12 Letters on Why My Swim Mom is the Best – A Mother’s Day Thank You

We asked readers earlier this week to send in Why My Swim Mom Is The Best and received 100s of submissions. Many thanks for taking the time to submit. 99% of letters shared similar feelings of love and thanks for their swim mom’s support in the sport and life. We included 12 letters. The 1st in this list is our winner, Emily E Fogle.

From Emily E Fogle

“…but at least you looked cute!”

Emily E Fogle and her Swim Mom

These are the words my mom would exclaim when I saw her after a poor race. My older sister and I have been swimming competitively for a combined 20 years, both of us started at around 5 years and we have both had the gracious opportunity to swim in the Division I collegiate setting. Despite the TWENTY years we have been involved in this sport, I don’t think my mom ever fully understood swimming. Of course she knew what we swam, myself the breaststroke events, my sister, distance free, but other than that, I’m fairly certain she didn’t have a clue (love you, mom!).

It usually went something like this: my dad would be the first to say,

“Good job! But it looked like your legs died a little bit…”

While my mom would the respond with,

“Oh David! (my dad) She did just fine! At least you looked cute, honey! I love that suit we picked out!”

Regardless if my swims were up to championship caliber or so horrid she couldn’t even tell if that was me in the water, she was ALWAYS there after my swims with a warm hug. If me and my teammates were lucky, she would even come with homemade baked goods (she was a master in the kitchen!). For example, during middle school we would have morning practices at our high school, meaning we’d have to be picked up and driven across town to school. My mom would drop me off at 5:30 a.m., drive back home, cook a hot breakfast, wrap it in tinfoil and newspaper to keep it hot, and have it ready for me in the back seat of the car so I could eat it on my way to school. She was unbelievable…in the best way possible.

The fact that she accepted my performances, despite it being atrocious or not, and went straight to a comment or gesture having absolutely nothing to do with swimming, is why I love her so much.

Unfortunately, my mom died unexpectedly last year, and ever since then I have contemplated returning to the sport. However, I recently have, and I know that even while she’s physically not here anymore, she’s still watching me swim, and more than likely, still commenting on the suit I picked out.

Love you more, Mom!

From Kevin Fitzgerald

Kevin Fitzgerald and his Swim Mom

If it was not for my mom, Judi, my brother, Tom, and I would not be where we are today – on a Division 1 team at Manhattan College. When I was in second grade, just around 7-years-old, my mom told me about a local CYO swim team that her friend’s son was on. I had no desire to join, simply because none of my school friends were joining the team. I fought my mom the entire ride to sign-ups. “You will make lifelong friends here, Kevin, I promise!” That’s what I remember my mom saying. Of course, like always, she was right. I am now 21-years-old and I am still swimming with people who I met that very first day of sign-ups. My brother, 2 years younger than I am, joined the team a year after me, and he is on the same college swim team as me, too. Our mom coached us from when we first started, until we each started high school. She then changed her coaching location from the pool deck, to the stands. Even as a college swimmer, I see her telling me to keep my feet up during my distance freestyle events. Over the years, my mom never forced me or my brother to do anything we did not want to do. We were not forced to join various club teams, or even apply to schools with swim teams – we did that on our own. My mom drove us to countless meets and practices, leaving our car smelling like it had its own pool in the backseat. Now, she comes to every college meet, whether it be home or away, and makes the trek up to Buffalo in the middle of February for our conference championships. If you know my mom, you know how much she cannot stand the cold weather, so this just shows how much she sacrifices to be there for us. Now my mom is coaching my 7-year-old brother, John, on the same CYO swim team my brother and I swam on. I could write pages and pages on my amazing mother and how she sacrificed so much for my and my brother’s swimming careers. 400 words does not even scratch the surface. I love you Mom! Thank you for everything you do! Even though it may sometimes seem it, your actions never go unnoticed.

