Meet Denny!
If you ask anyone in the swim community about Coach Denny, they are likely to say something like: “Everyone knows Denny!” or “I know Denny - he’s such a great coach!” – and they’d be right. At 77 years young, Denny Hartnett has been a staple in the swim community for over 60 years. He started to teach swimming at the ripe old age of 10, after of course, he learned to swim at the YWCA. He was on the first Prep Team in 1953 as a 9-year-old competitive swimmer. Denny has done everything from teach to coach to instruct officials. He even helped out as the acting Aquatics Director at the YMCA for a short period of time. In 1998, Denny was honored with the Conrad Carroll Award for Excellence in Officiating, named in memory of a YMCA volunteer who spent 18 years as a certified official at all levels of YMCA competition swimming. While many of his years have been at the Greater Johnstown Community YMCA, he has also coached High School swim teams at Westmont Hilltop and Bishop McCort and local clubs such as Bethco Pines, Ideal, Sunnehanna and Menoher Swim Club as well. “Even after all the years of coaching, Denny is still excited about the sport and continues learning new ways to enhance the skills of his swimmers,” said Jen Kohan, a mom of two of his current GJY swimmers. “Not only does Denny teach our kids to be great swimmers, but he teaches them life lessons - resilience, perseverance, inclusion, time management and the importance of being a good human being. The Y community is so lucky to have an amazing coach and person with Denny!”
So what’s his secret to success? Denny sums it up to a few key components. “Working with kids keeps me young and I have been very, very lucky to have very good coaches!” he says. “When I look at my social network of friends - almost every single one of them is from my time involved in swimming - I’m very lucky to have so many good friends that I’ve met through swimming all these years.”
| 
