This swim season, the team received two new coaches: English teacher Landon Chapin and first-year physical education teacher Cory Carrillo. English teacher Nathan Moore was also promoted to head coach after two seasons as assistant.
Chapin, who stepped down from coaching track, didn’t take long to decide to help out with swim.
“I wanted to coach because I missed it,” Chapin said. “I knew I was going to miss it from track, and so I needed a coaching position, and this one felt like it would be better because it is less school that I’m missing.”
The coaching role has broadened Carrillo’s connections, giving her the opportunity to connect with a more diverse group of individuals.
Coaching “allows me to meet other students because I only know … the students that I teach and the softball girls,” Carrillo said. “I wanted to expand a little bit more.”
Moore’s confidence in Chapin’s ability to connect with students helped him make his choice for the position. He believes those qualities align well with the demands of coaching and the team’s culture, since Chapin previously coached and they are close friends.
“Chapin is somebody that I admire for how he is able to work with students one-on-one, and I assumed that would transfer to being a coach,” Moore said.
Despite it being Chapin’s first year coaching swim, his track background gave him a head start in finding his rhythm.
“The thing that I learned really quickly is that having a track background helps a lot because it is kind of similar,” Chapin said. “I was really surprised by how technical swim is. It’s kind of a crazy sport, honestly.”
Intially, Moore questioned his ability to be head coach because of his lack of experience.
“I didn’t feel like I was fully ready, or maybe even qualified, because I had never done swimming in school,” Moore said. “I did learn a lot over the last few years, and I had a good conversation with one of the South coaches at one point last season about not being qualified, and he was like ‘That doesn’t matter.'”
Carrillo’s approach extends beyond competition, stressing discipline and personal ownership as core lessons alongside success in the pool.
“I want them to succeed and prepare them for life as well,” Carrillo said. “So, it goes beyond swim. It goes to taking accountability, being responsible and being respectful to your coaches because at the end of the day, that’s how it’s going to be when you get older in the real world.”
For Chapin, the bonds built with new people is the most rewarding part of coaching.
“The relationships that you form with the students in the athletic setting is nice because it’s a difference from the classroom setting,” Chapin said. “It’s something between the relationships and also being able to watch [students] improve meet after meet and watching their times go down and them just growing as athletes and watching the relationships they have with each other.”
Carrillo’s perspective highlights a changing dynamic in the program, with younger coaches using their athletic tenure to build connections.
“We have five young coaches,” Carrillo said “…We’re fresh in the sense of we’ve been athletes more recently than most coaches, so we can give them that sense as well.”
Moore’s goal for the upcoming season is team growth fueled by high standards and a results-first mindset.
“I want to see passion and a drive from them more so than we’ve had the last two years,” Moore said. “Not that they weren’t passionate or they didn’t have drive, but I want to see it even more. I want them to have high goals for themselves and realize ‘If I want to hit these goals, I have to hit this amount of work.'”
The next swim meet is Jan. 8 against Millard West at Bryan Middle School starting at 4:30 p.m.
