Jennifer Hooker Brinegar

Head Coach & Founder of Club Olympia

Jennifer Brinegar’s Coaching Philosophy

Winning is important, but never as important as learning.
With hard work, all athletes can accomplish personal greatness.

 

Growing up in Bloomington, Indiana, during Indiana University’s historical six straight NCAA championships and being mentored by Doc Counsilman and other coaches who swam for or coached with Doc, Coach Jennifer’s passion for the sport flourished in such a supportive environment. After just turning 15, she competed on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Swim Team, placing 6th in the 200-meter freestyle and swimming on the Gold medal-winning 400-meter freestyle team in the preliminary heats. Doc encouraged her to move to Mission Viejo to train with Mark Schubert, so she did in October 1976. While competing for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, she held two American and U.S. Open records, was a two-time U.S. National champion in the 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle events, and participated in numerous national championships relay teams. She was a U.S National Team member from 1976 through 1979 and attained a top 25 World Ranking in the 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1500 meter freestyle events, as well as the 100 Butterfly for most of those years. Jennifer received her B.S. degree in Business (1984) and M.S. in Sports Administration (1996) from Indiana University, as well as her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School (1990). She practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri, and Rochester, Minnesota, but returned to Indiana University to pursue a master’s degree and work in college athletics in 1994.

In 2010, Jennifer Hooker Brinegar began coaching age group swimmers in her hometown of Columbus, Indiana, on evenings and weekends. Seeing a need to help swimmers achieve bigger goals outside of local meets, she started a new swim club, Club Olympia Swim Team, in 2016. Club Olympia was named in honor of the former Ft. Wayne (Indiana) team and their Hungarian coach, Steve Hunyadfi. Over the last nine years, Jennifer’s swimmers have won multiple state and zone championships (individual events in the pool and open water, as well as relays), and have broken state and zone records. As she continues to serve Indiana University Athletics as their Senior Assistant Athletics Director, Coach Jennifer also continues to support our sport’s athletes in and out of the water, including her son and our National Junior Team member, Michael Brinegar.

To develop and nurture a love for swimming and for competing.
Swimming is a wonderful sport that one can do for a lifetime. It builds strength and endurance without too much wear and tears on the body…especially if the stroke technique is correct. Swimming is also one of the hardest sports to learn and do well. It is often done with little to no social interaction (as the head is underwater much of the time), so many who tend towards group activities are not pulled into the sport. Thus, the need to encourage the “team” aspect of the sport…relays and team points!

To teach proper swimming techniques and to offer a training regimen for improvement.
Over the course of my swimming career, working in college athletics for over 17 years, and observing my sons in a variety of sports at all levels, I have had the opportunity to see the good and the bad in coaches. Having learned literally at the knee of the “Father of the Science of Swimming,” Doc Counsilman, I know the importance of proper technique. Not just to become a world-class swimmer, but to avoid many of the injuries that result from improper technique. I also know there needs to be a balance between the difficulty of workouts needed to become a competitive swimmer and the need for them to have energy left for school, life, and other activities outside of swimming.

To motivate and prepare swimmers for championship experiences.
While I am personally driven to try to be the best I possibly can be in what I do, I realize others may not be as motivated. I have experienced winning and losing at all levels of swimming (age group, high school, senior nationals, college, international, and Olympics). I do know that I would never have accomplished what I did without the support and encouragement of the coaches who brought out the best in me. Swimming also helps to learn many life lessons such as being healthy and physically active, interacting with peers, dealing with stress, having safe, clean fun, goal setting and follow-through, and learning about cause and effect (accountability and responsibility). My goal is to similarly train and mentor the Club Olympia swimmers to identify, train for and reach their goals in a fun and safe environment knowing that for some it is to be on top of the podium at the highest possible level of competition they can achieve and for others it is to make their high school team.

Coach Tyler swam for Roy High School in Utah. He lifeguarded and taught swim lessons through High School and College before graduating from Utah State University in Mechanical Engineering. He received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Brigham Young University in 2008 before joining Cummins full-time as a Supply Chain Management Professional, where he is currently working in the Purchasing Department.

Coach Tyler was a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America for 5 years in Columbus and enjoyed teaching them swimming and lifesaving merit badges to dozens of scouts. He also previously taught group swim lessons part-time at the Foundation For Youth in Columbus.

Tyler is married to Elise, and they have six children. In his spare time, he enjoys training for triathlons and spending time with his family.