With no prior coaching experience but as an involved mom in her children's swim careers, Sara Munoz was perfect fit to lead Gilbert Classical's team.
Sara Munoz had no prior coaching experience. But she was always at her kids' swimming practices and meets, a highly involved swim mom.
When she noticed how drab Gilbert Classical's swim T-shirts were, she created her own flashier, more colorful T-shirts for the swimmers to wear.
She went from team mom to booster club president and eventually became head coach of the girls swim team starting four years ago. Since then, she's been able to draw more swimmers to the team. This year, seven girls on the team have qualified for the Division III state meet in November, the most ever.
"No, I never saw this coming," said Munoz, who also works at a law office. "I just watched my kids (Calib and Kellee) growing up. It just sort of kicked in."
Jordan Brough, The Republic's Boys Swim Coach of the Year last season when he led his team to the school's first state title in any sport, was leading both the boys and girls teams before he finally asked Munoz to take over the girls team, seeing how she related to them.
Caleb, Munoz's oldest child, started swimming at Gilbert Classical nine years ago. It was the first year she connected with the program. Brough was in charge of the T-shirt design.
"It was horrible," he said. "She came on and said, 'Listen, I'm going to do the shirts from now on.' And then she said, 'Why don't I start a booster club?' She started a booster club. As booster club president, she was here all the time."
Munoz said it was the shirt that started it for her.
"He had an ugly shirt and it made me mad," she said. "It said, 'GCU Swim and Dive' in black letters."
After that, Brough said, she connected with the program.
"She just gravitated towards the pool. She watched them and gave them tips. I noticed that every time she did it, they got better,'' he said. "She knew what she was saying because her son and her daughter had swum club,'' he said. "Her son graduated and she would keep popping up every now and then. It was awesome. She had developed relationships with a lot of the kids."
Brough was the girls coach, then switched over to being the boys coach. A year after COVID's impact in 2022, he hired a girls coach. But it wasn't a good fit and the coach left.
Brough called Munoz, whose daughter was swimming at Gilbert High. He asked her to lead the girls team, feeling she could help take the program to the next level.
She agreed to take the job. She was able to move her swim meets to Tuesdays in order to still watch her daughter Kellee swim at Gilbert her senior season in 2022. Kellee qualified for state all four years of high school.
Kellee, now a student at the University of Arizona, is not surprised at how well her mom adapted to coaching at Gilbert Classical.
"She was the best swim mom," Kellee said. "I was always hard on myself. She genuinely was always there for me.
"Having two kids who swam for so long, she learned a lot about swim. She could offer, 'Oh, I noticed this about your stroke,' so I definitely think that helped, too."
That first year leading the Gilbert Classical girls team, she was able to watch her daughter swim in the Division I state meet for Gilbert High because it was in the morning. She then headed over to Phoenix Country Day School's pool to coach her girls in the Division III meet that afternoon.
Kellee said her mother understood the difference between club swimming and high school swimming.
"Club can be very hard. High school made me really love it again,'' Kellee said. "I really feel like she wants that also for the girls she's coaching. I think it accounts for how well they're doing. She can be hard on them, but she also wants to make sure they love it. And she really makes sure as a coach that they love it and they're happy to be there."
Gilbert Classical senior Cecelia Meier said Munoz focuses on each girl on the team, helping them individually, whether it's academics, swimming, college recruiting, or personal issues.
"She built a really great connection," said Meier, who has qualified for state in several events. "We can talk to her about everything. She's been great at helping us find colleges that we might want to swim at."
Senior Charley Baleme, the top boys swimmer back from last year's championship team, has been helped by Munoz in his college recruiting. He's like a son to her. His oldest brother is best friends with Munoz's son. Baleme's mom is Sara Munoz's best friend.
"She's done a ton of work for the team," Baleme said. "She's making them the best they can be."
Sara Munoz described how rewarding the coaching job has been.
"It's fun. It's like having two fulltime jobs. I have a fulltime job as a mom. And, for five months, I have this fulltime job. ... It's nice to see them succeed in more than academics. You've got kids who are smart, also willing to put in the work to be good swimmers."
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don't miss a thing. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: From mom to coach, Sara Munoz builds Gilbert Classical girls team
Category: General Sports