From Emma Foster

My mom is the ultimate swim mom. She is the perfect dose of involved, but not overbearing. From the first time I dove in the water she has been waiting at the end of my lane with a smile, cheering me on. I cannot count the mornings I rolled out of bed for practice at an impossible hour just to be greeted by a “good morning” and a packed lunch.

Emma Foster and her Swim Mom

I have so many examples of her support but one moment in particular will always stick out. My junior year of high school, I was slowly working through a plateau where my best times seemed suddenly unattainable. I was frustrated, and very afraid that I was losing a sport I love. My mom was a rock during that time. It can’t be easy to see your daughter struggling, but even in the darkest moments she was always encouraging without putting any pressure on me.

One day I traveled with my high school team to a dual meet that was a few hours from home. Originally, Mom wasn’t planning on coming. My dad was out of town, and she didn’t have anyone to travel with. I didn’t say anything to her, but I was very nervous for this meet and a little disappointed she wouldn’t be there. Halfway to the meet, I was surprised with a text informing me that she was on her way.

She drove the entire way to the meet, in the snow, by herself, only to sit in the stands for four hours and then drive back alone. I don’t think I had more than ten minutes to sit with her all day, but she sat there smiling the entire time. I didn’t swim well that day, but it didn’t matter because my mom was there, and no matter what happened in the water, I knew she’d always be there.

It took me a long time to drag myself out of that plateau, but I eventually did. My amazing support system of coaches and teammates had a lot to do with that, but no one deserves more credit than my mom. She never stopped believing in me, and the love in her embrace after I finally broke through my plateau matched all the hugs I received when I was struggling through it. I love you, Mom!

From James E Tierney

I want to tell you about the most awesome Mom ever, Mary “Churney” Tierney, the mother of current swim coaches Jimmy and Dorsey Tierney. She raised an Irish Catholic family of 8 children in Louisville, Ky before her early passing in 1980. She was the most supportive, positive, and even keeled Mom that on could expect. She gave us all the taste of the chlorinated water at an early age and left it up to us if we wished to continue, once she was of course convinced that we would be “safe” in this environment.

She simply drove us any and everywhere. Keep in mind that we all had activities, many of us involved in several sports outside of swimming. I don’t remember her ever being disappointed in us after a competition, only wanting to know if we tried our best and had fun. She looked forward to her own “mile” swim each day that she could find the time. In fact she was one of the original Lakeside Master’s swimmers, even though she had no desire to compete, only to stay fit.

There is no doubt in my mind that having Dorsey tag along with her each and every summer day when she was young to the local JCC, where she worked around the pool, helped lead to Dorsey’s love of swimming (and ultimately a highly successful career as a swimmer). She was well known in the swimming community for her swimming support as a Mom and as a teacher. Even as she fought cancer to her death, she tried to do her mile until could her body gave out.  She was the best!

Kaitlyn Swinney and her Swim Mom

From Kaitlyn Swinney

I’d like to start off by saying that I am 18, and have been swimming competitively for 12 years. Throughout it all, my mom has been my rock. She has taken me to hundreds of practices (many of them at 5 AM), made me a swimmer- sized dinner every night, and has done so many loads of laundry for my towels. She has never once complained, and has sacrificed so much to make sure that I’m taken care off. As I head off to college, I want her to know how much she means to me. Happy Mothers’ Day mom, I love you!

