For More Than Two Decades, Jim Willis Has Turned a Small-Town Swim Team Into a Family
Feb 08, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
BAR HARBOR—Somewhere between the concrete walls of the MDY YMCA, the bleachers and the six lanes of its pool, Coach Jim Willis quietly walks and counts and notices things.
In a bright yellow t-shirt this Sunday, February 8, he sits in his metal chair, poolside at the MDI YMCA during the Sharks’ big and only fundraiser where almost 100 swimmers see how many laps they can do in 90 minutes while their parents flip pancakes, a lifeguard watches, and volunteers count laps.
Willis sees a camera and ducks his head, quietly moving toward a swimmer who is calling to him. They hop in the pool. Another swimmer wraps his towel around his shoulders, hopping from one foot to another, his parents smiling at Coach Willis, who leans forward, listening.
Swim parents call the MDI YMCA Sharks’ coach the kind of man who makes life-changing things happen for kids.
And that’s not only in the water where the coach has been coaching kids for decades.
Willis makes it look easy.
It isn’t.
He lives in a world of chlorine, swim caps, cheers about who the Sharks are (They are mighty, mighty Sharks.), parents, volunteers, and expectations, and he does it gracefully.
Founded in 1971, the Sharks have been a winning team and a force in Maine since even before Willis came, even when they sometimes had no actual pool, but Willis’s 2.5 decades of coaching and assistant coaching there has changed lives. Between him and previous coaches like Lenny DeMuro, the teams have won states, New England championships, but more than that? They’ve won hearts.
Rival YMCA Coach Jay Morissette of the Long Reach Swim Club, which won 37 YMCA state championships, including 35 straight titles, is one of Willis’ biggest fans.
“Jim and I have gone to coaching clinics together, climbed big mountains together, and shared many everyday life things together. Jim loves being the coach for the MDI-Sharks and has certainly put his body and soul into the team, much like Lenny DeMuro did,” Morissette said.
JIM’S IMPACT AND JIM’S HEART
Kids have been swimming the lanes of the MDI YMCA pool for decades, and for the last 25 years, Willis has been right there with them.
The kids—the children of restaurant workers and owners, Acadia National Park employees, hotel workers, nurses, teachers, bankers, fire fighters and others—cluster together laughing and encouraging. Many go on to swim in high school and do both teams. They swim in college. They swim for the rest of their lives.
“Jim means a great deal to local swimming and to generations of kids and families on MDI. His impact goes far beyond medals or banners; he’s helped shape confident, resilient young people who carry those lessons well beyond the pool deck. Programs like the Sharks don’t thrive for decades without steady, thoughtful leadership, and Jim has been a huge part of that success,” Down East Family YMCA Director Matt Montgomery said.
Willis has been coaching with the Sharks for more than 25 years. That’s a quarter of a century of rooting, remembering, inspiring, and helping the kids in Bar Harbor and all of Mount Desert Island. Even before that he was the Virgin Island Olympic Coach (2000). He’s been the Maine Coach of the Year (2014 and 2015). He’s coached for more than four decades.
There are life-changing things that happen, that he facilitates, one swim parent said, and that matters to the kids, the parents, and the island community and even beyond.
“Jim was my swim coach from fifth grade through high school at the Bangor Y, Old Town Y, and then Bangor High School! That was waaaaay back in the 80’s and early 90’s!” Cate Schneider said. “He must have been so young at the time. He was hands down always my favorite coach. And now I am full circle serving on the MDI YMCA board of directors.”
Willis did something big for Schneider.
“I credit him for teaching me to believe in myself and I carry that quiet confidence with me today in everything I do,” she explained. “When you’re a young swimmer, the sport can be grueling in the sense that it is one of the most physically demanding sports to participate in. Jim always had a knack for connecting with us and making it fun and bringing out the best in ourselves. And that spirit hasn’t faded today.”
