A decade in, the JCC Sea Serpents keep growing

BY CHRISTINE MCCARRISTON

Ashley Vieira was recruited for an aquatic instructor position at the JCC of the North Shore 10 years ago and she wanted the job but would only take it if she could start a swim team. She never wavered in her goal to develop a team and started with 10 swimmers. Today, that team, the Sea Serpents, has more than 100 members ages 5-18.

Vieira graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008 with an art degree, focusing on photography and painting. However, she seemed destined for a career that involved swimming and coaching. “I was a swim instructor and lifeguard since I was 14,” she said, adding she worked with the Blue Fish Swim Club, one of the top swim programs in New England, for about seven years. She then moved to MIT as a pool deck manager. She also was part of the group who opened the first Ray and Joan Kroc water park in Dorchester.

After college, she found herself missing coaching. “I wanted to bring it back into my life.” She certainly has done that, growing her idea of a JCC swim team more than tenfold in 10 years.

“I love helping kids achieve their goals, fostering a sense of community and being a safe place for them,” she said about coaching.

The COVID pandemic reinforced the need for a safe place for her team members. The lockdown posed obvious challenges for the team as it did with most things, but Vieira and her fellow coaches rose to those challenges. Some Sea Serpents met on Zoom for evening story time thanks to Brandon O’Donnell, the aquatics manager, swim instructor, lifeguard and coach of the younger swimmers.

“He read sea serpent themed books, did activities with the kids,” Vieira remembered. “We did dry land exercises and even held scavenger hunts,” she said, noting the goal was to keep the team bonded and, more importantly, to let the swimmers know their coaches were there for them despite the JCC being closed for three months.

The team even held their banquet via Zoom in 2020.

“We never stopped having our banquet. I’m proud of that.

If you got an award (in 2020) it was announced on Zoom, a coach delivered it within 15 minutes, put it at your door, then backed up and took a picture.” The following year the team held the annual ceremony outside with tents. Recently, it was held inside like the preCOVID days.

What makes the JCC’s Sea Serpent team unique is that they are all at one site, Vieira said. “Everyone knows each other,” adding the most important thing is the positive team culture the coaches cultivate. “We want kids to be successful and have fast times, but that takes a back seat. Everybody is equally valued, equally included,” Vieira said. Vieira pointed out that all the swimmers have different reasons for taking up the sport. Some swim to get or stay fit, others enjoy the social aspect while others are preparing for D1 or D3 college programs. “We find what the goal is and support them,” she said.

Building a team from 10 to 110 in 10 years took a lot of organization, reprogramming, structure changes and hiring of coaches, but the model has led to team success. Recent graduating Sea Serpents went on to swim at Carleton, Colorado and

Union colleges. Three members participated in Speedo USA Sectionals, a handful have held New England Top 10 swimming times and more have made age group zones. “We are still very young in a lot of ways, but we are slowly filling out as a team,” she said, noting the largest age group is made up of high school juniors.

Next up for Vieira, her fellow coaches and swimmers is to continue building the program. “We have a really great group of coaches right now and all are really motivated to work on having the older kids work with the younger kids,” adding that helps them all come together as a team.

While Vieira is the one who started the Sea Serpents, the name was voted on by the JCC Board of Directors and the coach is quick to say she couldn’t do any of this alone. “The J has been amazing. My boss, Tom Cheatham (CFO and Vieira’s direct boss) and Marty Schneer (JCC executive director) have been supportive and wonderful. I thank all the coaches.”

This art major’s love of photography and painting has become a hobby while she continues to build a growing and successful swim program at the JCCNS.