BATH, Maine — There’s something in the water at the Bath Area Family YMCA. There has to be.
Under coach Jay Morissette, the Long Reach Swim Club won a YMCA state title in 1991. It hasn't lost since.
That's 31 straight state championships. The 31st came over the weekend of March 6. The team's current incarnation features more than 150 kids, ranging in age from 7 to 18 years old.
"It’s hard to win the first one," Morissette said. "It’s even harder to win each consequent one."
Seniors Caleb Williams and Fionna Cashman have been swimming for Morissette since they were in elementary school. They practice daily at their high schools and with Long Reach, but neither is burnt out. Cashman said this is a special place.
"I think Jay is the heart of that and brings that together in such a nontraditional way that it makes it fun," she said before Wednesday's practice. "We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t having fun every single day."
"I don’t know a lot about the science of swimming, but I’m pretty good at the art of coaching, which I think is what separates me," Morissette continued.
"There are much more technically sound coaches in Maine than me."
It’s hard to argue with Morissette’s relaxed approach. The kids say he pushes them as hard as they want to be pushed.
Emily Hammer, a former swimmer at another club, has three kids on Long Reach and came to watch Wednesday's practice.
"They’ve cracked the code, because when I swam, we were in the pool for like two and a half hours," she remarked. "And I just remember being so warn out at the end, and these guys come in, they swim for an hour, an hour and 15 minutes, and it seems like they keep just cranking out these really incredible swimmers."
Winning is still important to Morissette. But if his kids take care of the little things and each other, the winning will come.
"Just continue to have fun with your kids on deck, on a day you’re having a bad day," he said. "The next meet you might be having a good day. And, in the end, it’s just swimming."
It’s just swimming, like it’s just another banner on wall.
They’re going to have to start making room.