Robert Urban to Join Water Rat Coaching Staff
The Westport Weston Family YMCA’s Water Rat Swim Team is pleased to welcome Robert Urban to its coaching staff. He will be assisting with the Age Group program.
A Trumbull native, Robert is currently enrolled at Southern Connecticut State University, where he expects to graduate in 2016 with a degree in accounting.
Since 2011, Robert has been the head coach of the Stratford YMCA (BSY) Swim Team, growing the team from 25 swimmers in his initial year to 86 in 2015 and re-establishing the team as a fully recognized USA Swimming program. He also had 15 swimmers qualify for New England YMCA Championships, all working out of a 3-lane pool.
“We’re pleased to add Rob to our coaching staff,” says Chandler Crosby, Assistant Director of Competitive Swimming. “He brings experience, knowledge and energy and will be a great fit to our program.”
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Water Rat coaching staff,” says Robert. ”My goals are to do everything in my power to not only improve our swimmers in the pool, but also outside of it. I can’t wait for the next season to start!”
Coach Rob joins a Water Rat team coming off a Short Course season filled with impressive achievements and results.
A squad of 11 Senior Water Rat swimmers returned last week from the 2015 YMCA Short Course National Championships held in Greensboro, N.C. The Y Nat Water Rats placed in many of their individual and relay events and broke a total of 10 team records. The Water Rat Men’s team placed second at the national meet, their best finish ever.
What’s more, Head Coach Ellen Johnston earned recognition as the National YMCA Coach of the Year.
Our younger Water Rats also showed remarkable progress and potential this season.
At the YMCA New England Swimming Championships, held at MIT in Boston in March, 8 & Under swimmer Jude Dequeljoe broke a 31-year-old New England YMCA record in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 29.56, setting a new team record in the process.
At the 8 & Under State Championships at Hopkins School in New Haven in February, Annan Olasewere bettered Sophie Miller’s team record in the 50 yard Butterfly, set just last year. Other record-setting teammates include Kate Murray, who broke Sophie’s mark in the 25 yard Fly.
And as the Senior Water Rats and Coach Ellen and Assistant Coach Frisk Driscoll were traveling to North Carolina for Y Nats, 13-year-old Michelle Kennedy and Coach Kristen Finnegan headed to upstate New York to represent Connecticut Swimming at the 2015 Eastern Zone Short Course Age Group Championships, March 26-28, in Webster, N.Y.
Michelle competed in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 yard Freestyle events, and Kristen served as coach of the 10 & Under swimmers at this elite meet.
The Water Rat Swim Team is a year-round, nationally recognized competitive swim program, organized and operated by the Aquatics Department of the Westport Weston Family YMCA.
Established in 1949 and with a roster of nearly 200 children, the Water Rats are one of the largest swim teams in New England. Our team members acquire excellent swimming skills, make new friends and learn how to set goals while developing self-discipline and self-confidence.
The Water Rat Swim Team competes against other Connecticut YMCA teams in dual meets, and the team attends state, regional and national championships. The team, which is also a registered USA Swimming Club, is a member of Connecticut Swimming, Inc., one of 59 Local Swim Committees in the country. Water Rats compete in USA Swimming-sanctioned meets at the local, regional, state, zone and national level.