In Maine, much of the sport-focus is on basketball, sometimes soccer, sometimes football, sometimes runners. But in the long days that make up swim meets, when the arms splash through the water, scissor kicks propelling them forward, when kids’ names are announced, when personal records are set or missed, coaches like Willis and swimmers’ parents’ support matters.
“It has personally been rewarding to see the kids today on the Y swim team reaching for their best selves, while smiling, laughing, and truly enjoying the sport. l am grateful that his coaching style continues to be a gift to our community,” Schneider said. “The kids in the MDI Y program are some of the best in the state and we can attribute some of that success to Jim. He has a gift for eyeing individual strengths before you even know what they are. By setting a high bar, he mentors, encourages, and cheers you on (loudly!) every step of the way until you amaze yourself in what you can accomplish, which he never doubted in the first place!”
Swimming is the act of propelling yourself through the water. It’s a whole body exercise that also uses the brain, not just to control the body, but to motivate and encourage that propulsion. In the lane, it is just the swimmer and the water. Out of the lane, for the Sharks, it’s something a lot more: it’s a team. It’s a school. It’s a community.
“Jim emphasizes the team aspect of competitive swimming. Every swimmer is made to feel important. They all contribute. And, they all celebrate team successes,” former MDI YMCA Director Tommy Parham said.
MDI YMCA CEO Ann Tikkanen said, “What makes a good coach? Complete dedication! From the first day of Jim’s coaching career, he has provided the coaching magic that comes only from the heart.”
A GROUP OF SHARKS CAN BE CALLED A HERD, A SCHOOL, A FRENZY OR A SHIVER.
Writer Wayne Dyer once said about coaching, “See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.”
American basketball coach John Wooden said, “There are no big things, only a logical accumulation of little things done at a very high standard of performance.”
He also said, “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”
Coaching is about listening and understanding; it’s about knowing who you are speaking to and how you can be there for them, to inspire, to help, and to let them feel seen. That’s in the water and out. That’s something that happens quietly and sometimes loudly at the MDI pool and in Sharks’ excursions to other pools in the state.
The team goes into pools and interacts with water, with other parents and volunteers, and other coaches. Friendships are made with rivals. That goes for the coaches, too.
Willis and Morissette are men have known each other since 1981 when they both swam for the Black Bears, long before they each coached Y teams.
“Jim was pretty much the same then as he is now. He cares about the team he is on. He cares about the people around him. He wants the best for everyone. He always worked hard toward those ends. He was/is always a positive force to be around. He wanted to be the best swimmer he could be and later wanted his swimmers to be the best they could be. Later on he wanted the league to be the best it could be and has almost single handedly led Maine swimming for the last 20 years as General Chairman,” Morissette said.
Montgomery, whose YMCA is based in Ellsworth, had similar praise.
“Jim has also been instrumental as a leader for swimming around the State. He has been a board member of the Maine Swimming LSC for more than 20 years, and has been chair numerous times,” Montgomery said.
Those roles? Willis didn’t take them for personal gain, but to ensure that the best of his ideals could be made available to all in Maine swimming, Morissette explained.
Montgomery agreed.
“MDI has been incredibly fortunate to have two true coaching legends lead its swim program for nearly half a century. Jim Willis built on the incredible legacy that Lenny DeMuro established, helping turn a small island community into a perennial powerhouse in Maine swimming,” Montgomery said.
JIM’S BRAIN
Several years ago at the State YMCA Championship meet, Parham was on the pool deck officiating. It was late on the last day of the meet and the final event was relays.
“Before one of the last heats, Tony Demuro comes up to me and excitedly says, ‘If we get fourth or better, our team will get second place in the meet.“
Parham said, “That’s great! How do you know that?”
And DeMuro replied, “Jim keeps a running tally of the score in his head during the meet.”
“I was like ‘What? I have been around competitive swimming a time and I don’t know any coach that keeps up with everything else going on at the meet and still can keep a running tally of the score.’ Jim is a mathematical wonder!” Parham explained.
