FLEET Hires Lake Erie’s Jim Bocci as New Head Coach

The Cypress-Fairbanks Swim Club (FLEET) in Houston, Texas has announced Jim Bocci as its next head coach. Bocci comes from the SPIRE Lake Erie Silver Dolphins and Hawken High School: a private school in Cleveland, Ohio. He joined the SPIRE Institute/LESD in May of 2011 after serving as the head coach of Fork Union Military Academy for 6 years and prior to that spending 8 years as an officer in the United States Navy.

Bocci comes to the Cypress-Fairbanks Swim Club, best-known as the youth club of 2000 Olympic medalist Jamie Rauch, and will face the challenge of a club that’s been without a formal head coach since Jack Maddan was handed a lifetime ban by USA Swimming in November.

Bocci has on his resume 7 LSC Championships, 1 Sectional Championship, one Olympian, and four World Championship swimmers. He was also twice named the Virginia High School Coach of the Year, for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons.

Bocci grew up as a member of the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins team alongside swimmers like Diana Munz and took over at Hawken after the retirement of legendary coach Jerry Holtrey – who had coached there for an astonishing 45 seasons.

The full press release is below:

The Cypress-Fairbanks Swim Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim Bocci as Head Coach. Coach Bocci is a highly experienced, goal oriented coach with a demonstrated track record of developing and leading a nationally ranked swim club.

Coach Bocci is joining The Fleet from the Hawken School and the SPIRE Institute where he served as Aquatics Director and Head Coach, as well as CEO and Head Coach of the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins. During his time in Ohio, Bocci’s teams won multiple Senior and Age Group Championship team titles, the Central Zone Speedo Sectional Championship, and the past two Ohio High School State and District Championships. In addition, his club achieved USA-Swimming Silver or Bronze Medal status each of the past five years. Coach Bocci was named Ohio High School Athletic Association District Coach of the Year (2015 and 2016), and Chagrin Valley Conference Coach of the Year (2015 and 2016).

In 5 seasons, Coach Bocci has coached World Championship participants, International Olympians, U.S. World Championship Team Trials qualifiers, and a Central American Games double gold medalist and event record holder. Many of his athletes have went on to compete at the NCAA Division I level, and include numerous USA Swimming Junior and Senior National qualifiers, All-Americans, Ohio High School State Record Holders, US Open finalists and Open Water National Championship finalists.

Before Hawken/SPIRE and the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins, Coach Bocci served as Aquatics Director and Head Coach of Fork Union Military Academy, in Fork Union, Virginia.

His coaching accomplishments at Fork Union include back-to-back Virginia State Championships in 2010 and 2011, three consecutive years ranked in the top 10 on the NICSA Power Point Rankings (2009, 2010, 2011), and Virginia High School Coach of the Year for 2009 and 2010. 21 of his athletes earned All-American honors and qualified for USA Swimming Junior Nationals, winning individual and relay state championships and setting Virginia state records.

The Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club has an outstanding history of success, both in competition and in building the foundation for success for its young members. As we move forward in this exciting chapter, we are thrilled to have Coach Bocci guide the club to new heights. We look forward to welcoming Jim, his wife Kerrie and their two children to the Fleet Family in August. Go Fleet GO!