Thursday, December 8, 2022
Women Coaches in Governance Spotlight: Ashley Burns
Ashley Burns, co-owner and head age group coach for BEAST Aquatics, was one of 66 women coaches who were selected for this year’s inaugural Women Coaches in Governance Program. As newly-elected General Chair of New Mexico Swimming, she shares her history in the sport and how she hopes to make a change for future women coaches.
“Like many of us, I grew up a swimmer,” Burns recalled. “My mom was a coach and a beast of a swimmer herself.”
Burns remembers growing up in a typical swimming household where family vacations were always attending swim meets and August was the only time away from the pool. When she entered high school, her mom started teaching swim lessons in addition to coaching.
“I was volun-told that I would be helping,” Burns said. “We started teaching in other people’s pools and grew to the point where we decided to take the plunge—pun intended—and put a pool in our own backyard.”
As Burns graduated high school and enrolled at LSU, her mom continued teaching lessons out of their backyard pool. Upon earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology, she did as many swim coaches have, and started looking for a job off the pool deck.
“I bounced around the country doing internships and trying to find my ‘grown up’ job,” Burns said. “But I kept coming back to teaching lessons and coaching.”
Around the same time, her mom was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and was undergoing her first round of treatments. All while still teaching, coaching and swimming. By 2007, she went into remission.
Unfortunately, remission lasted only a few years. By this time, Burns was coaching in Austin, Texas while her husband earned his Master of Business Administration. Upon his graduation, she convinced her husband to move back to Albuquerque, New Mexico to run the dry side of a business which was still a dream, a new swim school.
In May 2014, Burns and her mother’s dream of opening a swim school came to life, as they managed to have their first stand-alone location built. A few months later, her mother passed away.
“It was definitely a culmination of her dream and mine,” Burns stated.
During the launch, Burns’ mother was also coaching on a club team.
“As her life was coming to an end at 53, she told me to let her club team die with her,” Burns recalled. “She said the challenge of being a female head coach and the weight of balancing family life and a career was too much.”
Swim coaches make impacts on athletes every day. When Burns had her mother’s funeral, it proved she had a larger impact than either one of them thought.
“We held her funeral with an overflow of guests in the church parking lot,” Burns recalled. “There were so many people there. Most were former swimmers or families of former swimmers who came to pay their respect to the woman that changed their life. I knew then I couldn’t let her team go, and in that moment, realized none of her efforts as a coach had been in vain.”
Many coaches do not get the luxury to see the impact they have on athletes’ lives. For Burns, the death of her mother allowed her to see how much she meant to her current and former athletes and their families.
“She made such a difference in her community that the city of Albuquerque renamed the pool she’d coached at for 20 years in her honor,” Burns said.
As Burns grieved the loss of her mother, she hired another coach to run the swim team while she focused on running the now multiple swim school sites and raising her family. After a few years, she took hold of the swim team.
“I found myself on deck again,” Burns said. “Taking the reins of her team two years after her passing.”
During the pandemic, Burns had the opportunity to purchase a YMCA pool for sale in Albuquerque and merged with another local swim team.
“My mom loved acronyms and she always said if she got her own team she’d call it BEAST – Betsy’s Exceptional Albuquerque Swim Team,” Burns remembered. “Fortunately, my co-owner was open to the name and so we became BEAST Aquatics in May 2021.”
This past year, Burns was nominated by her LSC to participate in the Women Coaches in Governance Program. As a first-time governance member and newly elected General Chair, she quickly realized if she wanted change in New Mexico Swimming she had to be an active member.
“I’ve fought it for a long time,” Burns said. “But we had a vacancy at General Chair, and I was asked by another board member to consider standing for the position. I finally came to the realization that if I was going to stay in the swimming world and keep coaching, then I needed to jump into the governance side as well. This year, I went all in to do my part and try to help our LSC get back on track post-pandemic, and hopefully find some traction back towards growth and retention for our sport at the local level.”
