Jamie Bloom, head coach of the YMCA of the Triangle Area Swim Team (YOTA), was recognized as a PRIDE month trailblazer in the following article on the USA Swimming website. Congratulations, Jamie!
Swimming impacts individuals in different ways. For some, it is a fun hobby. For others it is simply a workout. For many it is a life skill. For Jamie Bloom: “It has been the foundation for who I am and what I do.”
Growing up in Lexington, Massachusetts, Bloom played multiple sports, citing their presence in her family’s home. Her parents played tennis and both of her sisters played sports at the collegiate level. Her siblings swam in the summer, but for Bloom, swimming was an all-year focus.
When the head coaching position at YOTA presented itself, Bloom transitioned into that title and stepped down from William Peace. She has been serving as the North Carolina Swimming’s Safe Sport Chair and is about to transition into the North Carolina Swimming’s DEI Chair as well. Bloom has spent many hours educating others on swim safety and is a huge advocate on club teams becoming Safe Sport recognized. In addition to these roles, she is also vice-chair of the Coach Advisory Committee, been on staff for multiple LSC and Zone camps as well as been both head manager and head coach at the National Diversity Select Camp.
One of her passions is getting younger coaches involved and helping create more representation among swim coaches. Bloom exclaimed, “Kids just need to see people that look like them.”
In order to create more representation, it is important to convince individuals why coaching is worth it.
“We need to talk about the sport. We need to talk about the benefits of being a coach, of all the great opportunities that you have to influence lives,” suggests Bloom.
Diversity is another topic that Bloom feels strongly about. “It’s never been a secret. I’ve never shied away from identifying myself. I certainly don’t introduce myself as ‘Hello, I am Jamie, I am a lesbian.’ But, especially at this point in my life, it is something that I am proud of.”
Thinking back to the beginning of her swimming and coaching career, “As far as gay and lesbian athletes go, there weren’t a lot that were out. Swimming seemed at the time to be a little bit of the last frontier,” Bloom explained.
Bloom suggested one approach to creating more representation is to go into communities where swimming isn’t present.
“Competitive swimming is scary to people who aren’t comfortable around the water; who don’t have access to the water,” she said. “I think that we need to do our best to make ourselves part of the communities that we want to be involved in our programs.”
Swimming can be crucial in not only saving lives but adding value to them. Bloom acknowledged, “Sports for me have always been stabilizing. It has always been something that I knew the structure of and could always go back to, could depend on.”
Bloom wants others to have the same access to the sport that has positively impacted her. “I think that sports should be for all. I think that we should be giving opportunities to anyone that wants to participate.”
