Scott Barlow: An achiever with a supportive wife
SEBASTIAN, Fla. — Scott Barlow is a swimming and diving coach who has improved the sport on many levels. He is the head coach of the Sebastian River High School swimming and diving team. Ever since he was young, he has been unable to separate himself from the water.
He started competitive swimming when he was just six years old, and almost 40 years down the line, he is still teaching swimming after retiring from competitive swimming. He attended Eastern Michigan University and was part of the swim team for two years before taking up a summer coaching job with Miami University in Ohio.
It was during his summer coaching job that Barlow discovered his calling. He knew that summer that he wanted to be a swimming coach. After the summer, he accepted a coaching position with Miami University and continued his university education there.
While working as a coach in the university, he met his wife, Holly McClain, who later became a big part of his success story. Barlow had a big challenge of having a stable assistant coach during his early coaching days. Since Holly was also an expert swimmer, having competed in swimming at the University of Tampa, he asked her to help out, and she did. They have been working together since then.
鈥淗onestly, she is the reason I am successful as a coach,鈥� Barlow on his wife’s impact on his coaching career.
Before moving to Sebastian River High School in 1994, he worked for a swim club in Delray in 1993, where he started the program with just seven children. But in no time, he was able to grow the program to more than 50 children.
Since he has been with the Sharks, he was named the Florida Gold Coast Senior Coach of the Year. In 2017, he led the swimming team to the Region 2-3A Championship at the Winter Haven.
One of the Shark swimmers, Jake Servaites, won the fourth consecutive regional diving title for the Sharks with almost 30 points. This was the second regional title Coach Barlow led the Sharks to in five years, and they won it with 358 points. The second place was Lake Minneola with 269 points.
鈥淭he kids are really finding their own right now, which is kind of cool,鈥� Barlow in an interview after the Region 2-3A Championship.
While Barlow is building the Sebastian River High School swimming team, he still finds time to develop other intending swimmers outside the school. In 2005, he started the Treasure Coast Swim Club at the North County Aquatic Center. The swim team has almost 200 swimmers of various ages and abilities.
His swimming team has produced five high school All-American national swimmers and a Florida high school 2-time state champion.
The Treasure Coast Swim Club was named the United States Swimming Bronze Level of Excellence in 2010.
For everything that Coach Barlow has achieved, his wife Holly has been by him all the way. Barlow鈥檚 success is a true definition of 鈥渂ehind every successful man, there is a woman.鈥�
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