The Aquatics Department of the Westport Weston Family YMCA is pleased to announce that Janelle Atkinson-Wignall has joined the Water Rat Swim Team as an assistant coach. Janelle will be working with the team on a seasonal basis.
Janelle is currently the Head Coach of the Fairfield University Men’s Swimming and Diving Team. She is the first female head coach in that team’s history. Previously Janelle was an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut, helping the team set numerous records. Before joining the Huskies, Atkinson-Wignall spent four seasons at Wright State University.
On the international stage, Atkinson-Wignall was selected as the head coach for the Jamaican National Team at the 2009 Swimming World Championships in Rome. In July 2013, USA Swimming appointed her Head Coach for the first Southern Zone Diversity Summer Select Camp.
A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Atkinson-Wignall is a two-time Olympian who competed in the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games. She finished fourth in the 400-meter freestyle and ninth in the 800-meter freestyle in Sydney. She medaled at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, and the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. In addition, she is a seven-time recipient of the Jamaican Swimmer of the Year award and a six-time nominee for the Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year.
The 1999-2000 National High School Swimmer of the Year, Atkinson-Wignall earned 10 All-America honors while competing at the University of Florida. She received three First Team All-Southeastern Conference accolades, had three top-three finishes in three years at the NCAA Championships, and was a three-time SEC Champion. Atkinson-Wignall, who graduated in 2005, was also part of the 2002 team that became SEC Champions and was on the SEC Academic Honor Roll four times.
“I specialized in distance events, so I’m most looking forward to working with the ‘distance kids,’ some of whom are already faster than me,” says Danelle. “It will be a challenge, and I’m digging into the memory banks of what made me as fast as I could be to share with them.”
“It’s an extraordinary opportunity to have Janelle be a part of the Water Rat coaching staff,” says Head Coach Ellen Johnston. “As someone who has truly ‘been there, done that,’ she knows what it takes to get to that elite level. To have someone with her experience coaching and mentoring our senior swimmers can only enhance our program.”
Established in 1949, the Family YMCA's Water Rat Swim Team is a year-round, nationally recognized competitive swim program that competes in dual meets against other YMCA teams in Fairfield County and in state, regional and national championships. The team is also a registered USA Swimming Club – and a member of Connecticut Swimming, Inc. – and competes in USA Swimming-sanctioned meets at the local, regional, state, zone and national level. For more information, visit wrat.westporty.org or contact Head Coach Ellen Johnston at 203-226-8981.