Matt Vogel
Head Coach
FWA is led by two-time Olympic gold medalist and 1996 International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee(Link) Matt Vogel. He is in his eighth year at FWA and has 34 years of USS/YMCA coaching experience. Matt’s swimming career started at Club Olympia under the guidance of Jerry Holtry and continued with legendary coach Glen Hummer in Huntington, Indiana for 9 years before finishing his age group career at the Southeast Family YMCA under Chuck Rossman. This led to Matt winning 7 YMCA national titles. Matt was recruited to the University of Tennessee where he was mentored by Olympic coach Ray Brussard. As a freshman Matt won the 100yd butterfly at the SEC and NCAA Championships. He was also a member of the University of Tennessee National Championship team in 1978. In the 1976 Montreal Olympics Matt won the gold medal in the 100yd butterfly and won his second gold medal as part of the world record setting 4X100yd medley relay. Matt was the 2002 Maine YMCA Coach of the Year.
Coach Vogel's Philosophy on Swimming:
"Throughout my coaching
career I have always been driven more to coaching an athlete by the
amount of desire they possess to want to learn about the sport of
swimming rather than by the amount of talent or ability they
possess. What really inspires me the most about coaching Fort Wayne
is the ability to be able to provide our swimmers with experiences
similar to those I encountered as an age group swimmer."
Coach Vogel has been coaching with FWA since 2005. He
currently works directly with the Senior, Gold, and Red
groups. Coach Vogel guides and directs the coaching focus of
the Age Group Coaches and can be seen running practice on the deck
during nearly every group's practice. He charges the swimmers
with his joy and enthusiasm for swimmiing, developing physcially as
a swimmer, and growing in competitive character.
It's hard to miss his distinctive voice booming across the Nat during practice or during a swim meet. The kids thrive on his attention to detail, his high standards, and his "teddy bear" growl and charm!