 From Chad Patterson

The best feeling in the world is to be able to look up into the crowd after your race, good or bad, and to be able to find someone who loves you and is so proud of you. That someone that I look for is my Mom and nothing is better than to be able to make her smile by doing something that I love. No matter what the outcome of the race is, my Mom is always there giving me words of encouragement and telling me how proud she is of me. No medal or record could be ever be greater than the thought that I made my Mom proud. Without my Mom, I would never have had someone there that would have been willing to wake up in the early hours of the morning to take me to practice. I would never have had someone to make enough food to fill my bottomless stomach. No one to talk to after I had had a bad race or a tough week. One of the reasons that I work so hard at practice is so that I can show her that I am not wasting all the time and money she spends at my meets and practices. There have been many times that if I didn’t have my Mom at my meets, I would have never had someone to count for me as I swim the 1000 or 1650. And even after those races when I look down at the end and see her soaked from head to toe from my flip turns, there is still a smile on her face. There has never been a meet that my mom has been to, where she doesn’t walk out with a smile on her face. One of the happiest moments that I’ve been able to share with her, was a few years ago when she was able to stand with me on the podium after I had won my first state championship. It was nice to have the TRUE state champion up on the podium with me, because in reality that gold medal should have been placed around her neck for all the love, inspiration, courage, and desire my Mom gives me. It is because of that reason that my Mom, and all swim Mom’s, are the best moms ever. Every race that I have won, I dedicate to my Mom.

 From Christi Riley (swim mom Sara DiPaolo)

Lexi, swim mom Sara DiPaolo, Christi Riley

My mom is the best swim mom ever because she supports me in everything I do. Last year, my sister and I had surgery on both of our ankles and she helped us through the entire situation, basically waiting on us hand and foot and putting up with me when I freaked out over not being able to swim for four months. She has never pushed me to swim if I didn’t want to and for that I thank her. That has greatly increased my love of the sport, allowing me to swim because I love it and not because she forces me to. She has been so helpful in the college process, including taking me to see some schools and talk to the coaches. This year, for a couple of months, she has written (and continues to do so) practices for me and my sister (she swam at Bucknell and coached for nine years) so that we will have an opportunity to swim high school. (A rule in Florida is that if you swim for the Club Team associated with a high school before you begin attending that school, you aren’t eligible for high school.) For swim meets, she drops everything she is doing and comes to support us. When I have a bad swim, she never tells me how awful it was, just that I swam my hardest and that is all that matters to her and all that should matter to me. Every time I swim, it is a best swim to her. She is always positive and this rubs off on me and makes me look at swimming with a whole new perspective. This is why my mom is the best swim mom ever!

 From Stacey Tobey

My swim Mom is the reason why I am who I am today. Not a day went by that she didn’t encourage me to be tougher, be a leader, enjoy what I was doing and keep finding the passion. I started doing doubles at twelve, my mom worked so she dropped me at my coach’s house so I could have a ride. I was the kid that said a prayer every night saying “please bless mama so she can take me to swimming in the morning”, and she always made it happen. She held me to a higher standard when I was a goof off “WHY do you think we came here???”, and praised me non stop when I had done a great job. Her pride is overflowing when she speaks of my swimming, the trips, the accomplishments and all of our great family time we all spent together because of swimming. I grew up in Salt Lake, we took trips for swim meets to Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Washington and Texas. She was always a chaperone, not because I was a wild child and needing constant supervision (wait, was that why she was always there??), but because she never wanted to miss a moment of me and my swimming. She was always the mom with the best treats, the biggest, warmest blanket and everything else you might need at a swim meet.

I swam in college, was on deck as a fifth year coach then took a year off everything swimming to find a “real job”, but my mom encouraged me to follow my passion which obviously through the years had become coaching. I coached summer league, age group and then spent twenty years coaching at the Division 1 level. I still swim and coach High School swimming and opened my own business teaching technique through private lessons. Her two messages were “life is hard, so you better get used to it”, and “life is tough, so you have to be tougher” I started this journey in the swimming pool in the Fall of 1974 with my first swim lesson and now in 2014, FORTY years later, that passion and love for the water is still there. All because of a 5 ft. 98 lb. woman that was meaner than snot and only expected the very best for me. Her heart, devotion, sacrifice and pride is bigger than all those years put together. My mom is the best SWIM MOM!!

From Coach Mary Jo Klier (Swim Mom – Mrs Eugene Klier, or known affectionally to the swimmers as Frances Klier)

As a swim coach I witness daily the dedication and love that mothers demonstrate towards their swimmers. At my yearly parents meeting I always say “behind every successful swimmer is a great mom or dad!”

