After all but a few of our swimmers had left the meet on Saturday, I raced one of our 15-18 boys in a 50 freestyle. The race was untimed and obviously unofficial, but each of us was exhausted, having spent the last 8 hours of our day on the pool deck. We both acknowledged that it wasn’t our best showing, and I was about to suggest we do it again at the next practice before I caught myself:

For me, there is no next practice.

There is no next practice, no next early arrival to practice to complete meet entries, no next meet to project the score of, no next donut day. My time as the coach of this team has come to a close, and as sad as it is for me to write those words, I've seen too many coaches stay too long and lose their fire (and the faith of their team). Even though I'm confident that wouldn't happen, I'm not going to risk it, and as I leave I can’t help but feel grateful for all the memories I have with this team.

When I came to Four Seasons five years ago at the urging of my older sister Erin (the head coach who passed the job to me three years ago), I felt like my summer swim times had peaked. I switched from Kingston Chase because I wanted to score points and feel like I was a contributing member of the team. I also switched because I wanted to quit lifeguarding at my old pool, but I didn’t want to work indoors, either. Erin let me practice with Four Seasons a few times the year before and had convinced me that I’d have a lot more fun there than I’d been having at Kingston Chase.

It wasn’t an easy switch, as I’d been on Kingston Chase for 11 years, but it’s one that I’m so glad I made. My times hadn’t actually peaked; I cut 2 seconds off my freestyle, 1 off my backstroke, 4 off my breaststroke, and 5 off my IM after switching teams. I had finally found a way to beat my times, but I had also found a passion for coaching. I loved coaching the younger age groups and helping them grow as swimmers and as people, I loved tracking each swimmer’s times over the course of the season, and I especially loved spending time with the kids on the team at practice and at events like our pizza parties and ice cream socials.

In my time with Four Seasons, I’ve seen a lot of things happen that I never could have imagined before I switched. I’ve watched as our meet attendance average doubled from 35-40 to 75-80 swimmers. I’ve seen our number of top-heat swimmers in the Herndon Olympics and the All-League meet nearly triple. I’ve seen our kids go from averaging a combined 50 best times to a consistent 85-90 per meet. But numbers aren’t what I’ll remember when I think about the team.

I’ll remember carrying a mob of kids on my back at the end of every practice this year.

I’ll remember playing the team anthem, Tunak Tunak Tun, during every single relay race at our last regular meet.

I’ll remember being the go-to sub for the 15-18 girls medley relay at a number of meets.

I’ll remember making up nicknames for each of the kids on the team and managing to get one of them onto the Herndon Olympics meet sheet. 

I’ll remember somehow getting roped into a full-body spray-down with pink, orange, and neon green paint at one of our meets, and I’ll remember waking up the next morning with a fully orange pillow because I was too tired to wash the dye out of my hair in the shower.

I’ll remember jumping countless times into the deep end with an army of kids waiting on the wall for “the tidal wave” to hit.

I’ll remember picking up just about every kid on the team and throwing them into the water during practices, and I’ll remember eight of them teaming up to pick me up and throw me in at the banquet.

Most of all, I’ll remember the team spirit we had, from leading my first round of cheers a couple of years ago to screaming “OH YEAH!” back and forth with every swimmer at the all-league meet. My proudest moments with the team were when I got comments from other teams’ coaches and parents about how they wished their teams had the energy and enthusiasm we had, and trust me when I say I got those comments a lot.

I'll also (hopefully) still be close enough next year to come help out at a meet here or there! A few people have asked if they'll ever see me again, and I can assure everyone that my passing the job on does not ensure my complete absence. I would be extremely sad if I wasn't ever able to come back to this pool and see this team compete again. 

If I could go back and change anything about my life, I would really just make the switch to Four Seasons earlier. Swimming for this team refueled my enthusiasm for the sport, and I hope that I’ve passed that excitement and love for swimming on to these kids over the last three years.

So, once again: Thank you!

Much love,

Austin