University of Rhode Island alumna Lilli Falconer Deering is making her mark on the women’s swimming and diving program as both an athlete and a coach.
Deering attended URI from 2007-2011, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and biological oceanography. Throughout her swimming career, she earned Atlantic 10 All-Conference Performer all four years. The A-10 also named her the Most Outstanding Performer in 2010.
Pursuing further education, Deering attended Fox College and graduated with a veterinary technology degree in 2014. She worked primarily at Atlantic Animal Hospital in Charleston as a certified veterinary technician.
It was amidst working as a veterinary technician that Deering had begun volunteering and teaching swimming lessons in the Rhode Island area. She served as a volunteer assistant for Rhody in the 2015-2016 season.
“I enjoyed volunteering for a couple practices a week and it just worked out really nicely that I got to work alongside Mick [Westkott] at my alma mater,” Deering said.
Deering, the second head coach in program history, took over the mantle from long-time coach Mick Westkott in 2022. Westkott coached from 1972-2021, notching 349 wins in total.
“I don’t think I ever really pictured myself in the collegiate coaching world,” Deering said. “When the assistant coach position opened up, it just felt like a really good opportunity for me to change paths.”
In Deering’s first year as head coach, Rhody finished 5-6. On the final day of the 2023 Atlantic 10 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, second-year Ella Hacker and third-year Hannah Benavides placed top-15 in their respective events.
“I think just as a whole the program has grown tremendously,” Benavides said. “Being the assistant coach here and then getting to that head coach role, just really shaped her too. She’s been growing with us, which is so awesome. She was the biggest part of why I chose this school.”
Throughout her coaching journey at URI, Deering has grown to understand the more intricate parts of the job.
“You know, you get into college coaching and think that it’s just about the coaching, but there’s so much more to it that I didn’t realize initially,” Deering said. “I would say that the majority of our job is behind the scenes. I’ve definitely learned more and more over the last two years that building those relationships, finding those connections and having that trust outside of practice is crucial to being able to have your athlete be successful.”
This year, the Rams finished their regular season with a record of 4-5. They await the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championships, which will begin on Feb. 21. Last season, Deering implemented a technique to take the stress off her team’s mind before competing in the Championship.
“Having seen our stress and anxiety, she decided to implement something where on Wednesdays, before we got into the pool in the morning, we’d all float in the warm pool instead of the competition pool and she’d shut the lights off for five minutes,” Benavides said. “We’d just float and try to calm ourselves and prepare to put in the work for that day. I think that shows how much she cares about us.”
Despite this not being the path Deering thought she’d go down, she has no regrets.
“After the first couple of years, it just feels like this is really what I was meant to be doing,” Deering said. “I truly enjoy every second of it.”