All through college, Gyselle Hennessey ’22 felt like she never left high school. But this was a fact, not just a feeling: since her freshman year at the College, Hennessey had been pulled back, as if in an undertow, to Amherst-Pelham Regional High School (ARHS). She grew up right here in town and went to ARHS, which is just 0.7 miles from the College—or about 50 laps in the ARHS pool, as Hennessey might calculate the distance.
That’s because this math/psychology major is also one of the head coaches of the high school’s swim team, the Amherst Hurricanes. Hennessey once swam as a Hurricane, too, having excelled in the butterfly stroke. Her coach at the time tagged her as a leader and, after Hennessey graduated, asked her to stay on as an assistant coach for the girls and boys teams. She’d share the work with Solomon Albertine, a fellow former Hurricane and now a student at Greenfield Community College. They’ve known each other since middle school.
From Hennessey’s first year at the College, the two had pitched in to help the head coach. They assisted at practices, attended the meets, tracked swim times, got to know the swimmers and helped build morale. It was a significant commitment during her freshman and sophomore years at the College, but manageable. Then COVID came during her junior year, and the ARHS swim season was canceled.
In Hennessey’s senior year, the head coach left for another job. Suddenly these two college students unexpectedly became the co-head coaches.
What happened after that is like a Valley version of triumph-through-sports movies like “Hoosiers” or “Remember the Titans” or ”Bend it Like Beckham.” Except with water. In February 2022, Hennessey and Albertine led the girls swim and dive team to win the Division II State Championship—for the first time in ARHS history.
The boys’ team came in a respectable fifth place. And, to add to the emotional impact of the girls’ team victory, Adda Hennessey, Gyselle’s sister, was a key part of its success. She was one of four relay swimmers which “cruised to a winning time of 1 minute, 49.94 seconds, five seconds ahead of their next competitor, in a clean win that set the tone for the rest of the meet,” as the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. Said Hennessey of her sister: “I'm so proud of her. So proud of how she kept chasing her times. That’s definitely part of the core memory.”
So what was it like to coach a high school team when you’re barely out of high school? Even though it was a unique path, it felt right to her. “I have always been really interested in child and adolescent psychology,” said Hennessey. “I'm really interested in the clinical world. I want to be hands on, providing services. And now I have experience working with a large group of kids.”
About that workload: Apart from classes, she is writing a thesis on interpersonal emotion regulation among college students and its interactions with their mental and social health. She also sings with the Bluestockings, an a capella group.. In a funny twist, her coaching gig also brought her closer to the college community. It turned out that some of those team parents on her email chain were staff members at the College.
“Gyselle’s coaching fostered an amazing team atmosphere in which her student athletes could reach their full potential,” said Rebecca Kennedy, interim associate director of conferences and special events at the College and parent of swim team member Samuel Kennedy. “As a leader and a mentor, she has made a lifelong positive impact on these young swimmers.”
Even while studying abroad in Mexico during the January term, Hennessey checked in on the team and connected with them virtually, writing out their practice routines. More importantly, she spent much of her time developing relationships with the team members and serving as their mentor: “[The connection] flows naturally because I love it so much,” she said. “I love making an environment for them that is comfortable, where they can be themselves.” She also helped coach the swim club team, the Amherst Tritons.
In swimming, she noted, because you are so often alone in the water, you think to yourself a lot. That thinking can impact performance. So can strategic changes in the practice routine. As the sectionals, states and divisional meets approached, for example, Hennessey and Albertine intentionally “tapered” practices, a swim team technique in which you swim incrementally less often as the meet approaches. The idea is to build on your gains, while also recovering from all of the hard work you’ve done up to that point.
“We take it a little bit easier to try to peak during the meet,” explains Hennessey. “Something went well for them during our taper.” At the meet, “they were just dropping time, swimming super fast, beating their speeds. It was really wonderful and exciting.”
When asked why she chose to take on such an enormous commitment during her senior year, Hennessey said she knew it would be fulfilling for her and that, in spite of the extra commitment, she wanted to fit it into her college experience. “You don’t have to do everything,” she said. “You just have to do what’s important.”