Coach Joe Reynolds has been coaching various swimming teams for about a jillion years.  He has been head coach for the Prattville Summer Recreation (ARPA – Alabama Parks and Recreation) team since 1996, head coach for the Prattville YMCA team (PSL) since 2013, and was an assistant coach at the Montgomery YMCA (MYB) between the years 1998 and 2012.  Although he swam competitively as a child and teenager, he states that he was “too involved in soccer and basketball to take swimming seriously.”  He did swim in a masters program between 2000 and 2002, but then “realized how hard it was” so he started to play more basketball.  All that basketball screwed up his hip, so, after hip replacement surgery, Coach Joe is, once again, swimming...

No matter what sport he played, he was, at best, only average.  As a swimming coach, however, Coach Joe has experienced a lot of success with multiple top three finishes in state-wide ARPA competition as well as swimmers competing in YMCA National Championships, USA Junior and Senior Nationals, and US Olympic Trials.  Two of Coach Joe’s ten children (yes, 10 children) swam in Division One Collegiate programs.  One competed at US Olympic Trials, and his oldest son was selected to represent Team USA in International Olympic Sprint Triathlons.  In fact, all of his kids are most excellent, as is his wife, Mary-Heather.

Coach Martie Brown has been a part of our swim family since 2003.  Unlike other coaches, she did not grow up around the sport.  Coach Martie played every other sport there was with pure excellence.  When she reached college she was no longer given the chance to show her athleticism in a sport, so she decided to take on triathlons.  With experience in biking and running, swimming was the only activity left to tackle.  She spent many years learning and practicing the art of swimming.                   

After three children she and her husband, Jerry Brown decided to instill the same athletic life style they knew into their children.  All three of her girls have been a part of our swim program since they were of age.  As two girls have graduated from high school, they continue to use their swim abilities and knowledge of the sport in their jobs today.  Her youngest daughter is an active member of our team currently.                                                                             

Coach Martie spends a lot of time at the YMCA, but her favorite part is coaching the younger kids and making swimming fun!  Other times she can be found behind a the computer working on the administrative duties.

Coach Andie started swimming competitively at 8 years old and competed until 18 years old.  She started coaching and teaching swim lessons at 16 yrs old and coached off and on for 18 + years.  Andie coached the Prattville Stars-n-Stripes team for 10 years until 1993 she joined the coaching staff for PSL in 2011.

Russell G. Rissman born in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana, his early years spent being homeschooled, fishing, and exploring the bayou. He and his family moved to Pensacola, Florida when he was 10 where he enrolled in the 5th grade at Bell View Middle School. Russell decided to give running track a try, and excelled at it, but his true love was the water. He joined the swim team in middle school and never looked back. As a freshman he swam on The Pensacola Navy Team year round and in High School made cuts for Southeasterns in breast and butterfly strokes. 

Russell graduated from Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida in 1995, and went directly in to the work force becoming a Subway Franchisee. He married his lovely wife Angie in 1999, they moved to Prattville, Alabama in 2001. Russell has 6 children, 4 of which have followed in his footsteps in the swimming world. Russell has continued his love of the sport swimming on the masters team at the Prattville YMCA, and coaching the Prattville Swim League. 

Doug started volunteer coaching with both the Prattville Y and City league over 10 years ago when his kids swam for the team and has continued on as a volunteer coach.  He also coached in several other locations while he was in the military (Air Force for 23 years, retired from the AF 6 years ago).  Doug swam competitively in High School and College (small DIV II school – Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO), and continues to swim and coach with the Prattville Masters Swim Team the “Prattville Prehistoric Sea Lions”(PPSL).  With the last of his four children (adults) just leaving for college, and now being an “empty nester”, he’s looking forward to more coaching and more golf with his wife (Sybilla) who works at the Y as a personal trainer.