The Women Coaches in Governance Program includes a 10-week course, fellowship and the opportunity to attend the USA Swimming Workshop presented by LiveBarn. Thus far, participants have heard from panels ranging in topics of why we need governance, how to take ownership of being the only female in the room, career growth and development as well as LSC governance and structure.
“I was hoping for, and getting, a better idea of the general framework for governance at both the LSC and national level,” Burns said. “I’m learning a lot about how to run effective meetings and how to help organize and empower committees.”
Learning about governance is a large part of the program, but equally as important is the fellowship and mentoring aspect.
“I have been hearing from other female leaders about how to keep striving for that work/life balance,” Burns said. “I have three kids, run two swim schools and coach a club team, so hearing that it’s okay to find great childcare help so I can coach practice is really encouraging.”
Percentages of women coaches have steadily increased over the last decade. Currently, the majority of USA Swimming registered SWIMS coaches are female (51.87%), making up 44.92% of senior-level coaches.
However, when Burns’ kids were younger, she recalls numerous times being told she couldn’t be on deck with her children strapped on in a front pack carrier. Even when she brought additional assistant coaches, her husband and a babysitter.
“It was so frustrating because even though I had planned ahead and was there with several other coaches and lots of help, people still felt compelled to tell me to get off deck,” she remembered. “But I used it as motivation to do better, every meet and every season.”
It is coaches like Burns, other participants and panelists in the Women Coaches in Governance Program and other ally coaches on deck, who are continually pushing boundaries in our sport.
“I want to continue to build a team where my children and my athletes can flourish,” Burns said. “It’s really nice to hear that other women face these challenges too. It helps me not feel so alone and isolated.”
The inaugural Women Coaches in Governance Program has provided a special opportunity for female coaches in our sport. Specifically, becoming more connected with others in the sport and inspired in their work.
“I think we all know we’re making a difference in the lives of our athletes, but getting to share in some of the joys and frustration of the journey with others that uniquely understand your position is really refreshing,” Burns said.
Do you have experience and want to help inspire future program attendees? Reach out to your respective USA Swimming Team Services Advisor.
Learn more about the Women Coaches in Governance Program by visiting the website here.
“Like many of us, I grew up a swimmer,” Burns recalled. “My mom was a coach and a beast of a swimmer herself.”
Burns remembers growing up in a typical swimming household where family vacations were always attending swim meets and August was the only time away from the pool. When she entered high school, her mom started teaching swim lessons in addition to coaching.
“I was volun-told that I would be helping,” Burns said. “We started teaching in other people’s pools and grew to the point where we decided to take the plunge—pun intended—and put a pool in our own backyard.”
As Burns graduated high school and enrolled at LSU, her mom continued teaching lessons out of their backyard pool. Upon earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology, she did as many swim coaches have, and started looking for a job off the pool deck.
“I bounced around the country doing internships and trying to find my ‘grown up’ job,” Burns said. “But I kept coming back to teaching lessons and coaching.”
Around the same time, her mom was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and was undergoing her first round of treatments. All while still teaching, coaching and swimming. By 2007, she went into remission.
Unfortunately, remission lasted only a few years. By this time, Burns was coaching in Austin, Texas while her husband earned his Master of Business Administration. Upon his graduation, she convinced her husband to move back to Albuquerque, New Mexico to run the dry side of a business which was still a dream, a new swim school.
In May 2014, Burns and her mother’s dream of opening a swim school came to life, as they managed to have their first stand-alone location built. A few months later, her mother passed away.
“It was definitely a culmination of her dream and mine,” Burns stated.
During the launch, Burns’ mother was also coaching on a club team.
“As her life was coming to an end at 53, she told me to let her club team die with her,” Burns recalled. “She said the challenge of being a female head coach and the weight of balancing family life and a career was too much.”
Swim coaches make impacts on athletes every day. When Burns had her mother’s funeral, it proved she had a larger impact than either one of them thought.
