Q&A with Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA Head Coach Chris Karelus; Leader of Power Program
At age 13, Chris Karelus moved from his native Poland to Scotch Plains, N.J., where the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA became his second home. These days, he directs FSPY competitive aquatic activities to consistent Top-10 finishes at Y-Nationals.
Chris Karelus
Competitive Aquatics Director/Head Coach
Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA
Scotch Plains, New Jersey
- University of Delaware, B.S., sociology and criminal justice, 2004
- Director of Competitive Aquatics/Head Coach, Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA, 2010-present
- Head age group coach, 2003-10
- Assistant coach, 2004-10
- Assistant coach, Kean University, 2016-present
- Named YMCA Long Course Nationals Coach of the Meet, 2016 (FSPY placed fifth out of 112 teams)
- Coached 12 individual and six relay champions at YMCA nationals
- FSPY swimmers have earned two individual and three relay records at YMCA nationals
- Mentored more than 100 New Jersey YMCA state champions
- ASCA Level 4 coach
SWIMMING WORLD: You began swimming when and where?
COACH CHRIS KARELUS: I was born in Poland and swam there from ages 6-13. My family moved to the U.S. in 1993 for my father’s work. Since we settled in Scotch Plains, the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA seemed a great place to continue my swimming career.
SW: How did you become a swim coach?
CK: In 2002 when I was home from college for the summer, I was looking for something other than lifeguarding. The FSPY was looking for coaches. I fell in love with the coaching and quickly realized it was something I might want to pursue as a career. Upon graduation, I became a full-time FSPY head age group coach. I continued in that role until 2010, when I was named competitive aquatics director/head coach.
SW: Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA and outstanding swimming are synonymous. How come?
CK: I credit my coaching staff and our swimmers. Our coaches are passionate about the sport and our team, and they’ve been with the program for a long time. Our swimmers buy into our philosophy and our training.
SW: Why Y coaching and not club, high school or college?
CK: As a former Y swimmer myself, it seemed like the natural thing to do. As a swimmer, I really bought into the four core values of YMCA: honesty, caring, respect and responsibility. As a coach, I believe these values help our athletes become better swimmers and better individuals.
SW: How do you handle training for the wide range of Y talent?
CK: The key is in group placement and finding the right training group for each swimmer. We want to ensure that each person has an opportunity to improve regardless of group or ability level.
SW: How do competitive YMCAs differ from USA Swimming club programs?
CK: I believe it starts with honesty, caring, respect and responsibility. YMCA swimmers are often very involved in their respective communities. In New Jersey, we have a very active YMCA swim league and compete with other YMCAs in dual meets. This really helps our swimmers feel like they are racing more for their team rather than for themselves.
We also emphasize a team-first attitude at our championship meets. As a result, our swimmers always step up on our relays. Also the camaraderie between YMCA coaches and different teams is outstanding. We share workouts with one another and occasionally run joint practices. I feel like that really strengthens YMCA swimming as a whole.
SW: Putting modesty aside, how and why has FSPY fared so well for so long?
CK: I credit my outstanding coaching staff. Length of tenure and investment in team have been critical. We also have a lot of support from our YMCA executive leadership—not to mention our swimmers and parents who really buy into everything we do at FSPY.
SW: What is the FSPY team philosophy?
CK: To balance competitive success with personal growth. Our goal is to foster an environment where swimmers—through hard work and effort—can find success from the novice to the international level.
SW: How do you foster the concept of team at FSPY?
CK: We place a strong emphasis on teamwork and camaraderie. Our swimmers are very supportive of each other not only at meets, but also in everyday practice and outside of swimming. All that helps create a positive team culture.
SW: What is the structure and length of your daily/weekly programs?
CK: My group practices six days a week. The structure changes depending on the time of the season.
SW: What is the training emphasis?
CK: Early in the season, we focus on IM training with time each day focused on the four strokes. As we get closer to meets—be they early, mid or end-of-season—we put more emphasis on race pace training.
SW: IM training?
CK: Lots. Early in the season we might do a weekly cycle that looks like this:
Monday: Aerobic free and underwater work
Tuesday: Fly main set followed by a backstroke kick set
Wednesday: Backstroke main set followed by a breaststroke kick set
Thursday: Off day for my group
Friday: Breaststroke main set followed by a free kick set
Saturday: Free main set and maybe some transition turn work
Sunday: IM set focusing on transition from stroke to stroke
SW: Any kicking involved?
CK: Kicking is a vital component of swimming. That is a daily focus and is almost always done with max effort.
SW: Underwater fly kick?
CK: A big component of our training. We do some sort of underwater kick work every day.
SW: Dryland/weights?
CK: Right now, we do not have a structured dryland program. However, a majority of our seniors have their own dryland programs. We do some basic dryland with our age groupers, mainly to help them with body awareness.
SW: How do you accomplish progressive stroke and skill development, and get younger swimmers to grasp skill terminology?
CK: I put together a document for our coaches that outlines appropriate progressions for 8-and-unders all the way up to senior swimmers.
SW: What do you do to get younger swimmers to love the sport?
CK: We focus on supportive team culture where swimmers feel connected to their peers and coaches. Whether it’s at a meet or practice, we celebrate small victories recognizing effort, improvement or mastering a new skill—not just time improvements. We also talk to the age groupers about the history of our team, our former swimmers and their successes.
SW: What special problems/opportunities exist when training an elite athlete such as Billie Rose Sherratt?
CK: Billie has been part of our team since she was an 8-and-under. It has been an absolute pleasure watching her develop and progress into our senior group. Billie pursues her goals relentlessly. She has an outstanding work ethic and a “never-quit” attitude. Having someone like her in our program really helps other swimmers see what can be achieved through hard work.
SW: Are you analytical or instinctual in your coaching style?
CK: I would like to think both. I know what we will focus on each day in practice, but I like to watch the kids during warm-up and base our main sets off how they are looking in the water. On the flip side, my group uses TritonWear at each practice, and I do like to review all the collected data from each swimmer. It helps me identify areas that might require greater attention as we move through our season.
SW: How do you approach your goal setting with your national-team athletes?
CK: Everything starts with team goals. From there, we emphasize individual goals as they relate to our team goals. I also stress that swimmers find a reason for—and the why—behind their individual goals. I believe this will help them along the way, especially when we are deep into our season and they are pretty tired. Goals can start out small, but grow as new skills are acquired. We emphasize daily goals as building blocks toward end-of-the-season-or-beyond goals.
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.
Chris is an outstanding person and coach and truly exemplifies the core values that he mentioned. Congratulations on a great article and career so far. All the best for continued success.