154: Roy Snyder

Swimming Coach

Roy Snyder, a. 40 year veteran teacher, coaches swimming at Wilson school district. 

In many ways, Mr. Snyder is a legend to generations of swimmers. As much as possible, he and his staff did coach swimming during the pandemic . During the warm month, all  practices were held in outdoor pools. When everything was shut down and there were restrictions to be indoors, the staff facilitated zoom dry land workouts three times a week to help kids stay fit. His daughter Alison, his assistant coach, helped him set up the technology involved. 

When allowed to return to the pool, the coaching staff spread the kids out in the pool using every other lane and maintaining as much distance between kids as possible. When competitive meets were permitted, they were conducted without spectators and live streamed so that families could watch their children compete. Large invitational meets were cancelled for the year. 

Coach Snyder feels that the kids were impacted in multiple ways during the pandemic. He was very grateful to be able to interact with the swimmers as much as possible. He felt kids were very grateful to be able to participate during this difficult time. He is especially proud of his daughter Alison Snyder who works in HR at desk battery overseeing 8,000 employees and did not miss a day of work. 

Roy notes his appreciation and respect for frontline health workers who he feels deserve our continued respect and admiration.