{"id":6,"date":"2021-07-17T02:25:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T02:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tams.org.nz\/home\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:29:21","slug":"the-new-umoma-opens-its-doors-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tams.org.nz\/home\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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TAMS 30<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are celebrating 35 years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAMS is 35 years young this year and we continue to celebrate and acknowledge the many swimmers who have swum with us over the last 35 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OUR STORY<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n
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“We should formalise the group because I wanted some permanency with it<\/em>“<\/p>\nRon Judd<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Team Auckland Masters Swimmers (TAMS) got its start thanks to fresh-faced Ron Judd 34 years ago when he decided to formalise a group of LGBTQIA+ rainbow swimmers who would want to compete at masters\u2019 level (aged 25-105). TAMS started at Auckland\u2019s Tepid Baths in September 1991 and was formalised in early 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided that we should formalise the group because I wanted some permanency with it,\u201d says Ron. \u201cI was into competing and at the time you had to belong to a New Zealand Masters\u2019 Swimming club to compete. I was part of the Waterhole Masters\u2019 Swimming club before that, but it was a group that was very family orientated; as a gay guy, it could be a little lonely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was aware there were a lot of gay guys out there swimming, so I had the idea to get a group together. There weren\u2019t many gay community groups around at that time \u2013 you could go to gay bars, but that was kind of it. We were part of that rise of the gay community group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the group had settled into a routine, swimmers worked towards travelling to New York for the Gay Games in 1994. There the team competed in events, as well as the Pink Flamingo, a Gay Games tradition that combines outrageous costumes, music, dance and synchronised swimming with humour and satire, to make for an exciting, fun and somewhat revealing evening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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