More Than Just A Coach

"I was most nervous about acquiring pool time and [finding people] to support the program." Little did Sue Welsh know that 35 years ago, her quick attempt at founding a YMCA swim team would turn into Hamilton Aquatic Club, one of the smaller most successful year-round teams in central New Jersey. All it took was a few years of a small but humble summer league team, and she ended up owning her own pool (figure 1), creating a website to recruit young athletes, and building generations of talented, dedicated, and loving children, whom are still part of the family no matter how much time passes.

 (figure 1)

Sue is popular among coaches and officials throughout the nation, easily identifiable by her short, round, grandmotherly appearance, tired yet youthful hazel eyes, and short, steely gray hair always styled in "The Sue," as it has become known to her team (simply achieved by putting a bowl on your head and cutting around it). Though she has been coaching for so long, the athletes keep her young, so you will always find her singing the popular new songs and dancing on the pool deck, even though she has been known to slip and fall during her performances. Her signature look of a blue Polo shirt and khaki shorts with a stopwatch hanging from the pocket and a clipboard full of qualifying times and meet dates completes the ensemble. She has been planning on retiring for the past eight years, but always seems to find a new standout swimmer who she simply needs to stand by until graduation, because she could never miss screaming until her lungs give out during their races at Nationals, crying with them when they reach a goal time, and debating between a warm, comforting hug or a long winded lecture on work ethic after a bad race. As much as the swimmers grow to resent her six a.m. practices and repetitive sets, the team cannot help but love her and all she has sacrificed for her ever-growing family. This family dynamic, as solid as the unity is, sometimes experiences loss. Arguably the most successful swimmer of this generation, Abbey, has decided this season that Sue is not what she needs anymore, and has relocated to a different club team. However, that does not mean that there is any bad blood, or that it is a personal matter. Trying her best not to get emotional, she reveals, "my decision to make the switch was the hardest I've ever made, but it was necessary. I just need a little more intensity in my workouts at this point, but I can never thank Sue enough for getting me where I am in my swim life and also where I am as a person. I love her, and I'll always come back to check in on her."

The aquatic center at John Witherspoon Middle School, whether the swimmers like it or not, becomes a home shortly after joining Hamilton Aquatics, as this is where the two-a-day practices and the majority of our meets take place. The strong stench of chlorine floods into the nose and brings burning tears into everyone's eyes before even opening the doors, but that does not stop proud parents and the occasional HAC alumni with some spare time from packing themselves shoulder-to-shoulder like a pack of sardines into the bleachers that dominate the better part of the pool deck at every meet. Walking in, you are greeted by the shrieks of the guppies dreading diving into the ice cold water, the senior swimmers calculating what splits they need to swim to reach their goal time, and at least three girls lined up outside of Sue's tiny, octagonal office in the front of the deck, waiting to complain about their latest shoulder injury. Everyone is tripping over the pool noodles and kickboards spilling out of the two identical storage closets on either side of the office, always carrying an abundance of vintage team tee shirts and never enough Gatorade. Two of the more trusted athletes take their places atop the lifeguard stands, most likely reading the names of the record holders on the banners that line the walls as opposed to watching warm up because, in reality, do swimmers really need lifeguards?

At the start of the meet, the bright, young, hopeful Hamilton swimmer is standing like a statue behind the starting blocks, which stand almost as tall as the girl herself. She is not dancing with her teammates as she usually does, because this race demands every ounce of her energy. When the official standing beneath the scoreboard finally blows his whistle, signaling that the race is about to start, she  hops in for the most critical race of her career, and you can see nothing but pure determination on her face and pure fear on Sue's. The girl turns her head ever so slightly after each flip turn, staring past the blue and white lane lines to her sides and directly into the harsh glare of the scoreboard to make sure her time is where it should be. Sue can barely even cheer, as she is gritting her teeth in anticipation and gripping her clipboard until her knuckles turn whiter than usual. She touches the wall, far ahead of her competition, and both yell out deafening screams of pure joy as the girl just achieved her first National cut, and punched her ticket to Greensboro, North Carolina for the spring. After the celebrating is over, Sue has time to reflect on why she started this team, and why she has still yet to retire. "The most rewarding part of being head coach was when I received a heart felt thank you letter from a swimmer who was going to quit swimming, came and swam for Hamilton, and had a remarkable season." Her squinty eyes become even smaller as they well with proud tears, and it becomes clear how she could influence so many ex-swimmers to join her team of coaches later in life.

Although the racing is top priority on the team, and ultimately her pride and joy, everyone's favorite and most cherished memories are the ones that happen outside the pool, showing Sue as a true friend rather than a coach. When the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out, Sue's husband just so happened to be out of town for the weekend, so she brought her herd of 50 rowdy teenagers to the movie, treated them to a greasy, delicious dinner of McDonald's, and invited them all over her house for a sleepover. "[My husband] never would have even known I let our house get trashed, if not for the fact that he found an abandoned sleeping bag in our bathroom a week later."

As relentless as Sue Welsh is at times, her tough love never outshines her heart of gold and pure, never ending love for her team, which will never be the same if it ever sees the day when she retires.