun and fresh air.''
Lee admits, though, the numbers dwindle after Labor Day.
``We have as many as 30 sign up during the summer,'' Lee said. ``By September it drops to around 10 to a dozen who stay with it.''
After yet another cold front - a weak one - moved through in late September, dropping the temperature to 77 (it had warmed up to 80 after Labor Day), 12 brave souls turned up on a Monday ready and eager to get into the hourlong routine that Lee has developed over 10 years.
To the strains of a variety of recorded music (``It took me 12 hours to do the tape,'' Lee said) they stretch, strain, reach and kick for a full hour. It's all carefully planned out by Lee, starting slowly, reaching a peak followed by a still-active ``rest'' period, and then a ``cooling down'' wrap-up until the hour is over.
Lee, who was born in England, came to Virginia by way of Florida, where she had moved when she was 19, with ``$100 and a suitcase.'' She had her ticket in hand to return to England ``because it was so hot, I just hated it,'' when she met Ron Lee, her husband of 28 years. ``I married him six weeks later because he had an air conditioner.''
They moved to Virginia Beach in 1971.
She employs her wry brand of droll humor, as well as her carefully crafted exercise routine, to spur her ``students.'' Lee became involved in aquarobics some 16 years ago, when she quit smoking, because of a degenerative condition affecting her knees. She has found, as have many others, that the buoyance and support of water can enable those who otherwise could not engage in physical exercise to do so. And, along with marriage, a career (she's a part-time bookkeeper), and numerous outside interests, she's made it one of her life's missions.
Most in her group are female, but several men attend occasionally. Most can swim, but the exercises are generally done in the shallow part of the pool or with aquatic dumbbell-like floats that are surprisingly buoyant. A life guard also is on duty.
The club gives her a modest stipend each year to cover her expenses; the participants pay nothing. And she receives nothing from anyone during the winter months when the group moves to the rec center.
``I'd like to be able to take more than six people,'' she said``but they seem to feel that we're competing with their aquarobics program. And, I'm sure, they thought I was doing it for profit.''
She's not. It's a labor of love. Just ask anyone who has braved water at 9:30 a.m. three mornings a week to exercise. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by DAWSON MILLS
Kay Gross, left, and Peggy Shockley do butterfly arm exercises in
the chilly outdoor pool at Cypress Point Country Club. ``I do it to
get my blood pumping. It gets you going,'' says Shockley.
by CNB