By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Summer Pierce chalked up a number of records while swimming at the youth, high school and collegiate levels. Now, she hopes to carry that success to the coaching level as she returns home to take over the Owego girls swimming and diving program.
Pierce will also join Patton Taylor as a strength and conditioning coach while being employed by United Health Services.
“They wanted to add a female in the weight room to try and get more females in the weight room,” she said.
The weight room and coaching positions fit the bill.
“I was really excited to be able to get everything that I wanted here in Owego,” she said. “I wanted to do strength and conditioning, and I knew I wanted to have swimming in some part of my life, and Owego was able to give me all of that.
“Here, with swimming, I have the freedom to do almost anything really. I've started my swim lessons, I would like to get the club swim team started, and then I'll have the varsity team, so I'll essentially be able to have swimmers throughout their whole life, which could be cool.
“I think it's really rewarding to come full circle because I learned how to swim here,” the 2019 Owego Free Academy graduate added. “So now, being able to help others learn how to swim here is just very rewarding, fulfilling, and I'm excited that I know what's going on here, so I think it'll make it a little easier moving forward and everything.”
Pierce has come across several familiar faces, most of which belonged to young swimmers when she was an Owego competitor.
For those who don’t know her, they can get an idea of what type of swimmer she was by looking at the record boards on the school’s pool walls. She started leaving her mark with the Greater Owego Swim Team, where she still holds 40 records in the 8 & Under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15 & Over age groups. She went on to an impressive career with the high school team and still holds school records in four individual events and three relays.
Pierce went on to compete at the collegiate level for the University of Massachusetts and left there with school records in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly, and the 400 medley relay.
Although her accomplishments in the pool will not automatically convert to coaching excellence, knowing about her accomplishments should be an inspiration to those athletes she coaches.
“It's good to get them to trust me,” Pierce said. “I think that level of trust, especially the pool (records) with them being displayed there, it's in front of their eyes every day. They kind of see that.
“I've been bringing enrichment camps in here that I've been working with with Patton just to get kids in the pool because they don't swim during phys ed anymore, which I would like to bring back, but just getting them in here and then they'll look up and they're like, oh, is that you? Just then they start to realize I do know what I'm talking about, I was this good swimmer and maybe in their head they're like, oh she was this good, she can help me be that good too.”
Her intent is to help her swimmers become the best competitors they can be.
“I've been working with them for about a month now,” Pierce said. “I've had practices Monday through Thursday and I'm just trying to correct their technique and stuff, from the basic level of swimming. If we can have better technique, they'll be better swimmers, so that's my main focus right now, especially because they're all so young.
“If I'm here long term, then I will have them every year, so if I can correct their stroke now, then it'll only be more helpful for the future, and that's my main focus.
The River Hawks had eight swimmers and two divers in 2023, slightly larger than the year before, and Pierce hopes to keep that upward trend going.
“We're going to have a bigger team this year, which is good because last year, they weren't able to compete in all of the events,” she said. “We should have enough to compete in every relay, which will be nice.
Pierce will also place an emphasis on a positive environment for her athletes.
“I think team culture is something that's really big for me,” she said. “I experienced a lot of teams throughout my athletic career, and I've been on some really good teams and some not so good teams, so I want to be able to create a team culture that everyone wants to be a part of and our good swimmers are only going to help push that in the right direction.
“The sport of swimming, a lot of the times, the faster you are, the more respect you have. That's any sport really. The better athlete you are the more people that look up to you, so it's going to be my job to make sure that those swimmers are being put in the right direction, but from there, they're going to just bring everyone along with them, hopefully. That's the goal.”
Ultimately, Pierce will turn the Owego program back into a Section IV championship contender, but she realizes that will not happen overnight. The River Hawks posted a respectable 4-6 record last season with one of the smaller teams in the section, so increasing both the number of victories and competitors are part of her agenda.
“I would like to get as many people on the team to start with, so increase the numbers, then maybe win some dual meets, see how we're doing,” she said. “We do have some really good swimmers, and I think if they do buy into what I have set for them, we are going to get better.
“I don't want to set too many expectations. I'm not really sure how it's going to go because I'm so new, but also to keep them on the team next year as well and have some success that brings others along with them.”
Pierce hopes to slow the “revolving door” of coaches at Owego — she’s the fifth since 2017 — replacing Luci Taylor, who ran the program the past three seasons.
“My goal is to create a swim program again, so I want to be here long term,” she said. “I know I can do a lot of good things here long term. I would like to coach girls and boys varsity.”
“I would like to start a club swim team and get people swimming through there. I have my swim lesson business that will get kids swimming even younger. I would like to be here during the school day and do swimming and phys ed classes, just increasing participation across the board.
“Swimming is a life-saving skill,” Pierce added. “Kids should know how to swim. They should be swimming in gym class. They should have access. We have such a beautiful pool. We should be using it more, so I hope with me being here and me willing to do all of these things that, the school will see that, the community will see that.
Pierce said she had a good turnover with previous coach Luci Taylor.
“I know Luci Taylor and Patton Taylor well,” she said. “I worked with them last summer, and that's when Luci had asked me if I wanted to coach this year. It's kind of been on the table for a long time now. I got to work with her last summer, see how she does it and she's been really helpful. If I need anything, I know that she can answer my questions. And then it was nice that her husband was also the strength coach.”
In addition to her lengthy competition career, Pierce hopes to help Owego benefit from the Division I college experience as well.
“College swimming is a different animal,” she said. “It is a full time job there, so our big thing at UMass on the swim team was being intentional, like never doing things just because, or doing it just because someone's telling you to. It’s really about learning to want to do it for yourself, so that's something that I want to bring to this program — being intentional with everything that you're doing.
Pierce said that attitude applies to workouts in the weight room as well.
The River Hawks are still a relatively young team this season. They had no seniors last year and only a couple of juniors.
Owego opens the season Sept. 5 at Windsor.
