KEVIN D. ROBERTS/Register Citizen

After a successful run as Northwest YMCA Laser head coach, Tim Driscoll will be moving on to the Greater Waterbury YMCA, where he will be their swimming coach. Read my story on Driscoll and watch a video interview with him here.

The move makes plenty of sense for Driscoll, given that it will put him in the same city -- Waterbury -- where he works as a teacher at Crosby High School. It will cut down on the 14-hour days that Driscoll spent while coaching the Lasers. When he was teaching, a day would often begin at 6 a.m. and end at 8:30 p.m.

Like his swimmers, Driscoll is dedicated to the Lasers. During the summer, the team practices for two hours per day, five days a week at two different YMCAs (Winsted and Torrington). During practice on Wedneday at the Winsted YMCA, Driscoll was constantly watching his team when he wasn't being interviewed by me. Driscoll also plenty of instructions for his swimmers.

Driscoll's hard workouts pay off, according to Eric Traub, a former Torrington High and Laser standout who just completed his sophomore year at Columbia University.

"He's had a lot of impact [on me]," Traub said. "He's improved me a lot."

Another Traub, Matt, is going to YMCA Long Course Nationals for the first time. He will be joined by Chickee Nickerson and Hailey Martel. Here's what Driscoll had to say about Matt Traub.

"He puts the time in, he puts the effort in, he trains hard," Driscoll said.

That's all Driscoll has been looking for as Laser coach. The Lasers have league championships coming up. The Lasers will compete in the Yankee Cluster championships, then Nickerson, Martel and Matt Traub will travel to Atlanta to compete in the YMCA's Long Course Nationals. The neat part about the Long Course meet is that it will be held on the campus of Georgia Tech, which hosted swimming during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The Lasers will need to find another solid coach to keep the momentum going from Driscoll's time as head coach.