“We held her funeral with an overflow of guests in the church parking lot,” Burns recalled. “There were so many people there. Most were former swimmers or families of former swimmers who came to pay their respect to the woman that changed their life. I knew then I couldn’t let her team go, and in that moment, realized none of her efforts as a coach had been in vain.”
Many coaches do not get the luxury to see the impact they have on athletes’ lives. For Burns, the death of her mother allowed her to see how much she meant to her current and former athletes and their families.
“She made such a difference in her community that the city of Albuquerque renamed the pool she’d coached at for 20 years in her honor,” Burns said.
As Burns grieved the loss of her mother, she hired another coach to run the swim team while she focused on running the now multiple swim school sites and raising her family. After a few years, she took hold of the swim team.
“I found myself on deck again,” Burns said. “Taking the reins of her team two years after her passing.”
During the pandemic, Burns had the opportunity to purchase a YMCA pool for sale in Albuquerque and merged with another local swim team.
“My mom loved acronyms and she always said if she got her own team she’d call it BEAST – Betsy’s Exceptional Albuquerque Swim Team,” Burns remembered. “Fortunately, my co-owner was open to the name and so we became BEAST Aquatics in May 2021.”
This past year, Burns was nominated by her LSC to participate in the Women Coaches in Governance Program. As a first-time governance member and newly elected General Chair, she quickly realized if she wanted change in New Mexico Swimming she had to be an active member. “I’ve fought it for a long time,” Burns said. “But we had a vacancy at General Chair, and I was asked by another board member to consider standing for the position. I finally came to the realization that if I was going to stay in the swimming world and keep coaching, then I needed to jump into the governance side as well. This year, I went all in to do my part and try to help our LSC get back on track post-pandemic, and hopefully find some traction back towards growth and retention for our sport at the local level.”
The Women Coaches in Governance Program includes a 10-week course, fellowship and the opportunity to attend the USA Swimming Workshop presented by LiveBarn. Thus far, participants have heard from panels ranging in topics of why we need governance, how to take ownership of being the only female in the room, career growth and development as well as LSC governance and structure.
“I was hoping for, and getting, a better idea of the general framework for governance at both the LSC and national level,” Burns said. “I’m learning a lot about how to run effective meetings and how to help organize and empower committees.”
Learning about governance is a large part of the program, but equally as important is the fellowship and mentoring aspect.
“I have been hearing from other female leaders about how to keep striving for that work/life balance,” Burns said. “I have three kids, run two swim schools and coach a club team, so hearing that it’s okay to find great childcare help so I can coach practice is really encouraging.”
Percentages of women coaches have steadily increased over the last decade. Currently, the majority of USA Swimming registered SWIMS coaches are female (51.87%), making up 44.92% of senior-level coaches.
However, when Burns’ kids were younger, she recalls numerous times being told she couldn’t be on deck with her children strapped on in a front pack carrier. Even when she brought additional assistant coaches, her husband and a babysitter.
“It was so frustrating because even though I had planned ahead and was there with several other coaches and lots of help, people still felt compelled to tell me to get off deck,” she remembered. “But I used it as motivation to do better, every meet and every season.”
It is coaches like Burns, other participants and panelists in the Women Coaches in Governance Program and other ally coaches on deck, who are continually pushing boundaries in our sport.
“I want to continue to build a team where my children and my athletes can flourish,” Burns said. “It’s really nice to hear that other women face these challenges too. It helps me not feel so alone and isolated.”
The inaugural Women Coaches in Governance Program has provided a special opportunity for female coaches in our sport. Specifically, becoming more connected with others in the sport and inspired in their work.
“I think we all know we’re making a difference in the lives of our athletes, but getting to share in some of the joys and frustration of the journey with others that uniquely understand your position is really refreshing,” Burns said.
Do you have experience and want to help inspire future program attendees? Reach out to your respective USA Swimming Team Services Advisor.
Learn more about the Women Coaches in Governance Program by visiting the website here.