Barry is starting at Columbia YMCA in October, 2021.  He has been coaching various programs for 40 years, having been a Head Coach for the past 30.  He’s a University of Iowa graduate, an American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) Level 4 coach (top 8% of coaches in the country), and received ASCA’s Excellence in Coaching Certificate.

From 2020-21, Barry served as the Aquatics Director and Head Swim Coach at the YMCA of Iowa Mississippi Valley (IA).  In 2018-20, Barry was the Director of Competitive Swimming at Goldsboro YMCA (NC).  While at Goldsboro, they had 1 Future, 1 Sectional, and 1 YMCA National Qualifier, who was also a YMCA All-American at the 2019 YMCA Long Course Nationals.  Several Team Records were also established.  In 2015-18, he was the Head Coach with Brookings Swim Club (SD).  While at Brookings, they had 6 first-time Sectional qualifiers (9 total), 1 first-time NCSA Junior Qualifier, over 100 Club Records broken, 4 State Records, and 12 Central Zone Qualifiers.  In 2012-15, he was Head Coach with Topeka Swim Association (KS).  While at Topeka, they had 17 first-time Sectional qualifiers, 8 first-time NCSA Junior Qualifiers, and 1 USA Swimming Junior National qualifier.  He also served on the Senior Committee for Missouri Valley Swimming.  From 2002-11, he was Head Coach of Bettendorf (IA) Swim Club (later merging into Bettendorf Pleasant Valley Aquatics) and Bettendorf Middle School Swim Team.  BETT won several Iowa Senior Championships.  He was named Iowa Senior Coach of the Year, served Iowa Swimming as Vice-Chair of Technical Planning and Senior programs and as President of the Iowa Swim Coaches Association.  Prior to Bettendorf, he served as Head Coach of Champaign County YMCA (IL), placing 5^th at YMCA Nationals and winning the Illinois LCM Senior Champs.  Head Coach of STAR Swimming in Buffalo (NY), which doubled in size from 200 to 450+ swimmers and won all 12&Under LSC Champs and four Senior Champs.  Head Coach of Huntington YMCA (WV) and University of Charleston Aquatic Team at Huntington, placing all four years in the top 20 at Y-Nationals including the girl’s placing 2^nd and combined team 8^th.  Served as Aquatics Coordinator for the City of Coralville (IA), started the Coralville Swim Club, and coached the Northwest Junior High Swim Team.  He also served as an Assistant with the University of Iowa Women’s Swim Team for 7 years.

Barry has coached 28 YMCA National, 155+ Sectional & Junior National, 31+ Senior National, and 2 Olympic Trial qualifiers.  A former swimmer represented Bulgaria in the 2004 & 2008 Olympics, and is a former American Record Holder in the 100 & 200-yard Breaststroke.  Over 73 of his swimmers have gone on to swim in college.

Coach Steve Leal has been coaching competitive swimming for over 40 years, working with swimmers of all levels, from absolute beginners to Olympic champions. He is certified by the American Swimming Coaches Association as Level 5, ranking him among the elite age-group coaches in the world.

In his early career, and even until recently, Coach Leal was mentored by some of the best, hall-of-fame level coaches in the U.S., including Jay Fitzgerald, Bill Thompson, Richard Quick, and most recently Kathy McKee.

Coach Leal’s teams have won national team titles in the U.S. (USA Swimming Nationals, NCAA, and Junior Nationals), Antigua, and Sint Maarten. Olympians and World Record Holders that he has coached, either as primary coach or as an assistant, include Tom Jager, Janet Evans, Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson, Lea Loveless, Pablo Morales, Janel Jorgensen, Summer Sanders, Angie Wester-Krieg, Jill Johnson, Lea Loveless, Staciana Stitts, and Kyle Salyards.

However, Coach Leal considers his biggest successes to be the ‘smaller’ teams that he was able to coach to much higher levels of success than they had experienced in the past. To this day, Coach Leal gets as much pleasure seeing one of his young athletes achieving his/her first ‘B’ time as he does watch his swimmer earn a national title. It’s all about setting a goal, working towards the goal, achieving the goal, then setting the next one.

While coaching at SwimMAC Carolina in 2018-2019, his team produced more Academic All-Americans than all other U.S. clubs, an accomplishment he is proud of as it entails both athletic success and academic success.

Coach Leal is very happy to be joining the YMCA Columbia Mudcats Swim Team, and looks forward to positive growth for the team, and each swimmer.

Assistant Coach - Northwest YMCA

Assistant Coach - Northwest YMCA

Coach Abbey began her swimming career while living in South Africa as a missionaries child. After completing chef school, Abbey returned to the United States to pursue a career. While residing and working in Charleston she met her husband and started a family. Abbey took on the challenging job of being a stay at home mom, and her family relocated to the Columbia area six years ago.

Having a great desire to return to the pool, Abbey began swimming with the Soda City Swarm Masters Swim Team and she began coaching with the Mudcats. Abbey has a knack for developing swimmers that are just starting out, and has been vital in the development of our younger swimmers. In her free time, she enjoys working out, spending time with family, and anything that gets her in or on the water.