Beverly Swim Coach Earns Prestigious Disability Coach Of The Year Award

BEVERLY, MA — YMCA of the North Shore Sharks swim coach Dave Modzelewski was honored with the 2025 Jimi Flowers Disability Coach of the Year Award for his commitment to inclusion and equity in the pool.

The USA Swimming National Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee chose Modzelewski for this prestigious award, which was established in 2009. It recognizes coaches who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to promoting the inclusion of swimmers with disabilities and advancing disability swimming within their coaching sphere.

The award was bestowed during a ceremony held in Denver.

"I am so honored to have been selected for this award. I feel so lucky to be recognized for doing something that I love," Modzelewski said. "Through this amazing sport, I have had the opportunity to meet and train with so many incredible athletes, who inspire me and encourage me to continue to do my part to spread awareness about this community of elite athletes.

"My sincere thanks go to USA Swimming & US Para Swimming for this award, and the YMCA of the North Shore for their support to be able to pursue this side of the sport."

Modzelewski is the head coach of Competitive Aquatics for the YMCA of the North Shore Sharks Swim Team, as well as the New England LSC’s Disability Coordinator. He has also been on staff for numerous Para swimming events, including the 2022 Allianz World Championships, 2023 Parapan American Games, and was Team USA’s Head Coach for the CITI Para Swimming World Series in Scotland.

He was one of only eight coaches selected by the U.S. Paralympics Swimming to serve as an assistant coach for the 33 American swimmers who competed in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. He was most recently named the head coach of the Team USA Para World Championship Team, leading Team USA to 18 Gold Medals — three times more than the last Para World Championships — and a second-place on the medal table.

USA Swimming’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Team said: "Dave's dedication to our swimmers with disability goes beyond the pool. From coaching achievements at the international level to his efforts pushing grassroots initiatives, his unwavering dedication to advancing inclusion for swimmers with disabilities has created meaningful change at the local, regional, and national levels."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)