Updated: with quotes from Michael Brooks
Another of the titans of New England Swimming has departed for other pastures: Michael Brooks, head coach of the Weymouth Waves Swim Club, about 15 miles south of Boston, has resigned his position. He will take up a job in Montreal, Canada as a coach with Neptune Natation.
“For the last 25 years or so, I have wanted to live in a French speaking country, at least for a few years. I’ve been to France a dozen times, I’ve been to Montreal and Quebec City a dozen times, and absolutely love the culture, love the language, and love the history,” Brooks said.
“I wanted to be more than just a one or two-week-a-year tourist, I wanted to actually have a deep dive, and coach and do what I really love doing at the same time. It’s also an enormous motivation knowing that I’m going to have to speak in French when I do my thing.”
Brooks says that he hopes to live in a French-speaking neighborhood that will force him to integrate with the local language and culture.
Neptune Natation is one of Quebec’s top clubs, most recently famous as the age group training home of Canadian Record Holder Mary-Sophie Harvey, who trained there until moving to CAMO in 2018.
The club, which features Alex Gendron as director and Chrystèle Roy-L’Ecuyer as head coach, trains out of both Montreal and the suburban Laurentides region. Among their training locations includes the 1976 Montreal Olympics pool, where Brooks will do most of his work.
Brooks will be primarily coaching the club’s 13-to-16-year-olds and also mentoring coaches of the 12 & under age groups, as well as working with seniors a few times a week.
“The goals of the team and coaches there is to be great and put swimmers on National Teams and Canadian Olympic Teams, and that pretty well aligns with my goals,” Brooks said.
The club has about 300 athletes currently.
Brooks was named the head coach of the Weymouth Waves in 2018 after resigning from the KING Aquatic Club in Seattle, which had just been sold amid accusations made against owner and CEO Sean Hutchinson.
Brooks had a short tenure at KING, less than a year, and before that had a similarly-short tenure at the North Carolina Aquatic Club, based out of the University of North Carolina.
Before that Brooks made his name as a coach at the York YMCA in central Pennsylvania. He spent almost a decade leading the club, where he was responsible for the development of swimmers like Meghan Small, Courtney Harnish, and Hali Flickinger.
Small was the #1 ranked high school recruit in the class of 2016, who went on to win 7 SEC Championships at the University of Tennessee and qualify for the USA Swimming National Team. Harnish went on to win a pile of All-America certificates at the University of Georgia, and Flickinger in July won two Olympic bronze medals, finishing 3rd in the 200 fly and 400 IM in Tokyo.
In total, 4 of his swimmers were named to USA Swimming’s National Junior Team and two to the National Team. York YMCA was a USA Swimming Gold Medal Club in 2013 and 2015, which made them the smallest club to achieve that honor. In 2016, the girls’ team won a YMCA National Championship.
He was named the Coach of the Meet at the YMCA National Championships four times, served as an assistant at the Junior Pan Pacs in 2014 and Pan American Games in 2015, and was the head coach of the 18 & Under USA National Team at the Doha and Dubai World Cup meets in 2015.
He also participates in the USOPC’s National Team Coaches’ Leadership Program, which provides National Team coaches from different sports the opportunity to exchange ideas.
Prior to the York YMCA, he spent 2 years as the head age group coach of the Brophy East Swimming Team in Phoenix, 5 years as the head age group coach of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, and 4 years as a high school and club coach at Utah.
During Brooks’ time with Weymouth, athletes broke 18 club records in short course yards and 23 in long course meters.
At the most recent New England Swimming LSC 15 & Over Championships, Weymouth finished 7th. Chuck Batchelor, the head coach of the Bluefish Swim Club, also announced this week that he was leaving the region to take over as the head coach of the SwimMAC Carolina mega-club.
Brooks does speak some French, which is the dominant language of Quebec, but says that he’s working on improving his French and has been studying a half hour an hour a day for a “long time.” He says he’s come up with a four-page long list of French language swimming words that don’t show up in French-English dictionaries.
I remember reading the piece by Chris de Santis article. Hard to believe he never saw the abuse taking place while he was at KING AQUATICS.
Hard to believe. Also fired from NCAC and wasn’t all that successful In New England.
Wouldn’t refer to him as a titan if New England swimming.
Both my swimmers left Weymouth Club because of Brooks. Yelling and screaming at kids regularly on deck most nights. My kids were nervous to go to practice. Finally, I went and watched and sure enough, exactly what my son described. There’s being tough on kids and then there is being mean, what I saw was mean, almost bullying behavior, and this was addressing an 11 year old swimmer. We left in December of 2020.
“AGE GROUP PARENT” sums it up.
I swam and worked with many top teams(club&college) around western US for a total of 36 years. I have teammates who are top coaches all over the US. I have learned that the mental toughness to get on the blocks and compete at an international level is hard to prepare for, it is not something you just figure out when they get there. ALL the legends I have been fortunate enough to work with are superb at balancing between to toughest SOB anyone could ever have as a boss, with the the supportive and loyal dispositions that will always backs their athletes.
Many an athlete i have witnessed make nationals or local record… Read more »
He is badly missed at York. The team culture went totally south upon his departure. Best wishes to Coach Brooks! He’s truly one of the best….
I can’t speak for the past but this team has been outstanding to our family and many families across the state. York YMCA hosted the majority of meets for the state and their families worked hard to pull this off. Now they have graciously welcomed us. The team is wonderful.
John has done a great job at York
Completely agree. The YY leadership, namely their head coach, has lost the vision that was established under Coach Brooks….excellence has disappeared.
We were blessed to have Coach Michael coaching our son while he was here in NE. He took him from being a good swimmer to a National swimmer in 2.5 years in the midst of a pandemic where pool time was limited. He is a great coach, teacher, and friend and we will miss him.
They’ve got it worked out. Recently it’s been hard to even get into Canada, not to mention working there.
Interesting way to integrate into the French language without having to live in France.
Congrats Michael. We miss you, but wish you success
Congratulations Michael, you will certainly be missed on deck in New England. Very excited for you for this opportunity to follow your passions and curiosities.
Coach Brooks is role modeling a growth mentality. Getting outside his comfort zone with a positive attitude.
When I was speaking to him on the phone, that’s what really struck me. It was an opportunity to do what he loved, coach swimming, but to do it in a new place where he’d be challenged and stimulated mentally and emotionally for growth.
I think it can be hard for coaches of all sports to get “out of their work” and consider any life goals beyond simply coaching the next Olympian or state champion or whatever, and I agree – this is a great example set by him, both for athletes and coaches, of a healthy balance.
Many more talented swimmers than just those 3 women!
Coleman Stewart also went through the York YMCA program, correct?
Coleman Stewart, Leah Braswell. Kacey Oberlander (Trials Qualifier at 13). And many more.