Spotlight on UMSL alumni Terry Freerks
Last year when UMSL announced the return of its swim team, no one was more enthusiastic than alumni Terry Freerks, for whom swimming and the university are both passions she holds in equally high regard.
A student here in the early 70’s, Terry didn’t have a chance to swim for UMSL because at the time the school’s team was exclusively for males. Never the less, swimming was a major part of her life and she coached for Clayton Shaw Park Swim Club as a means to pay her tuition.
Freerks began at CSP as third assistant coach in 1969, working with a group of twenty swimmers. During the day in between classes she swam in the pool at UMSL’s Mark Twain facility and was often times joined by an older woman who Freerks became friendly with. It turned out that that woman was Blanche Touhill. Freerks says that Touhill became a mentor and the two went on to form a friendship. When Touhill was being considered to be the next chancellor, Freerks wrote a letter of support from her perspective of a student.
After earning her degree in History, Freerks went on to earn a Master’s in Education with an emphasis in exercise physiology from UMSL and, later, a PhD in counseling. She worked in cardiac rehabilitation and studied the link between physical activity and longevity. She eventually founded her own private practice, and through it all continued to coach at Clayton Shaw Park. She became a head coach and now serves as the program’s executive director.
As far as Freerks is concerned, the similarities between UMSL and CSP are obvious. Both have diverse student populations in terms of ages and backgrounds. CSP currently has 650 swimmers—as young as four, as old as seventy-two. Most importantly, the professors at UMSL and the swim instructors at CSP take a holistic approach to instruction; they recognize that their students are much more than just the hours they spend in the pool or the classroom. “[At CSP] we want them to swim faster, yes, but we also care about them emotionally, physically. We want to provide the safest and most supportive environment for people who want to pursue this,” says Freerks.
Now, UMSL’s connection to CSP extends well beyond Freerks as a new generation of UMSL students swims their way through college.
Kate Timke, who currently coaches as CSP, will graduate with her Bachelors of Liberal Studies and Gender Studies certificate in August. She says she hopes to do nonprofit work with marginalized communities after she graduates later this summer, but definitely plans on continuing to coach with CSP too.
Kyle Renne, an Anthropology student, also coaches at CSP. He hopes to get into exercise science and personal training while, of course, continuing to swim and coach other swimmers.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that both Kyle and Kate want to go into fields where they’ll be working with and helping other people.
“It’s about people,” Freerks said. “CSP is all about people, just like UMSL is all about people.”