I come from a very large family who began swimming at our local country club. My brother swam with the YMCA swim team and I remember my Mom every saturday driving all over upstate New York to his meets. Back in the 60’s there were no competitive swim programs for girls so my parents got permission from our Church to allow us to start a swim team at the local YWCA. My parents found a coach and paid for all the pool time. Three days a week we swam in the mornings so my Mom was up at 4am driving us to the Y Directors home to pick her up so we could get into the facility. She then ran us through the swim practice that the coach had written. After many practices my Mom took other members of our team home because they needed a ride so they could practice. There weren’t a lot of meets back in those days so my Mom organized the first AAU meet (today USASwimming) in Syracuse held at West Genesee High School. My Mom became a certified swim official as well as becoming very involved in the Niagra Swim District eventually serving as Chairman and other positions wherever she was needed. I remember attending Senior Nationals at Mission Viejo and stopping at the local McDonalds where my Mom was one of the timers featured in a swim mural which my team and I thought was pretty “cool!”
After our family “retired” from active competition my Mom continued to go to the yearly USA Swimming National Convention and to host and promote swimming in her swim District. At the age of 95 she formally retired as a swim official.

I know I have a great Swim Mom and she was also a great Swim Mom to the hundreds of swimmers that she encouraged throughout her 52 years of volunteer work for swimming. If a swimmer needed a swim suit and couldn’t afford it. She got it donated. If a swimmer needed funds to attend a meet whether it was local, regionally or national, she found the funds. When the Police needed an official to help them with one of their fundraisers they called her. Both my Mom and Dad contributed greatly to the formation and success of High School and USA swimming in Upstate New York.
And the best part is that they both loved every minute of it!

From Kierra Smith (short, sweet and funny)

My mom is the best because she makes me pancakes after morning practices when I’m home for the holidays. Pancakes are my favourite food and they really get me through training when I am feeling a little less motivated.

On an early morning this past Christmas when I was leaving for morning workout my mom agreed to let me invite the whole club over for pancakes afterwards. Well …I forgot and I came home by myself to about 300 pancakes on the table. Three. Hundred. Pancakes.

It was great.

Thanks mom!!!

From Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson and her Swim Mom

My swim mom is the best swim mom I could ever ask for. She wakes me up for those 5 AM practices with a smile on her face and encouraging words on her lips. If I ever have a bad day or complain about swimming, she is quick to point out the positive side of things and never lets me lose hope. She is my number one fan having never missed any of my swim meets. Often I tell myself that I am not good enough, but she is always there to tell me I trained just as hard if not harder than most of my opponents. Whenever I get out of the pool after a bad swim, she will always tell me that I still did amazing and will do even better next time. My first day of joining my current team I came home crying. It was way too hard for me, and I just simply couldn’t do it. She reminded me that quitting only brings regret, and she convinced me to go back to the next practice and try harder. I went back to that practice, and the one after that, and the one after that. Now I am extremely grateful for her kind words that day. If I had never gone back I would have never discovered the stronger swimmer I have become. Whenever I fuss about an injury, she tells me that it is not the end of the world, and that setbacks are simply a part of life. No matter how I do in swimming for the next few years I know she will love me no matter what. She will always be by my side encouraging me to do my best. She truly has sacrificed so much for me. I am extremely grateful for that. Overall I think that the best characteristic she has for making her the most awesome swim mom is that she makes the BEST food ever…. and of course her positive spirit! I love you mom!

From Sarah Jahns

My swim mom is the best swim mom ever because she works 40 hours a week and still gets me to practice 30 minutes early, so I can hang out with my friends. Before she takes me to practice she always makes me a good healthy homemade meal and after practice she always makes sure I have a recovery snack whether it be chocolate milk or a protein shake. Not only does she work 40 hours a week, make homemade meals and drive me everywhere, she puts up with my attitudes. One thing that my swim mom doesn’t hear enough from me is how thankful I am for her and how much I love her. Thanks mom for being the best swim mom ever.