Lightning swim coach treats his team like family

Steve Lubrino lowered his sunglasses and gave three of his Lakewood Ranch Swim Association athletes a curious look.

“You better not be saying anything bad over there,” Lubrino said. “I’m going to read this. If you do, I see a mile swim in your future.”

The exchange occurred during the 2019 Area 5 Spring Championship March 30 at Sarasota’s Potter Park. The three swimmers — 17-year-old Cameron Severs, 15-year-old Jacob Byrd and 16-year-old Sydney Hilt — giggled at Lubrino’s threat of more work. They had just referred to Lubrino, 52, as the Lightning’s “cool team dad,” a moniker he was earning more by the second.

Lubrino, born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y, moved to Lakewood Ranch with his family nearly five years ago. Before that, he was a New York City fireman for 18 years. Lubrino was working in the city on Sept. 11, 2001, a day he will never forget.

“To us, fire is fire, so it started as just another fire,” Lubrino said. “No one thought the building (World Trade Center) would collapse, even the chiefs, or they would not have sent us in there. People sometimes call me a ‘hero,’ and I get it. But to me, those guys who did not make it, they are the real heroes.”

As a result of smoke inhalation, Lubrino suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. He stayed on the force, getting promoted to lieutenant in 2005, but was forced into medical retirement in 2014. Doctors suggested a warmer climate would be good for his lungs, and his family eventually settled on Lakewood Ranch.

When Lubrino’s 13-year-old daughter, Jenna Lubrino, started swimming with the Lightning shortly after moving here, he volunteered to be an assistant, helping out two days a week. His role gradually grew, and a year ago, after some instability in the program, he agreed to officially become the head coach, even though his daughter no longer swims. She has moved into equestrian sports, Lubrino said, riding a quarter horse named “S.S. Cool Invitation.” Lubrino joked it should have been named “Daddy’s Beach House.”

Why coach? For Lubrino, it is simple: He loves his team, which ranges in age from 5-18.

“I’m a big kid myself,” Lubrino said. “I have fun with it. It is not a money thing, I just enjoy it. I enjoy watching kids making cuts. I enjoy holding banquets. We have special birthday swims (where the honoree swims alone and others splash them with water). We have trivia contests at the end of practice. We have doughnuts on Saturday practices. The kids and parents and I seem to get along real well.”

Lubrino said his time as a firefighter taught him the value of a “brotherhood” atmosphere, and he wants to provide his swimmers with the same feeling. As a rule, he does not yell during practice.

“The kids have enough stress already,” he said.

He has a zero-tolerance bullying rule. He does not care if swimmers show up once a week or every day, or if they care about making national cuts at big meets. Either way, he said, he is going to strive to know them and their families on a personal level.

“I want people to know, your kid does not have to be at an Olympic level to be on a swim team,” Lubrino said. “We are competitive. We practice hard. But we are always going to be family-oriented and laid back.”

His team loves him and his attitude. Hilt said Lubrino is not afraid to bust your chops, like he did with her for sleeping in and arriving to practice late. Byrd said he used to struggle with the butterfly stroke, and Lubrino used to call it “the caterpillar” in jest. Severs gets jokes about how he is homeschooled. The key, they said, is knowing it is all in good fun, and that Lubrino welcomes jokes back, hence their earlier giggles.

“He fits the team atmosphere,” Hilt said. “He does a great job of incorporating fun, but that does not mean we train less hard than anyone else.”

Lubrino said the Lightning program currently has 60 swimmers. He would like to get that number up to 85 and have everyone going to the team’s meets, if they so desire. For more information on the Lightning, visit lrsalightning.net.