Lou Petto has been hired by the Upper Main Line YMCA (UMLY) as their new Competitive Aquatic Director, bringing 19 years of coaching experience to Berwyn, PA. Petto becomes just the fourth head coach of UMLY since the program’s inception in 1971.
Prior to joining UMLY, Petto ran a highly successful swim program at the Ocean County YMCA in Toms River, NJ. His competitive and pre-competitive program increased from 180 swimmers when he started in 2002 to 350 swimmers in 2014. In 2013 and 2014, Petto guided the Men’s team to a seventh place finish at the YMCA National Championship and coached several swimmers to individual records.
He is also involved in disability swimming and was named one of the US Paralympic National Team coaches.
The UMLY Swim Team is a highly competitive USA/YMCA team, which has consistently placed in the Top 10 nationally at YMCA Short Course and Long Course Nationals and has held numerous national YMCA short course and long course records. UMLY has had five swimmers represent the United States in international competition since 2002, including Pan Am Games medalist Corrie Clark, current Russian Junior National team member Vlad Komarov and German National team member Nic Grasser. The 2014 graduating class of UMLY has gone on to represent the likes of Yale, Navy, William and Mary and North Carolina.
Petto replaces long time coach Glenn Neufeld who went to Mercersburg Academy as their swim team coach. Neufeld was the 2009 and 2011 National YMCA Swim Coach of the Year.
An All-American swimmer and graduate of SUNY New Paltz in New York, with a B.A. in Recreational Leadership and a minor in Athletic Coaching, Petto began his coaching career in 1995 at Northwest CT YMCA in Torrington, CT, followed by Stingrays Swimming in Marietta, GA in 1999. He joined the Ocean County YMCA in 2002, before coming to UMLY this fall.
Swimming News courtesy of Upper Main Line YMCA.