Women’s swimming is set to become Felician University’s 15^th varsity intercollegiate sport, including its ninth for women, and down the line a Men’s Swim team might be brought on campus as well.  Felician University’s own Women’s Swim Team could be doing laps as early as September 2022, and Head Swim Coach Ken Berk cannot wait for them to make a splash.

The team will use the pool at Rutherford High School about a block and a half away from Felician University that is run by the Rutherford Swim Association (RSA) under the guidance of the Swim Team’s Assistant coaches Mike Lazzara and Chris Dunn. The 2 men are refurbishing the pool and say they plan to run it in a way that is advantageous to the community-at-large.

Felician University and the RSA share a similar goal in working together to serve the greater community. Coach Berk brings 4 decades of coaching experience to the pool. He started as a collegiate coach at William Paterson University, moving on to the Rutherford High School Swim team where he coached both Lazzara and Dunn. For 15 years, he coached national level athletes down to 6-year-olds at the Wykoff YMCA. “Swimming is a very tight-knit community and when I see men like Mike and Chris, start their own program, well, that is the legacy of swimming.”

Assistant Coach Mike Lazzara is excited to help bring a swimming program to Felician University. Since taking over in 2019, the RSA has invested $250,000 refurbishing and renovating the pool. “The pool had six lanes filled every day during COVID.  We were open since July 21, and we haven’t looked back.”

Currently, about 6 students are committed to the team and Felician University is a few swimmers away from having an official team. They plan to make the pool accessible to the community at large by offering free swimming for students as well as employment opportunities for students who are not on the swimming team.

Coach Berk says, “They [the students] come here to get an education and to learn how to become members of the world community. As coaches, we help prepare our athletes for the world after Felician University.”

For more information about the Women’s Swim Team click here.