The History of OLY

Since its beginning in 1962, the Oakland Live Y’ers Swim Team has had a history marked by continuous achievement and growth. Consisting of all boys, the first Rochester swim team was coached by volunteer John Burns. Shortly thereafter, a girl’s team, the Aqua Debs, was established and coached by Gloria Lusk. Both of these teams were YMCA teams and combined into a single team in the 70’s. By 1976, the team had grown to 70 swimmers and sent 5 swimmers to YMCA Nationals.

Also, in the 70’s, a USS swim team was emerging in the area. Under the leadership of Oakland University’s Athletic Director Corey Van Fleet, a team of 30 young swimmers trained under OU coach Rich Pine. To maximize resources and coaching staff, the YMCA and USS teams merged in 1977. A contest was held to select a name for the new team, and swimmer Sherie Fedak submitted the winning entry—The Oakland Live Y’ers.

In 1980, OLY won its first YMCA State Championship, followed by it first YMCA Zone Championship in 1981. OLY won Long Course YMCA Nationals as well as its first USS Michigan State Championship in 1990. In 1998 OLY won the USA Junior Nationals Men's Team title in Buffalo, New York. Since 2000, OLY has won 5 Combined Team Speedo Sectional Titles and six Men's Team titles and two Women's Team titles. At the local level since 2000, OLY has won seven State Championship combined Team Titles and been Team Combined runner-up 14 times.  (long course & short course) In 2003, OLY received Silver Medal Designation from USA Swimming, which put OLY in the top 35 swim clubs in the United States. In 2004, Peter Vanderkaay became OLY’s first graduate to receive a Gold Medal at the Olympics.

In the Spring of 2018, OLY combined with FLY swimming and brought the two Cooper Brothers (Adam & Jeff) together in one program. The two clubs operate under the OLY Swimming logo and name.

In the Spring of 2021 the OLY Men's program won the team runner-up title at the 2021 Spring NCSA Chamionships in Orlando. In the Summer of 2021, OLY won the Combined Team Tile at the 2021 Summer NCSA Summer Championships in Huntsville. The Women's team also won the Team title at the 2021 Summer NCSA Championships in Huntsville.

OLY Swimming is made up of over 400 swimmers now and will continue to excel and grow. OLY Swimming has the finest coaching staff in the state of Michigan with Head Coaches Adam & Jeff Cooper and an impressive group of assistant coaches. OLY Swimming excels to high levels because of a dedicated group of parents who devote untold hours to the OLY program.