Building More Than Fast Swimmers at Bolles Swimming

Some coaches build champions. Some build programs.The very best build people.

After spending over an hour talking with Alexis Keto, Associate Head Coach at the Bolles Sharks, one thing became abundantly clear: while the swimming world often measures success in records, championships, and Olympic Trials qualifiers, Alexis measures success differently.

For her, swimming is a vehicle. A vehicle for teaching resilience. A vehicle for building confidence. A vehicle for helping young people discover who they are and what they're capable of becoming long after they leave the pool deck.

That perspective doesn't come from one successful season or one impressive job title. It comes from more than twenty-five years of coaching across nearly every level of the sport, college programs, club teams, Masters swimming, summer league, nonprofit leadership, and now one of the most iconic school/club programs in American swimming.

Throughout our conversation on the Business of Swimming podcast, we talked about leadership, culture, parent engagement, volunteerism, the evolving role of coaches, and why some of the greatest lessons she's learned didn't happen on a pool deck at all.

While Bolles has recently celebrated historic performance, including breaking team records that stood for over a decade set by future Olympians, the conversation rarely centered on winning.

Instead, it kept returning to a simple but increasingly important question:

What kind of people are we developing?

That question may ultimately matter far more than the stopwatch.

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A Career Built One Lesson at a Time

When you look at Alexis Keto's résumé, it's easy to focus on the names like Northwestern. NC State University. Colorado Athletic Club. New Trier Aquatics. Bolles.

But when Alexis reflects on her career, she doesn't talk about wins or championships first. She talks about the people, the environments, and the lessons each stop taught her about leadership.

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Lessons That Still Shape Her Coaching

Long before she was leading one of the nation's premier swim programs, Alexis was learning from two coaches who left a lasting impression on her own philosophy.

At TAR, legendary coach Dave Bottom instilled a relentless standard of excellence. Alexis recalled that every swim mattered, whether it was a championship final or a Tuesday night summer league meet. Bottom expected his athletes to respect both their competitors and themselves by giving their best effort every time they stepped onto the block.

Dave Bottom taught Alexis that every swim matters. It doesn't matter if it's the Olympics or a Tuesday night summer league meet, you owe it to your competitors and to yourself to race your best every single time. Then he held her accountable.

“At TAR, Dave Bottom, who was our coach at the time, Mike's younger brother, would make me tell him what my times were (Summer League Meets). And if they weren't fast enough to his liking, and again, this is diving off a wooden block with carpet on the top into three and a half feet of water, turning in four feet of water. If they weren't fast enough, I had to get up before practice started, and I had to do them again and do it faster.” 

While Dave Bottom taught her about discipline and standards, Enloe High School coach Vicki Peoples showed her the power of team culture.

Peoples wasn't a lifelong swim coach. She came from a gymnastics background, yet Alexis credits her with creating one of the best team environments she ever experienced. Year-round swimmers trained with different club teams throughout the season, but when high school arrived, everyone came together with a common purpose.

More importantly, every athlete felt valued. Whether a swimmer was competing for a state title or swimming their first varsity race, Peoples found ways to make every member of the team feel like they mattered. That sense of belonging produced more than championships, it created memories that have lasted for decades.

“And it was 100% her. I loved the girls that I swam with. We won a state relay my senior year by one one hundredth of a second. And it was a huge big deal. And that's what won the title for us that year. And it was such a big deal. The four of us still talk, we still reminisce, we still stay in touch. That's something that connects us. And we all swam for four different club teams. Like that that experience probably infuses a lot of how I coach because the group I coach now is made up of twenty two different high school kids high schools”

Looking back, Alexis sees those experiences woven into the way she coaches today.From Dave Bottom, she learned that excellence comes from the habits you build every day. From Vicki Peoples, she learned that the strongest teams are built on connection, trust, and making every athlete feel like they have an important role to play.

Together, those lessons helped shape a coaching philosophy that values both high performance and high character, an approach that continues to define her work at Bolles today.

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Learning how leadership can shape a culture of service. 

One of the most surprising examples didn't come from a swimming pool at all.

After leading New Trier Aquatics through the uncertainty of COVID—a 700-member organization that emerged without staff layoffs and only losing two athletes, Alexis stepped away from coaching for a brief sabbatical. During that time, she became president of a local animal shelter, an experience she describes as one of the most influential leadership opportunities of her career.

It changed the way she viewed volunteers.

Whether it's an official standing on deck for eight hours, a parent organizing hospitality, or someone cleaning kennels at an animal shelter, Alexis believes people give their time because they want to contribute to something meaningful. Great leaders recognize that motivation, create an environment where people feel valued, and give them the confidence to succeed.

That lesson has followed her back onto every pool deck.

Throughout her career, Alexis has consistently built organizations where officials enjoy working meets, parents become invested in the team's mission, and coaches feel trusted rather than managed. Culture, in her view, isn't created through speeches or slogans. It's built through thousands of daily interactions that reinforce a shared purpose.

She also learned that mission statements only matter if they guide decisions.

At New Trier, the club's commitment to community wasn't simply printed on a website. It became the framework for navigating one of the most difficult periods in the sport's history. By staying true to that mission, the organization preserved jobs, retained virtually its entire membership, and positioned itself for long-term success.

Those experiences shaped the coach Alexis is today.