It’s not just numbers. Go to any meet in the state and if Willis is announcing, he’ll remember exactly how to say the swimmers’ names. He’ll remember facts about them. He’ll remember times and personal bests of his own swimmers longer than many people can remember names.
“One of the things that has always stood out to me about Jim is his remarkable gift for numbers and details. He can recall splits from swimmers who graduated a decade ago and has an uncanny ability to figure out how to maximize points at a championship meet. But beyond the analytics, Jim’s passion for the sport shows most clearly in the character of his swimmers — their drive, discipline, and sportsmanship. That culture doesn’t happen by accident,” Montgomery said.
“Jim is a steady kind of guy, not always a risk taker. Once we were in Las Vegas together at the blackjack tables. Jim would have a winnable hand but only bid modestly. Even with encouragement, he would bid modestly. He won some and he lost some but in the end left with the same amount he started with. I on the other hand left with no money,” Morissette said. “Those of us that have known him as a team mate and colleague have nothing but respect for him. Those of you that know him as Coach Jim are fortunate to have him as your leader. To this day, I will contact Jim for advice about coaching or swimming. He is the only Y-coach from Maine to have coached at the Olympic level!”
THE AQUATHON
“Jim makes swimming fun. In youth sports, if kids don’t have fun, they quit. You can see by how many of the Sharks are still swimming in high school that they are having fun,” Parham said. “Jim involves the family and the community. Therefore, there is a lot of community pride in the competitive swimming programs on MDI.”
At the all-morning fundraiser, inflatable pink flamingos and sharks dangle from ropes that cross the pool at right angles. The swimmers’ names are taped to the wall via blue masking tape. Shoes, boots, and socks are discarded along with coats and hats.
The swimmers dive and do laps, changing up their strokes. Some hang on for a tiny bit on the pool deck, yellow MDI swim caps keeping their hair tucked in.
“You’re doing good,” one girl tells another.
“You’re doing good, too.”
In the next lane, another girl has flipped on her back, slowly finishing her lap. They wait for her.
She looks up, water rushing down her face, turns her head toward them and smiles. They all start swimming again, another lap, one after another.
Down the pool deck, Willis has pivoted a bit in his chair, watching to make sure that same girl makes it to the edge. She might need encouragement. She might need a break. She might need something.
Pancakes sizzle on a portable tabletop griddle.
Someone laughs. Lap counters make another mark on their clipboards.
Willis and some of these parents will be here all Sunday morning, making sure that the community’s swim team stays afloat, that the kids stick together, that they encourage each other and themselves.
“I hope he can coach for 25 more years, he is simply the nicest guy I know,” Morissette said.
Nice. Talented. A great brain. A great heart. Memorable and skilled. It’s a lot of adjectives and the parents on Sunday added more: brilliant, so supportive, kind.
“His brain,” they say, one after another. “What a brain.”
It all combines for a team of more than 100 Sharks (ages 6-18) now who swim and compete at the Lenny DeMuro Swimming Pool at the MDI YMCA in Bar Harbor.
For over 50 years the Sharks have been one of the most community-oriented, successful, kind and competitive youth sports teams on Mount Desert Island.
And Willis?
He’s been a part of that for just about half that time. That makes an impact. It matters.
Parham explained, “The year after I retired, I was canoeing on the Allagash Waterway in the middle of nowhere northern Maine. I ran into a ranger who was asking where I was from. I told him and said that he knew that MDI had a really good swim team. He said, ‘That Jim Willis is a really good coach.’”
Unless otherwise cited, all photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
You can donate to the Aquathon and help support the Sharks or the MDI Y here. It’s a big month for the team to raise money to help support the swimmers all year. Make sure to choose Aquathon if that’s what you’d like to support. You can also pick a swimmer to support.
To email the Sharks: sharks@mdiymca.org
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