Coach Feyes

Andy with his co-captains, Austin, Grant, and Nathan

So many of my posts I write are all about the girls. I decided I should write one about my dear husband, Andy, or coach as he's been referred to by many for the past four months or so. For six or seven years he had been coaching the youth swim program, Stingrays. He really enjoyed it and formed some great bonds with a lot of his swimmers. A year or two ago, Andy's former high school swim coach, Ray Martin retired, and Andy was approached about taking his place. The idea did intrigue him, but he didn't want to stop working with his Stingrays kids. Well, this year he decided he would do it, knowing he would hopefully be able to coach a lot of his Stingrays swimmers, once they hit high school. I think he's thrilled he did. He's had a spark in him that I haven't seen in years. I feel he's had so much fun reminiscing about his past swim years, and finding so much joy in seeing his swimmers succeed. I've been so proud to see the teamwork he brought together. The girls and I attended the home meets and last weekend drove to Battle Creek to watch their big league meet. Andy was elated at how much improvement each and every swimmer has made over the season. The number of "personal bests" they set was dramatically high. He would light up talking about how each swimmer performed, or his hopes for the next meet. I worried he'd get too hung up on winning, but that was not the case at all. He truly just seemed to care that everyone tried their best, made improvements, and worked as a team. Don't get me wrong, he loved to win too, but it was evident that he just wanted each and every swimmer to be their best. He reminded me of a parent with their child. A parent never really cares if the their son or daughter is the best, they just want to see them succeed and be happy. And that was Andy this season. He heads to Oakland next weekend, with half a dozen or so swimmers for the state meet. I know he'll come home proud regardless of how they finish, because they'll give it their all.

This season he has come home with comical stories, times of struggling with the pettiness of some of the swimmers towards each other, videos of dives gone wrong, headaches and hardships, but mainly inspiration. Swimming has always been Andy's passion, and I think it had been missing for awhile. He loved doing Stingrays, but as I've always said, Andy is a kid himself. He relates so well to the high school swimmers, that it was a perfect fit. He made swimmers put aside differences and unite. I don't think he's like some old washed up dad who lives vicariously through his son forcing him into a sport, but I do think he got to relive a time in his life that gave him so much joy. At the awards banquet last night, he even got choked up talking about a few of his Seniors, and had to fight back the tears. Seeing Andy openly that emotional was moving.

He's a great coach, husband and father. We are blessed.

Andy with Parker, aka DMB