Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The HighBridge Aquatic co-ed swim team currently serves about 85 kids from Jessamine County and a few from southern Fayette County, Garrard County, and Boyle County.

This year, the Kentucky House of Delegates honored Chris Fugmann by voting him the Kentucky Coach of the Year for USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the U.S.

Chris Fugmann grew up in Lexington and participated in the Greater Lexington Swim Association for 12 years. He also swam for Centre College while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree. 

“When I got out of college, I didn’t want to be done with athletics, and I felt I could serve the kids well,” Fugmann said. 

Fugmann began coaching during his college summers for a summer job. After starting his own HVAC business, Fugmann was asked to coach the Equestrian Woods team, which led him to start the Highbridge Aquatics team in 1990. 

When he started the team, he used the old Asbury Seminary Basement swimming pool, which was a different distance for swimming. But since the seminary didn’t use it, Fugmann made his own lanes to start the team. 

In 1994, Asbury built their new activity center, including a pool for the university team. “(Asbury) started allowing us to rent pool time from them.

Assistant coaches on the swim team include a former swim dad from the team, Grant Rowe, a former swim team mom, Elizabeth Combs, a former swim team member, Emily Peck, and a former Asbury student who is now a local teacher, Trent Holladay. 

The team’s season runs from September to the end of March, so it just started. But last season, the team did very well, getting fifth place overall in last year’s state competition.

“We’re a smaller team compared to most. There’s the Lexington team, there’s a Louisville team at Lakeside that dominates everything. Out of all the teams in Kentucky, we’re not anywhere near the biggest.”

Even though the team is small, it is also mighty. According to several other coaches and parents, if each team’s points in the last competition were divided by the number of swimmers, HighBridge Aquatics would have gotten first place. 

Yet team points matter the least to Fugmann. 

“I’m into the fitness and fellowship, the discipline these kids get, and the camaraderie they get. My goal is (for the swimmers) to walk the right path. It’s more about life than what place we get,” he said.

Fugmann said parents who have moved from other clubs to his own have always spoken highly about the HighBridge aquatics culture. “It’s the unity of the kids; it’s a tight-knit family where we support each other, we cheer for others. I stress that whatever the score is, we’re going to have the best sportsmanship; that’s just something I believe in. We all wear the same suits, we all wear the same caps,” he said. “I sound like I’m bragging here, but I’m not really; I’m just proud of these kids. They’re disciplined; they work hard, and some swim before and after school. Their fitness level is astonishing, and it’s just a really tight-knit, great bunch of kids.”

Kentucky is a tough state for swimming because it has few facilities. Only three high schools in Kentucky have pools. Indiana, by comparison, had 11 swimming pools in schools throughout the state in 2019. 

This leads to a lot of participation in United States swimming in Kentucky. Many students on teams at different schools come together to compete on teams like Fugmann’s. 

“I would like to say one thing: I am grateful to all the people who participate (now and in the past). Whenever you see the football team quarterback who wins some honor, I’ve always liked it when he praises and thanks his…lineman who protects him, right? That’s how I feel. It’s an honor, and I’m flattered, but I must tell you, it’s the families and swimmers I work with. I think the world of them. They’re incredibly nice people, polite and kind, hard-working, and disciplined, so it’s been nice, but it’s a team effort,” Fugmann said. 

Upcoming team meets include an October meeting in Versailles, a November meeting in Lexington, and a goal meeting before Christmas in Brentwood, Tennessee.