Sherry Wittrock's love for swimming began at an early age.
She started swimming competitively when she was in junior high school, and that continued through college.
Wittrock is passing along her love of swimming at the Knowles YMCA in Jefferson City, where she's been coaching since 2004.
It's a family affair as her daughter, Kaley, began swimming competitively when she was 8. Her love of the sport has continued, as she currently is the swimming at the high school in Kansas where she teaches.
"While I was helping Kaley they, were looking for coaches, so I offered to coach and I've been doing it ever since," Wittrock said.
Currently Wittrock mainly coaches advanced swimmers at Knowles.
"They pretty much know the strokes when I get them, but there's always something we can help them with," she said. "It's a lifelong sport. It won't kill your joints like a lot of other sports do. Hopefully they find the love of swimming and continue doing it into their senior years."
Anything she can do to help her athletes achieve their goals is what Wittrock loves to do. When she was coaching in Illinois, some of her students made it to the Olympic trials.
"It's nice to know that they have these dreams; and if I can help them get there, that's great," she said.
Wittrock said the teams that compete from Knowles go to events across the state as well as much of the Midwest. The current group ranges in age from 11-16.
"I have some that have only been swimming a little over a year, but they mastered the four strokes and were able to compete," she said. "I want them to have fun, but it's like any other competitive sport: you have to put in the time and the effort. So I'm trying to help them improve their techniques on things like turns and starts. Those are the little things that can make a difference. Trying to keep their focus is a little difficult, but most of the time it goes alright."
Wittrock said not having a competitive high school swimming team has hurt efforts to grow the sport in Jefferson City.
"Every other town this size in Missouri has one," she said. "A lot of times we lose high school athletes because they want a letter and compete with their friends. Places like Columbia have multiple indoor pools, and we only have the one here at Knowles."
While most of her time is spent with youth, Wittrock also teaches a master's class for students who range in age from 30-77. One of those students plans to go to Indianapolis to compete with her daughter on Mother's Day weekend.
"They are the most dedicated of all the ones I work with," she said. "I wish I could swim like them. They don't like it if we don't have practice. They don't complain. They just do it."
Wittrock said she'd like to coach a couple more years.
"I love swimming, and my hope is that these kids will continue to love swimming," she said.