In November, 1996, five swimmers met with the idea of forming a Masters team that would provide a positive atmosphere for individual levels of achievement and the freedom to express ideas. Our first challenge was a name for our new team. Webster defines maverick as "Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence." The Florida Maverick Masters were born. Two other friends soon joined. The seven charter members were Margie Hutinger, Paul Hutinger, Joseph Kurtzman, Robert MacDonald, Alan Maloney, Doris Prokopi and Frank Tillotson.

We offer swimmers the opportunity to participate in a lifelong fitness and/or competitive swimming program. The fitness swimmers are encouraged to participate in the Swim-to-Key West Challenge, a motivational program for the non-competitive swimmer. The over-50 crowd
has many Senior Games competitions throughout Florida and other states. Swimmers so desiring, also compete in USMS meets at the local, National and World level. Other plans for the year include clinics with some of the nearby swim teams and open to any Master swimmer, fellowship events, award recognition (for Top Ten and All American swims), age group team records, newsletters, workouts for those interested, and open water swims for a long distance challenge.

There were no Masters meets the rest of the year. Paul created our own little Maverick logo and designed our first t-shirt. We had a 4-color design for only $11, with individual names, computer generated at Staples.