Western Albemarle’s Athletic Director and Varsity Swim & Dive coach has been announced as the 2024-2025 National Boys Swim and Dive Coach of the Year. Alongside recently winning the state championship with the WAHS team, he has won nine other state titles throughout his time at Western.
Receiving this award was a thorough three-step process, where, in early November, he found out he was the Virginia State Coach of the Year. Later on, Bledsoe put together a resume to submit for the Sectional Coach of the Year award, containing coaches from the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region, which he won at the end of December. In mid-January, Bledsoe later received the award for National Coach of the Year, to which he said, “I was truly shocked. You know, it’s great to be recognized. I don’t think any of us ever think that we are deserving of the National Coach of the Year, so it was great to be acknowledged for the hard work and everything else that I put into the program. Pretty humbling”.
Beyond coaching, Bledsoe enjoys giving back to his community with his athletes through Special Olympics and local park projects. Bledsoe highlights from this past season are seeing his athletes improve and thrive over time. He asserted that his most rewarding moment was Western Swim and Dive Athlete, Lucas Daniero, cutting 5 seconds off his lifetime best time for the 100 butterfly after taking off his junior year…