Coaches
Coach Megan, as her swimmers call her, started swimming at the age of five. She was at a pool watching her cousin's swim meet, when it became clear that one of the team's relays needed a fourth swimmer to compete. Megan's aunt thrust her into that relay and the rest is aquatic history.
Megan grew up in Coal Township and graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School. Her first love was basketball, which she played year-round. But every summer she returned to the pool to compete on a summer swim team.
Despite only swimming in the summer, her times got her noticed by college coaches and she was recruited to swim for Susquehanna University, where she enjoyed competing in the butterfly and backstroke.
Megan majored in exercise physiology for her undergraduate degree and earned a master's degree in health education.
She began her career at Shamokin Area Community Hospital, where she taught classes on everything from car seat safety to blood sugar screenings.
After getting married, she moved to Harrisburg, where she welcomed her two children, Gio and Harper. She joined the former Friendship Center and started lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons. She also teaches lifeguard certification classes.
Megan has a self-proclaimed "horse obsession" and still competes in dressage.
A coach of age-level swimming since college, Megan joined the former Lower Paxton Aquatic Club a decade ago and has enjoyed watching the program grow into the competitive YMCA team that it is today.
She took over as head coach of the FSY Team in December of 2021. Coach Megan says she loves how this program is structured.
"We are very competitive, but we have a separate summer and winter team," she said. "That allows great swimmers to thrive, but also allows kids to do other sports and other activities. We have swimmers that are great basketball players, great lacrosse players, great dancers. Swimming benefits all of those other sports. That's one huge piece that I really, really love."
When you see Megan watching her athletes in the pool, you will no doubt notice her megawatt smile and calm presence.
In addition to her FSY coaching duties, Megan is also the assistant coach of the Devon Crest Swim Team in the summer months.
Jim Mercurio literally doesn't remember a time in his life when he wasn't poolside. From the time he was a baby, his parents had him in swimming lessons to learn the valuable life skill. He joined his first competitive swim team at the age of four.
His family moved to the Harrisburg area when he was eight and he joined the Colonial Country Club swim team.
"My biggest accomplishment was, as an eight-year-old, I finished third at the championships in the 25 backstroke," Coach Jim said. "I still have that trophy."
Jim swam for Colonial through high school. He also swam for Bishop McDevitt High School and was part of the inaugural season of the Lower Paxton Aquatic Club (LPAC) in 2000.
During his senior year of high school, he became a coach for LPAC and has been a part of the lineup ever since.
Jim attended Harrisburg Area Community College and Penn State Harrisburg.
In 2004, he began coaching the Devon Crest summer swim team and officially took over the role of head coach there four years later.
Jim continues to coach at Devon Crest, which celebrated a Mid-Penn Swim League Division A championship in the summer of 2021 and an undefeated championship in the summer of 2023.
But it's not necessarily winning that motivates Coach Jim.
"The greatest accomplishment is the impact I've been able to have on the kids, the community, the memories these kids are making and the work ethic they're learning," he said. "That's the real reason I do it. Win or lose, as long as the kids are having fun and improving, that's all I care about."
All of these years later, Jim is still drawn to the pool.
"Swimming is just so much different than basketball or football," he explained. "You can see your times, you can see where you're improving...it's a great sport to teach you how your work ethic pays off."
He also loves the family aspect of the sport, noting that a five-year-old swimmer can compete on the same team as an 18-year-old swimmer.
Jim said the transition from LPAC to the Friendship YMCA team has given swimmers more opportunities to try different events, which will pay off as they prepare to swim in high school and even college.
Jim is a history teacher at Bishop McDevitt and married his wife, Laura, in 2023.
"Hard work always pays off," he said. "Always."
Justin Pitassi is a natural with the Friendship YMCA's swimmers. It wasn't all that long ago that he was a Gator himself.
Justin joined the former Lower Paxton Aquatic Club at the age of eight and has been either swimming or coaching at the Friendship pool ever since.
He swam at Susquehanna Township High School and qualified for the PIAA AA State Championship meet in each of his four years. He placed 8th in the 100 yard backstroke in both his sophomore and junior years. He was also the District 3 AA 100 yard backstroke champion his junior year.
Justin's senior swim season in 2020 was cut short due to the COVID pandemic. Although he qualified for states in two events that year, the 100 yard backstroke and 100 yard fly, the meet was canceled at the last minute.
Justin is a natural with the younger swimmers and has a unique understanding of the pressures of the high school athletes.
Justin is also a coach for the Devon Crest summer swim team. He recalls breaking his arm at a young age and being given a coach's shirt for the championship meet.
"I was hooked on it after that," he said. "I kind of realized all the things I loved about swimming; being around the team, the camraderie, the sportsmanship...I got it all through coaching."
Justin says swimming is a unique sport because kids of all ages can compete with a common goal.
"There's nothing else where an eight-year-old girl can score as many points in a meet as the senior boy who swam for 12 years," he said. "I think it's really cool how swimming invites opportunities for leadership, because you always have older swimmers to look up to."
Justin is also an Assistant Coach of the Central Dauphin High School swim team and an instructor at Floats to Strokes infant aquatics. He plans to work toward a college degree and would like to eventually coach swimming full-time.
"Seeing a kid's smile when they finish is my favorite thing," Justin said. "When somebody learns something new and they're stoked about it, there's nothing better than that."
Eric Sweeney doesn't like to talk about his impressive list of accomplishments in the pool. But other Friendship YMCA coaches are happy to brag about his prowess.
Eric started swimming in ninth grade, which he admits is late for a lot of athletes. He grew up in Wilkes Barre and attended Hanover Area High School.
"I decided I would give it a try because I wasn't good at basketball," he said laughing.
It turns out, Eric was not only a natural swimmer but a fast learner. By the time he was a senior in high school, he qualified for the PIAA AA State Championships in both butterfly and backstroke events.
Eric continued his swimming career at Misericordia College, now Misericordia University. In his junior year, he qualified for the NCAA Division 3 National Championship meet, placing 12th in the 200 yard fly. In 1999, as a senior, he qualified in the 100 and 200 yard butterfly events. He placed first in the 200 fly, earning a national title with a time of 1:50:46.
Coach Eric still holds the Misericordia records in both the 100 and 200 yard butterfly. He graduated with a degree in computer science and currently works for the Defense Logistics Agency in New Cumberland, where he does programming and financial reporting.
After college, he stayed in the pool in order to train for triathlons. He enjoys competing in both Olympic and sprint races and has completed six full marathons.
Eric joined the Lower Paxton Aquatic Club during the 2019-2020 season. He's also coached the Heatherfield Hurricanes summer swim team for the past two seasons. Previously, he coached at the Palmyra Aquatic Club from 2004 to 2007.
His most memorable moment as a swimmer was winning his national title in college. As a coach, it came the first year the team swam under the YMCA affiliation.
"Seeing our swimmers at states and competing at that level and doing so well has been my favorite memory as a coach," he said.
His focus during practice is on the details, including underwater swimming. He's also big on discipline.
"When you're here for practice, there's a reason for it," he said. "Have fun, but we are working toward a goal, so work hard at it."
Eric is married to his wife, Shannon, who is a physical therapist. His daughter, Coryn, swims for the Bishop McDevitt High School swim team. His son, Nathan, enjoys competing in Ninja Warrior competitions.
