Jamie-Danielle Hill was always afraid of the water. That was until an above-ground pool built to help fight her brother’s asthma was installed in her backyard and her cousins tricked her into dunking her head underwater. She emerged upset, until she realized the water was exactly where she wanted to be.

Hill was hired by South in the fall to be the Pool Instructional Assistant, a role to help with Physcial Education (PE) classes in the swim unit. She quickly became the Junior Varsity Girls’ Swim Assistant Coach, she said.

Hill has been swimming competitively since she was young. When Hill entered middle school, she became part of an artistic swimming team. In high school, Hill swam for the girls’ Maine South swim team as well as her synchronized swimming team she competed with outside of school, Hill said. Beginning when she was 15 years old, Hill taught kids to swim at the Park Ridge Park District when she was not swimming competitively during the summers. It was seeing the kids smile in the pool and get over the same fear Hill once had that grew her passion for coaching, she said. 

“I found that I identified with a lot of the kids who were afraid to feel their buoyancy in the water,” Hill said. “I knew they needed the most help. I felt inspired to teach these kids this life skill, and I also wanted them to enjoy swimming as much as I do.” 

After taking a long break from swimming after high school, Hill began coaching again in 2013 at YMCA camps where she worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor for 10 years. When Hill turned 43, she realized how much she had missed swimming competitively, so Hill joined a Masters League swim team, an organized group for adult swimmers of all skill levels. Hill also began training triathletes until she landed her first job coaching in a high school.

Now, Hill balances coaching a competitive team at South with her job at LifeTime, a fitness club, in Lake Zurich where she teaches adults how to swim for the first time, Hill said.

“What I have realized through these years is that swimming at any level can be fun, challenging, and enjoyable,” Hill said.

Hill’s  years of diverse experience as a coach and a swimmer have become a valuable asset to the swim team and PE Department this year, Brittany Ethington, PE Teacher and JV Girls’ Swim Head Coach, said. Ethington values the positive energy that Hill brings to every practice and the new skills she has taught the team in the process. Most notably, Ethington admires Hill’s dedication to going above and beyond with every student she teaches, especially during the PE swim unit, Ethington said. 

“Every single day, Hill is in the water teaching the kids how to swim in the beginner group,” Ethington said. “She loves what she does and she is phenomenal at teaching kids how to swim no matter what level they are at.” 

Anna Ortiz, Freshman and Junior Varsity swimmer, shared how Hill always brings energy to the team. Hill makes sure to remind the swimmers that failure is temporary, Ortiz said.  

“She’s a coach who wants to make you love what you do,” Ortiz said. “A lot of coaches push athletes hard to perform but Hills just tries to get you excited about practice that day.”

Hill’s fear of the water has manifested into passion; when Hill is not teaching she is coaching, when she is not coaching she is swimming, she said. Hill’s connection to the water has driven her life, and in turn has made a myriad of students at South feel comfortable in the water.

“One of the biggest lessons I learned from swimming was that you have to learn how to deal with failing,” Hill said. “Failing is a part of success. It is a part of life. This is a lesson I will continue to teach students, and it is a lesson I am still learning too.”