YMCA of the Triangle Area Strikes On From Coach Jamie Bloom, Senior 1 Group “Disbanding” Amid Restructuring

YMCA of the Triangle Area (YOTA) Swim Team has moved on from coach Jamie Bloom and introduced a restructuring of its Senior 1 Groups, consolidating the Chapel Hill and Raleigh teams to Raleigh.

YOTA is a multi-site membership primarily based within the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle area of North Carolina.

Last week, the membership’s first day of follow was scheduled for Monday, August 31, after every week of crew constructing occasions. On Tuesday, dad and mom and swimmers obtained two separate messages—one signed by each Jeff Little, YOTA’s Associate VP of Aquatics, and Jerry Foley, the Association Director of the YMCA of Triangle aggressive swim crew, and a second signed solely by Foley.

In the primary message, they introduced a “new strategic coaching direction” for the crew that confirmed a vacant “Assistant Director of Competitive Swimming” position that may be posted on Sept. 8, together with Foley as Association Director of Competitive Swimming and Rachel Muller because the Head Age Group Coach.

The message hinted that Tom Hazelett, who has been teaching the Senior 1 Group in Durham/Chapel Hill since 2019, would not be in that place, stating that he and Muller would “continue supporting their current teams during the transition.”

However, there was no point out of Bloom, who has been with the crew for a decade and coached the Senior 1 Group out of the Finley YMCA in Raleigh.

In the second message, Foley outlines how the brand new construction will work extra particularly, with him taking on the position beforehand held by Bloom.

• Foley will coach the brand new mixed Senior 1 group out of the Finley YMCA web site in Raleigh
• Hazelett will assist his Senior 1 athletes on the YMCA at Meadowmont (Chapel Hill) for 2 extra weeks earlier than transitioning into teaching Silver, AGS and Senior-level teams at Northwest Cary YMCA.
• “Current West Senior 1 athletes who are unable to participate in Senior 1 training at Finley are invited to train with Tom at Northwest Cary or George (Vlahos) at Hope Valley Farms.”

According to a supply near this system, the Senior 1 group has now “mostly disbanded” as a result of selections, timing, and the way they had been communicated to the athletes. Swimmers are reportedly becoming a member of North Carolina Aquatic Club (NCAC), Marlins of Raleigh, and the New Wave Swim Team, and presumably just a few going to the TAC Titans. Some are considering of calling it quits on swimming in mild of the modifications.

The supply mentioned swimmers and oldsters speaking to YOTA management have heard that Bloom was fired however they couldn’t share the explanation.

YOTA management was reportedly additionally dissatisfied with the crew’s efficiency on the 2026 YMCA National Long Course Championships in late July, although each groups completed within the high 12 (women’ ninth, boys’ twelfth).

SwimSwam has reached out to Foley for remark. Bloom’s YOTA e mail is not energetic.