BEMIDJI 鈥� When the Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 girls swimming and diving team looked to replace long-time head coach Woody Leindecker, the program turned to not one, but two solutions: Danielle Bartz and Lisa Friedt.
The duo is tag teaming the head coaching role for the Lumberjacks, and Tuesday evening鈥檚 season-opening meet hosting Brainerd was their first competition in that co-leadership role.
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Though the visitors ultimately won, it was a solid experience for the two new head coaches.
鈥淚t went great,鈥� Friedt said. 鈥淲e juggled all the things that came at us.鈥�
Bartz and Friedt were well prepared for this start to the season. The two are very familiar with BHS swimming, boasting a good amount of coaching experience with the program before ascending to the top leadership roles on the girls side.
Friedt was an assistant coach with the boys team last winter and has been working with the club program, the Bemidji Area Super Swimmers. She also has two daughters on the team 鈥� Anna and Quinn Friedt.
Bartz coached the girls with Leindecker in each of the previous two seasons. Before that, she was coaching middle school boys swimming.
The duo were named co-head coaches in May when Leindecker stepped down from the girls team. Over the summer, Bartz and Friedt kept in touch, keen to ensure a strong partnership for the swimmers.
鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 been an easy transition, Lisa鈥檚 been wonderful (to work) with,鈥� Bartz said. 鈥淭he communication is awesome. If I鈥檓 not thinking of something, she鈥檚 thinking of everything.鈥�
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They are bound to put their own stamp on the program, entering their newly-found roles with their own coaching experiences and beliefs. However, Bartz and Friedt each picked up a thing or two from Leindecker, who鈥檚 been coaching with BHS swim and dive since 1996.
鈥淗e鈥檚 patient, he definitely knows not to get ahead of yourself and let the process happen,鈥� Friedt said. 鈥淩eally our focus is the end of the season and anything that happens in between these meets, whatever they want to work on. 鈥� We鈥檙e going to hammer it in practice.鈥�
Bartz and Friedt have been applying a few of those lessons and working with the team for a while now, starting the coaching process in practice leading up to Tuesday鈥檚 meet.
鈥淵ou can tell that they鈥檙e working hard during practice,鈥� Bartz said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been working on (just) building their confidence and getting them confident in their pool, in their race and who they are 鈥� being able to show up and race their race and feel good about it.鈥�
The meet against Brainerd on Tuesday offered a strong coaching opportunity beyond what鈥檚 already been accomplished in practice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to see trends during a meet, what we need to work on as a whole,鈥� Friedt said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the beauty of swimming, and then each swimmer gets their own individual goal and we can help that girl accomplish their individual goal and then work as a team.
There were some coachable in-game moments Tuesday evening as well.
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鈥淲e moved a couple of the brand new, young (swimmers) around last minute, and they handled it really well,鈥� Friedt said.
Bemidji earned a few first-place finishes at the meet. Ridley Hadrava took first in diving with 154.70 points, followed closely by fellow Lumberjack Aubrey Dewitt (154.20).
Abby Daman finished atop the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:14.27.
Finley Zothman came less than a second shy of besting Brainerd's Aralyn Marcelo's time in the 50 free, finishing at 26.62, good enough for second place.
As the season progresses, the dual head coaches will continue to lean on each other as the new experiences keep rolling in.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a team approach,鈥� Friedt said. 鈥淚 think we both have our strengths that we鈥檙e naturally stepping into and going into. It鈥檚 just been (flowing).鈥�
Brainerd beat Bemidji 129-57.
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