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Why Bolles Was the Right Fit

After spending more than two decades as a head coach, many people expected Alexis to pursue another leadership role. Instead, she intentionally chose something different.

That decision wasn't about stepping away from leadership. It was about finding an environment where she could focus more of her energy on coaching athletes and mentoring coaches while sharing responsibility with someone who viewed the sport the same way she did.

That someone was Peter Verhoef.

The two had collaborated during the COVID years and developed a mutual respect for one another's philosophy. More importantly, they shared a vision that success in swimming should extend far beyond podium finishes.

“It's really fun to talk to him (Peter) about swimming because he sees kind of that whole vision of what's possible in swimming and what swimming can do for people and really embraces it.”

Bolles also offered something few organizations can replicate: history, stability, and a culture that has been built over decades. When Alexis spoke with former Bolles coaches before accepting the position, she kept hearing the same message.

"Everybody I talked to who had worked at Bolles told me the same thing—they wished they'd never left. They all said it was the best job they'd ever had, and they just didn't know it at the time." 

Today, she understands why.

Bolles isn't successful simply because of its facilities or its tradition of producing Olympians. It's successful because everyone, from coaches and administrators to families and athletes, is invested in a common purpose.

That alignment allows coaches to spend more time doing what they love: developing swimmers.

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Success Measured Beyond the Record Board

The swimming world understandably raised its collective brow when Bolles recently broke one of the most iconic relay records in high school swimming, a mark that had stood since a Bolles era filled with future Olympians.

For the coaching staff, it was an unexpected moment. Then they went right back to coaching.

"We lost our minds. We knew it was possible, but you never plan for success like that. It was an incredible moment for everyone." 

As Alexis reflected on the season, she admitted something that says a lot about the culture they've built.

"What's wild is we've almost forgotten about that record. When we sat down as a staff to talk about the highlights of the year, it wasn't until the ninth coach that someone even mentioned it." 

Instead, coaches talked about athletes who had stayed committed for years before finally achieving breakthrough performances. They celebrated personal growth, perseverance, and swimmers discovering what they were capable of after years of steady work.

Those stories mattered just as much. That's the hallmark of a healthy program. Championships are celebrated in the moment but the athletes' personal journeys are remembered more.

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Helping Swimmers Find Their Right Next Step

Perhaps the most impressive measure of Bolles' success isn't found in championship banners or national rankings. It's found in the number of athletes who continue swimming after they leave the club. Last year 35 Bolles swimmers moved on to compete at the collegiate level across NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and other collegiate club programs.

“We had a young lady that was really involved in creating club swimming at FGCU. We had people that were presidents at the club swim team at FSU.”

That doesn't happen by accident. This is a testament to Bolles culture instilling a joy, love, passion, for the sport of swimming. Also to the progress athletes make through their commitment to the process. 

“If we can get them to love the process of swimming, they will continue to swim. I mean, going back a little bit to Tar, think about how when we swam, everybody that was in that senior group with your brother and I all went and swam in college or  became a division one athlete.”

Bolles helps swimmers approach the college process by looking beyond the name of the school or the division and focusing on the full fit for the athlete. Through college process meetings, online resources, and one-on-one conversations with senior staff, the program encourages swimmers and families to think about where an athlete will feel valued, supported, and able to grow as a person.

While some Bolles swimmers go on to Power Four and Ivy League programs, Coach Keto emphasizes that success can also be found in Division II, Division III, NAIA, junior college, and club swimming. The goal is to help each swimmer find a college environment where they can continue loving the sport, succeed academically and socially, and feel like an important part of the team.

Who Is Alexis Keto?

Alexis Keto is a coach, educator, and leader whose career in swimming has been shaped by a deep understanding of athletes, teams, and the cultures that help people love the sport for the long run.

Across more than 20 years of coaching, Coach Keto has worked in nearly every part of the swimming world, including USA Swimming club programs, NCAA Division I college teams, high school swimming, masters swimming, summer league, and Paralympic coaching. That range of experience has given her a unique view into how different teams create belonging, motivation, accountability, and joy in the water.

Her athletes have represented Team USA at the Olympics, Paralympics, and other international competitions. At the same time, she has helped swimmers find competitive and academic homes across every level of college swimming, including NAIA, Division I, Division II, and Division III. From elite international athletes to young swimmers just discovering the sport, Coach Keto has spent her career helping people grow through swimming.

Today, Coach Keto serves as the Associate Head Coach at Bolles School Sharks, where she supports both club and high school senior programming. Her previous roles include CEO and Head Coach at New Trier Aquatics, Head Coach and Regional Aquatics Director at Colorado Athletic Club, Head Site Coach at YMCA of the Triangle Area, Assistant Coach at N.C. State University, and Volunteer Assistant Coach at Northwestern University.

Coach Keto also brings a strong academic background to her coaching and leadership. She earned her master’s degree in Rhetoric and Composition from N.C. State University, where her thesis focused on brain-based composition, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Northwestern University, where she also competed as a Division I swimmer.

That blend of coaching experience, education, communication, and exposure to so many team cultures gives Coach Keto a thoughtful perspective on what makes swimming meaningful. For her, building a successful program is not only about training sets, meet results, or performance goals. It is about creating an environment where athletes feel connected, supported, challenged, and able to find lasting joy in the sport.

Connect with Alexis here - https://swimcoachketo.com/

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