Tampa swim coach has lasting impact both in and out of the water

TAMPA, Fla. (BVM) — The sky is still dark when head coach Julia Lamb steps out of her car on a muggy, Florida morning. As swimmers walk on to the pool deck mostly in silence, she sets up the pace clock and gives the swimmers a three-minute warning. The green pace clock turns on with a loud beep and starts counting up as she explains the warmup twice. Lamb resets the clock and practice begins on the one-minute mark. It is only 5:30 in the morning, but the workday has already begun. 

Whether it be in her busy season during the summer or during the school year like this particular morning, Lamb is no stranger to long days and early mornings. The tetious cycle of long evenings and early mornings at meets and practices repeats week after week, but it is one that has become successful for the storied Tampa coach.

Lamb started her coaching career 20 years ago with Tampa Bay Aquatics. The club was composed of multiple branches, but she ran her own team. 

Her passion for swimming started when she was 12 years old after she joined a summer swim team and her love for the sport only grew from there. She started swimming year-round her junior year of high school when she was finally given the opportunity. And that love for the sport grew into a career. After graduating from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, Lamb stayed in Florida and eventually found TBAY.  

In 2009 a lot changed for Lamb when she took on a branch of TBAY independently and started her own business.  With a brand-new business blooming, she met her future husband, Dave Schindler, only two months later. With that tremendous support system and a close-knit group of swimmers, the team and business only grew. 

Despite a growing sense of isolation from the club as a whole, Lamb’s branch of TBAY  succeeded in and out of the water. Everything was stable and Julia loved what she was doing. But in the spring of 2018, that all changed. 

The club suddenly broke up and Lamb was left with the most consequential decision of her career. There were three realistic decisions for the future of Lamb’s team – join coaches that left TBAY in the formation of their new club, join an existing club in Tampa, Greater Tampa Swimming Association, or form her own club.

“I definitely wasn’t confident about joining GTSA when TBAY had broken up,” Lamb said recounting the decision, “I thought a lot about going on my own, but I was excited about working with [GTSA head coach] Ryan [Gober] because of the respect I have for him and I knew I could learn a lot.” 

The decision to join GTSA, although short lived, turned out to be a valuable one. In May of 2019, Lamb and Gober left GTSA and formed a new club, Tampa Elite Aquatics (TEAM). The club in its short tenure has already had massive success.  In the 2021-22 USA Swimming Club Excellence Program, it was recognized as a silver medal club and the No. 80-ranked club in the country, being noted as one of the most notable introductions to the list. 

The rapid success of TEAM did not come without all of the normal challenges of a new club, in addition to a global pandemic only a year into its formation.  

“Initially it was stressful,” Lamb said of the pandemic. “But fortunately our pools were only closed for a month. Only a handful of swimmers quit swimming during that time, so revenue wasn’t significantly down. Structuring practices for a long stretch of time using social distancing and other Covid protocols was tough, but we got creative and made it work. It was a strange time of change and there was a new way of doing things.”

Change was normal to Lamb since swimming as a whole has changed a lot in her 20 years of coaching. Training mentality has changed a lot from a great quantity of yardage to lesser, more quality yardage. Another major positive change she has seen is the increased focus on the person behind the athlete and the importance of mental health.

The person behind the athlete is an essential part of Lamb’s coaching philosophy. Carly Joerin, a high school senior in Lamb’s Senior Elite group, started swimming with TEAM in 2019.  

“Julia has been more than just a coach to me,” Joerin said. “She’s helped coach me through life.  No matter what I need she’s always there to be supportive. She’s made me a better swimmer and person.”

In her 20 years, Lamb has had to adapt her own approach too. 

“When I was younger I had more of a ‘my way or the highway’ style,” Lamb said. “I’ve learned over the years to listen to the swimmers and take a collaborative approach. The committed and talented swimmers have awareness and perspective on how they are swimming and what they are lacking.” 

This Lamb’s philosophy is felt daily by her swimmers, like Rahul Karpur, another swimmer in Lamb’s Senior Elite group.

“Julia is the best coach I have ever had,” Karpur said. “Sometimes I feel closer to her than my parents because of how open she is and non-judgmental and most kids on the team feel that way. She has made me a better person and I want to be someone like her because she is truly a good person.”

Head age group coach, Brian Ahern, was hired by Lamb when he was 19-years-old and has been with her ever since. 

“Julia is a fantastic boss,” Ahern said. “She makes sure that I have everything I need as a coach not only to do my job, but to succeed at it. I’ve had opportunities to move on to other positions at different clubs or different lines of work. But the draw of working for and with someone who cares about your success on and off the deck always leads me back to being on the deck with her.” 

Now almost 30 years old, Ahern has essentially grown up in front of Lamb’s eyes. Ahern has been impacted both professionally and personally by her care and compassion for her employees and swimmers.

“What she has taught me goes far beyond what we do on the pool deck,” Ahern said. “Without her, I would not have the success that I have in my own personal life in addition to the success we have with our swimmers in the water.”

This successful quality program has come far in a short time. From the start of Lamb’s team in 2009 with only one pool and only a handful of swimmers, she has now grown the team to over 200 swimmers at three pools in the area with a full-time staff.  Still, Lamb hopes for even more growth.

“I guess I just want TEAM to continue to be a powerhouse and be thought of as a quality program with respectful swimmers and professional coaches,” Lamb said.

While swimming is mentally challenging for the athletes, it also takes a toll on coaches. They are invested in the process and outcomes just as much as their swimmers. For deeply personal coaches like Lamb, maybe even more so. That taxing challenge has had its impact and has led Lamb to a hiatus from pool deck for the winter.  

While reflecting during her time off at the success over her career, Lamb says it’s the growth of her swimmers that kept her going.  

“I’ve been coaching for 20-plus years, but each season is different because of the variety of kids. Their improvement and their accomplishments, that’s absolutely the most rewarding part.”