University of Rhode Island
ACHA M1 • ESCHL
Date: September 16, 2026
Would Recommend
Tags
Swimming on this team was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. The money that was offered/given was not worth spending as much time in her program as I did. She definitely created an environment where her were favorites were known and if you were not one of them, you were pushed to the side. The team culture was awful and the day to day vibe of the team was based on if she was in a good mood at practice or not. She was disorganized and took a lot of her frustration out on the team during practice. She would single people out in front of the whole team instead of having a one on one conversation with the athlete privately. Singling an athlete out was not always done directly by her but also by making the athlete themselves stand in front of the team and explain to them why they missed a practice (normally for sickness), had to make a certain decision about the sport, etc. This made it very challenging to enjoy the sport and practices because you were always on edge about making her mad or making a mistake that you would have to explain later on. The actual work that was done in practice was tailored towards the sprint/mid-distance freestylers and backstrokers on the team and left a lot of the stroke swimmers falling behind on sets and intervals that did not provide any benefit to them. While she has background swimming for the team and coaching for several years, she never understood the concept that every swimmer responds differently to different coaching styles. She struggled to get through to many swimmers on her team which resulted in that loss of connection with her athletes and in turn the athletes themselves as many would quit or leave. In about the span of a year, more than a few swimmers either quit or left the team. The overall team environment was very negative, because instead of creating a space where athletes uplifted their teammates and cheered each other on, Lilly created a space where the athletes hated the sport and couldn't wait until their time in the program was over. You play a sport in college because you strive to be better or because you just aren't quite ready to say goodbye to the sport you love. You do not, however, play a sport to be torn down by your team let alone your coach, which is what would happen weekly during my time in the program.