West Chester University Swimmers Find a Way to Support Coach in Cancer Battle

Photo Courtesy: Tess Hayward

By Katie Wingert, Swimming World College Intern.

For West Chester University’s men’s and women’s swim teams, this season’s goals include far more than winning the conference or earning NCAA cuts. This year, the team is banding together to support long-time assistant coach Scott Elliott in his battle with cancer.

Elliott was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer, which has also spread to his esophagus. He is currently unable to be on the pool deck, due to his cancer treatments. In response, the Golden Rams have taken action.

“Scott has done so much for all of us,” explains senior Tess Hayward. “It’s our turn to give him the support he needs.”

The college swimmers have led a social media campaign of photos and videos to support Elliott throughout his journey. One of Elliott’s former teammates created a YouCaring Page to raise financial support for Elliott and his family. The page that has been shared over three thousand times on Facebook since it was created in early November. So far, 605 people have collectively raised over 85,000 dollars, just short of the campaign’s 100,000 dollar goal.

“I feel like [Elliott’s diagnosis] has brought us closer in many ways,” says senior Thomas McCormick. “We’ve all been spreading the donation website over social media, posting pictures, and just keeping each other up when we’re thinking negatively. I know I couldn’t have been as positive without my teammates being there for me.”

The comments on the YouCaring page from donors—and the descriptions that his swimmers give of him—paint a portrait of a positive, encouraging coach with a good sense of humor. As assistant coach at West Chester University for nearly twenty years, Elliott has helped lead the men’s team to eighteen consecutive conference championships and has assisted the women’s team in winning of 13 championships.

In addition to coaching at WCU, Elliott also works as head coach for both the Golden Rams Aquatic Club, where he coached a junior national champion in 2010, and the Green Woods Swim Team in the summers. Finally, Elliott gives back to his community by teaching young children to swim on a regular basis. Elliott himself was an accomplished athlete—All-American in water polo at Germantown Academy as well as three-time All-American at West Chester University. All of these achievements make Elliott a well-known figure in the Pennsylvania swimming community.

But Elliott’s reputation as a coach stems from far more than his credentials; it stems from his reputation as a hands-on, personal coach. Elliott routinely tells jokes and asks questions to distract his swimmers from their difficult practices. Hayward still remembers feeling overwhelmed at her first college practice until Elliott came over to encourage her and make her laugh.

“Scott was there to put a smile on my face to help me realize why I was actually there,” Hayward recollects. That encouragement has helped catapult Hayward to All-American status.

Elliott is the kind of coach who cares enough about his swimmers to connect with them off of the pool deck, not just by the water. McCormick remembers Elliott leaving a weekend meet with his older swimmers from Golden Ram Aquatic Club, at their request, and going laser-tagging in a beaten-up building that Elliott referred to as a state-of-the-art facility. McCormick never forgot his coach’s delight in chasing his swimmers around for laser tag after a long day on the pool deck.

Elliott does not just connect with his swimmers over jokes and off-the-deck experiences, however. He also mentors his athletes for success in the classroom as well as the pool. Mike Oliver, who swam with Elliott throughout his club career, walked on to the West Chester University team, and now serves as a WCU team captain, sees Elliott as a “second father,” one who is always free to talk to about life for hours at a time.

That availability has necessarily shifted since Elliott’s cancer diagnosis. It is now Elliott’s swimmers who seek to encourage him and support him, along with his wife and two daughters, through the toughest “set” of his life. Due to Elliott’s condition, his swimmers can only really communicate with him by cellphone.

“My role model is going through such a tough time,” Oliver asserts. “He is so strong…all I can do is be supportive and strong for him, so I’ve found myself doing things for him that help keep me motivated.”

Elliott’s famous mantra on the pool deck, which he would repeat to his swimmers many times a day, was “Find a way.” The phrase inspired swimmers to realize their potential to complete a hard set, to swim fast, and to reach their goals. Now, it is up to the athletes themselves to repeat that phrase to one another during practices.

For WCU Swimmers, “finding a way” means encouraging each other to achieve their goals. “We’ve been trying to stay positive by doing what Scott would want us to do, and that means swimming hard and getting better,” McCormick explains.

While nothing is certain for the Golden Rams—neither in the pool nor in Elliott’s cancer treatment—the team plans to continue bonding with one another and working hard, in honor of Elliott’s legacy. The united team is certain that they will find a way to help their coach through the toughest battle of his life, in the same way that he has helped them through many of the smaller battles that they have faced themselves.

Those interested in financially supporting Scott, his wife, and their two children can donate here.

Those interested in buying a ScottStrong t-shirt can do so here.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Leanne Rowland-Slough

7 years ago

Thank you Swimming World for posting this! Scott Elliott was one of my coaches when I swam for WCU from 2003-2007. He’s a great coach and an amazing dad. We’re all rooting for him! #RamTough #ScottStrong