Scribner Waves Goodbye

After years of commitment, HHS Head Swimming Coach Charles Scribner has made the decision to step away from coaching in order to focus on his three young sons.  

“I look forward to just being dad with my boys. I don’t have to tell them, ‘Oh, I can’t. I’m not going to be around this weekend because I have a swim meet.’ I can. We can, when they want to plan something on the weekend with me, we can go do it,’” Scribner said. “They’re getting involved in their own sports and athletics. I want to be in the stands for them and support them as their dad and see what kind of wild adventures we can convince their mom to let us do.”

He loves coaching and would like to continue doing it, but not at the cost of his family. This led Scribner to make the difficult decision to announce that he is taking a step back from the sport of swimming.

“The worst part is the time that it takes away from my family,” Scribner said. “I’m home late every evening, I’m gone on the weekends, and so it puts more strain on my family, my wife, my mom—grandma, helps out a lot.” 

When reflecting on his time as a coach, Scribner believes a successful coaching career is one that expresses love and passion for the sport to the athletes instead of its length.

“[Coaching has] never been about how many years I’ve done it or how long I’ve done it,” Scribner said. “I’ve enjoyed it; I wanted to keep doing it, and it worked for my family.” 

As the years went by, Scribner observed a remarkable change within his team. What started as a group with simple goals gradually evolved into athletes with high expectations and a relentless drive to improve.

“I think my biggest impact on the HHS team is how the swimmers’ expectations and outlook has changed. When the season started the team had their normal expectations of just hoping to do well,” Scribner said. “As the season progressed their attitudes changed from hoping to do well to expecting to have great swims and improving. Their goals changed from hoping to make it to state, to expecting to make a state. They started training harder than they ever have and pushing themselves to the limit every day in practice to make those goals come true.”

Scribner’s influence has impacted the entire program by transforming it into a thriving, well-oiled machine. He has helped many individuals shatter their goals and compete at the next level such as six-time school record holder and Xavier University commit Abbey Fish.

“He has transformed this program, even when he was a swimmer. Here he took something that was kind of in rough shape and really turned it around,” Fish said. “It has produced so many good swimmers over the years, and that’s evident. And I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to have been coached by him for the last four years.”

What he finds most rewarding, however, is witnessing those unforgettable moments when his athletes surpass their own expectations and achieve what they once thought impossible.

“[What I find rewarding about coaching is] seeing the reaction of kids when they accomplish something that they didn’t think they were going to be able to do; setting a high-level goal, or having that outstanding swim when they touch the wall and can’t believe that’s the right time on the board. Helping kids grow as athletes, students, and as people is the most important thing,” Scribner said.

As the most recent individual state swimming champion, Scribner can relate to his own high-pressure experiences and share how a few words can help calm nerves and prepare an athlete for the pressure of a major competition.

“I share my experiences, especially when someone’s getting to their first A final, I give them a speech, how that time between the consolation piece and the A final is going to be the longest two minutes of your life when they’re doing the medal presentation and interviewing the previous races winner, and that heat just swam ahead of you. You’re ready to go, but you gotta wait,” Scribner said. It’s not like a normal meet where you’re the next heat up and you just go. And so knowing my experience of that, waiting for the final, has helped calm nerves. They know what to expect, and have really helped people when I’ve given them that information and that advice.”

Scribner’s passion has led to a commitment to excellence, as evidenced by how he raised the team’s expectations from merely hoping for success to actively striving for outstanding performance.

“I think I upped the expectations of what was expected of people when I took over. The expectation was that we hoped we’d make a relay to state; now it’s no longer just an expectation that we make relays to state. We make multiple relays because we want to be returning the second day [of state] for finals as individuals and relay teams, and we’ve consistently done that,” Scribner said.

Scribner’s background in swimming has not only shaped his knowledge of the sport, but also laid the groundwork for his coaching philosophy.

“I grew up swimming in Hastings and once I graduated high school I spent time in a couple clubs and then through college,” Scribner said. “So I based my philosophy on… how I was coached and what I learned through my own training, and tried to incorporate that into my own program.”

Through years of experience, Scribner learned that every season is unique. Each group of athletes brings new talent, backgrounds, and challenges that he responds to with flexiblity.

“[From coaching, I’ve learned] that every year is different. You can’t expect to do the same things with different groups of kids every year, you gotta make changes and grow as a coach based on the kids that you have that current year,” Scribner said. 

He praises the co-op for strengthening the team by bringing together a more diverse group of athletes.

“Well, the main thing is we have the co-op now that makes us a stronger program. It brings in kids from all three schools and brings in more people from more backgrounds, and allows us to be a stronger team. We definitely have more kids out than we used to when I was in high school. We also have a lot more kids that come out just to give it a try. A lot of first -timers come out that have never seen it before,” Scribner said.

With having more swimmers participating comes a greater need for resources to train them. HHS works with the YMCA to provide pool space for the swim team to utilize for practice and host meets throughout the season that runs from December to February. During his time as head coach, Scribner has done his best to prepare swimmers for competition using the resources available.

“It’s always a challenge to make sure that you have the proper pool space at the Y and get the proper training for the various needs of each individual swimmer, and we do different groups, and try to make sure that everybody can get the most out of their training,” Scribner said.

Scribner will miss a lot of things about leading the HHS swim team, especially the most electrifying moments of his coaching career.

“[The most] memorable moments [came] in some of the conference championships, when it comes down to the last races and you put the right lineup in, plan every point out, and it comes together and you’re able to win the conference meet,” Scribner said. “Seeing people on the podium stand at state has been a great experience having consistently over the last probably eight or nine years, we’ve had at least one person receive a medal.” 

This chapter of coaching might be closing, however, the possibility of returning remains open.

“My oldest, Creighton, when I told him that this is my last year, he was happy, but then in the next breath, he went, ‘Well, I was hoping you’d coach me when I get older.’ So I told him that if he’s still involved in swimming and wants me to try to come back when he gets there, that we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but I’m not ruling it out,” Scribner said.