Dalhousie's swimsuit edition

Dalhousie's version of the swimsuit calendar

It’s not your typical swimsuit calendar. In fact, the suits are like the ones you’d see in silent films from the 1920s.

The 2008 Dalhousie Swim Team calendar is now on sale. Given life in 2006 after a perceived slight when the Dalhousie Student Union failed to publish the swim team’s competition schedule in their student agenda, the calendar has grown into an annual fundraising initiative. It’s brought the 40-member team together as a group and some much deserved attention to one of the university’s most successful varsity programs.

The calendar was the brainchild of student-athletes Magda Gawlik and Colleen Smith, who wanted to raise money to support the team’s training initiatives. Everyone on the team, as well as Head Coach David Fry and Associate Director of Athletics Karen Moore, gave their enthusiastic approval.

“It was pretty easy to get everyone on board. Coach Fry thought it was a great idea, and Karen Moore was totally behind it once we assured her of the kind of calendar we were planning.” says Ms. Gawlik.

The first calendar was produced in the fall of 2006, and it was a learning process for everyone involved. That experience lead to the 2008 edition being planned with a new approach. A common theme was agreed on and a tight production schedule was worked out. Lauren Dorrington, who took the lead in organizing this year’s project explains, “Magda and I were talking about how we could improve the calendar this year and we figured that since it was an Olympic year that would be a good fit. We thought that by having an Olympic theme, we would not only be advertising our sport but sports culture overall.”

For each month of the calendar, two or three swimmers are pictured demonstrating an Olympic sport, with the schedule for that sport at the 2008 Beijing Games listed on the side. Swimming action shots of the current team are also placed throughout each month.  “(Dalplex graphic designer) Christine Darrah did the design work again this year and it’s fantastic,” says Ms. Dorrington. “Without her expertise on what works and what doesn’t from a visual point of view, the calendar wouldn’t be as great as it is.” 

The calendar sells for $15. It’s available from team members or at the Dalplex Adidas Shop.

The swim team is in action again at the Dalplex pool on January 26 when it will host Mount Allison University and the University of New Brunswick.