Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School’s swim team started its winter season on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. During their first meet, they showed organized confidence by beating Roosevelt, but fell short against Lincoln. They are proud of their performance, especially considering the number of new swimmers and the overlapping band concert that occupied a couple of athletes.
This year, IBW’s men’s swim team outnumbers the women’s team, something that hasn’t happened for many years. They are hoping that this increase in numbers will help the team be more competitive during the meets this season and for years to come.
“Our freshmen portion of the team is very large, and [there are] a lot of newcomers,” said Dylan Amato, a senior captain on the varsity swim team. Lots of freshmen means the program has a lot of potential to grow in the next couple of years as current underclassmen swimmers develop their skills further.
The swim team’s assistant coach, Nathan Piers-VanderPloeg, credits much of the increase in numbers to swimmers who have encouraged their friends to join the team, as swimming is a no-cut sport. This is especially prevalent for those in cross country and track who have winter as an off-season.
Many of the athletes joining this year are seniors looking for a fun sport during the winter season. “Having these kids that know their bodies very well because they are already athletes and then trying to teach them how to swim is quite a bit easier,” said Piers-VanderPloeg. “The extra years of development and doing other sports makes it a lot more fun to have a beginner who is 17 and knows their body.”
Piers-VanderPloeg spent 13 years as a competitive swimmer and has been coaching for the past 24 years. While he has coached both baseball and water polo, swimming is his expertise and is what he currently coaches at IBW, along with his sister, Shelley Hughes, who is the swim team’s head coach.
“I had a couple of really great coaches when I was younger,” said Piers-VanderPloeg. “One in particular, Gary Leach, was my coach when I was probably 12 or 13.” Even though he was known for being strict, often called ‘Scary Gary,’ he cared about everyone. “He was a really big influence for me just because of the way he made me feel at a time when all my friends were quitting. It is really hard to stick with an individual sport when you don’t have that team aspect pulling you together.”
Coaching made him realize that he could make a difference in the lives of his athletes. From his earliest years of coaching, he has had students reach out to tell him how much they appreciated him. “I’m someone’s favorite coach. Like, that’s the biggest honor,” said Piers-VanderPloeg. “I’ve had a few careers and a few professions, and none of them are as fun as coaching.”
Amato has been swimming for the majority of their life and is also a certified swim instructor. As an upperclassman, she has been able to help coach some of the younger swimmers and give them the knowledge she has picked up over the years.
“It’s nice that I get to help out and get these people, especially these freshmen who are going to be this for the rest of these four years, to get those skills so that they can be improving them as they go along,” said Amato
Within the swim team, Amato and many others have found a supportive community. “Everyone is just very helpful and friendly,” said Amato.
One thing that both coaches, Piers-VanderPloeg and Hughes, care about deeply is making swimming an inclusive and welcoming environment for everybody, no matter their religion, gender identity, or anything else. Especially with swimming being a gender binary sport, the coaches prioritize including everyone regardless of how they identify.
“I know that at this level, everyone should be welcome,” said Piers-VanderPloeg. “It’s about learning how to keep your body fit, how to compete, how to be with teammates, like it’s all those things, it’s life skills. So I want everyone to be able to do it.”
Hughes continues this inclusivity in the swim lessons she does outside of coaching at IBW. She has taught older people who still aren’t comfortable swimming and Hasidic Jewish families who can’t be in the water with the other gender because of religious beliefs. Her accommodation has ensured that these people have the opportunity to learn to swim, no matter the circumstances, something that can be a life-saving ability.
Swimming at IBW is a sport where everyone is welcome. This inclusive environment has encouraged many athletes to join, whether they are there as competitive swimmers or just to get stronger and improve physically alongside their friends.
If you are looking to potentially join the swim team or just support the IBW swim athletes, show up to their meet this Wednesday, Dec. 17th, at Dishman Community Center.
