Over the summer, the girls’ swim team had a change in coaching staff. Jonathon Karrels, the girls’ head coach, stepped down from his position. Because of this, Jamie Schnurer became the new head coach and the team was put to the task of finding a new assistant coach. One of the candidates was Ruthe Zimmerman, an old colleague of Jamie’s, who went on to get hired as the new assistant coach. Who is this Ruthe Zimmerman, and how did she become involved in swimming?
Zimmerman started swimming when she was very young. Her parents both worked during the day and didn’t want to pay for a baby-sitter, so they sought out another alternative. Zimmerman’s mother paid for her to take swim lessons and have a pool pass for the day. Zimmerman comments on her life back then, “I literally lived at the pool all day.” When she was 8, she started swimming with the Wisconsin Dells Dolphins and never stopped. She went on to swim two years at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and two years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Since then, Zimmerman has went on to coach for many different teams. She started coaching for the Wisconsin Dells Dolphins then at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She went on to coach at the YMCA and stayed long enough to watch the team change from the Marlins to the Fox Cities YMCA Swim Team. After the YMCA, Zimmerman started coaching for the Fox Valley Wave and is now the team’s administrator.
This also isn’t the first time Zimmerman has coached at Appleton North. She coached with Jamie Schnurer a few years back. Zimmerman returned to Appleton North because of the fact that she and Schnurer get along so well and because of her two little girls. Zimmerman noted, “It’s the perfect season for me because it’s only three months. I have two little girls, a 4 year old and a 2 year old. My 2 year old was born with Down Syndrome, so she has a lot of physical therapy. This is the perfect amount of time where I don’t feel like I’m neglecting my kids, but I get to give 100 percent to one group for three months.”
Zimmerman has many goals for the team this season as she makes her return as assistant coach. She plans on focusing on all the technical parts of swimming such as the underwater kicks, the streamlines, and the starts. Zimmerman also commented, “The JV team is already way stronger than when I first ever taught with Jamie here.”
With all these goals, Zimmerman has already made a huge impact on the girls’ team. With the upcoming meet against Neenah in September, Zimmerman will finally be able to showcase how much she has helped the team. Even though she has to juggle family and work, she is still trying to memorize the names of everyone on the team.