Barnesville’s Swim Coach Hangs Up the Whistle at the High School
Barnesville’s swim coach Bobbi Jo Johnson resigned after this past season after leading the high school swim team for 25 years.
Johnson began coaching the Barnesville High School swim team in 1999. She had been helping with the Barnesville summer swim league who had very good eighth grade swimmers, Johnson described. She thought the school could develop a high school team. At the time the only school in Belmont County to have a team was St. Clairsville.
The team had no place to practice that year but managed to get by practicing at Wheeling Jesuit University.
Johnson said no one knew what they were doing in the first year. The first team had eight girls and one boy, riding the bus hundreds of miles for practices and meets.
“I went to our first swim meet not even knowing what the events were,” Johnson said. “I mean, that’s the novice of it, that there just wasn’t any information. And we just jumped in.”
Then, throughout the years of Johnson coaching, it was clear she knew what she was doing. Johnson led the team to districts for 24 years, two swimmers to state and a relay team to state.
Johnson said her coaching methods and techniques increased through the years because you have to stay up to date. Some swimmers were skilled and then some very skilled, so as a coach, the person needs to learn and discover about their different swimmers.
“I’ve always said I’m a teacher first. I know people may not understand that, but I think I’m a teacher first,” Johnson said. “And I taught kindergarten in Barnesville for 37 years. So that’s kind of where instruction comes from, and once you learn how to take something apart, you have to teach people how to put it back together again.”
Johnson said she enjoyed every minute coaching the high school swim team. If she hadn’t enjoyed it, she wouldn’t have continued, she added.
She met great people, great families and swimmers who wanted to be there and learn.
Most of the student swimmers, Johnson even taught them in kindergarten, and they grew up with her.
“A lot of the high school coaches would laugh and ask me, ‘What do you do, just put them in kindergarten and then start swimming in kindergarten and raise them straight up?’” she said. “Because most of the kids that graduated up until the last two years, I’ve had in summer league.”
The school’s swim season would start in early November and end in February after 16 meets and two to three practices a week. After securing a relationship with Wheeling Park High School’s swim program, the Barnesville swim team started to practice at its pool. Though the team had to ride long hours on the bus for practices and meets, Johnson said the Wheeling Park High School swim program has been very generous to Barnesville’s team.
One of the memories from Johnson’s years as a coach that stands out is her first year when she didn’t know anything going into her first meet, and then when the team arrived she learned she learned there was a 100 butterfly and not a 50 butterfly. A couple of the swimmers had never swam a 100 before.
She added this past year, the team had swimmers who finally broke records that were held since 2004 and 2008. Liv McCrate broke the 200 individual meter and 100 breaststroke, Antoni Schuerle broke the 100 breaststroke and Levi Geiger, Schuerle, Maddox Whaley and Conner Starr broke the 200 medley relay record. The team has also never had anyone on the district podium since 2008, but McCrate managed to make her way to the podium twice.
“There’s a lot of good people in (the swim program),” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of kids that maybe aren’t the star athlete, but it gives them an opportunity to compete because in swimming, you can swim a lot of people.”
Johnson said she loved coaching because of the students. She added the families were always great and the school district was very supportive. She added she loved taking photos.
The community will still see Johnson around, as she’s still helping in summer league and having many swim camps for those from kindergarten to fourth and fifth graders, teaching them to stroke.
“I’m still pretty busy. I’m not ready for the grave yet,” she said. “I’m not ready to turn it over, to turn everything off.”
Johnson is also a literacy coach in the Switzerland of Ohio Local School District and teacher at Ohio University Eastern.
“I’ve enjoyed every kid I’ve had,” Johnson said. “Some of them were lively, and they’ll never be forgotten. And some of them quietly contributed to the team, and every kid has something to offer. Every swimmer came to swimming with a different ability, different set of skills, but they all seem to get along and have a good time. We just seemed to enjoy being together.”
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