In April, the Lynchburg YMCA fired head coach Ryan Woodruff and paused team operations just days after the YMCA National Championships. The coaching staff and team have bounced back hard, starting a new program in Lynchburg, Firefish Aquatics.
Woodruff had been the director at the program since 2015, and coached a number of high-profile swimmers including Virginia Tech’s Brendan Whitfield, who earned two ‘A’ finals finishes at the NCAA Championships in March. He was also 19.48 in the 50 freestyle coming out of high school and one of the fastest high schoolers in the country.
Shortly after Woodruff was let go from the program, the YMCA took the website offline and ceased practice operations. A few days later, they reportedly resumed practices without Woodruff.
The new team, Firefish, is a coach-owned program, staffed by all nine coaches who were previously at the YMCA in Lynchburg including Woodruff’s wife, Abby. They are training at the Liberty University pool, which is one of the only large pools in the area.
Woodruff told SwimSwam that there are approximately 120 swimmers currently with the program, and the team swam at the H2Okie May Day meet as an unattached team, since they hadn’t yet become an official club. Firefish is planning on hosting a prelims/finals meet in June called the “June Jam”.
Woodruff said, “There is a lot of buzz and energy within our team. Our swimming community is energized and excited about the new direction we have taken.”
Their newly formed instagram page features some pictures and videos from the team’s first practice along with an announcement that the team was officially a recognized USA Swimming club as of three days ago.
The Lynchburg YMCA website is back online, though the only pages active on the site are the team records and the practice schedules for their two facilities in the area. The YMCA told ABC13, “Our focus is on continuity for our swimmers and maintaining a safe, structured training environment. As part of our broader efforts, we are also reviewing program operations to ensure long-term stability.”
Best news i have read in a long time! Best of luck to Ryan and the new team! Y’all are going to kill it!
Having had a similar situation where I was let go by the local YMCA, I created the Cape Cod Firefish. I wish them good luck!
Global Firefish Network??
Recovering YMCA swim coaches??
Good! F*ck the YMCAs. For too long they’ve taken too much advantage of good, hardworking, kind people. Go Ryan Go!
One door closes, another door opens! So glad to see this, With the support Ryan had from the community this was a no brainer. Coached owned and a great name isa great way to start a new program, looks like this team is going places! Congrats!
This is really cool! Congrats guys!
Congrats to Ryan and the staff – I’m so excited to see so many athletes on the team already and have no doubt that they’ll go far under his leadership and without the micromanagement of the YMCA.
(I just saw that the Lynchburg Y is hiring a new head coach on ASCA’s job board and had to laugh… you guys did this to yourselves!)
There are times when a YMCA swim team grows to a point where it begins to outpace the YMCA itself, and in some cases that can create tension at the leadership level. When directors don’t fully understand the sport or feel aligned with the team’s growth, it can lead to challenges that impact the program’s stability. I suspect that may have played a role here.
If you look at some of the most consistently successful YMCA swim programs—Schroeder, Wilton, UMLY, Cheshire etc…they tend to be supported by leadership that understands competitive swimming and embraces the success of the team rather than feeling threatened by it.
That said, I wish Ryan and the FireFish team nothing but the best.… Read more »
Technically, the YMCA hasn’t owned Schroeder for well over 10 years now.
Another example of why the Y in general sucks. Congrats coach! Best of luck! You’re better off without the Y. All they care about is money and fundraising.