I've been swimming competitively for most of my life. It's a sport I love and a sport I excel in. I've been contemplating whether or not I want to tell my swim coach I'm gay. We have a really strong athlete-coach relationship, and we've been through a lot of long seasons and tough workouts together. I'm almost positive he'd be supportive, and it wouldn't change anything. He's always making jokes and trying to lighten the mood. Often, his jokes are about how girls are trouble and you should focus on swimming. At times, I want to just tell him that I'm gay, but I'm just not sure of when or where to tell him. When I'm at practice, I'm focused on practice. I try not to think about anything outside of swimming, but that's really the only time I see my coach is at practice. Has anybody been in a similar situation where they came out to a coach? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
You may find some inspiration here, and in the book that's mentioned in the article: AfterElton.com - Interview with Openly Gay Olympic Champion Mark Tewksbury (Mark Tewksbury is a Canadian Olympic Swimmer who is now openly gay).
I'm a swimmer too (new to the sport, but I figured out how to swim 50 free in 30.1 sec, fastest speed for me...I'm not that good). Personally, I'd look into not only how he'll look into it, but how others will look into it. Is your school community LGBT-and-etc. friendly? What are the kids like around your school, neighborhood, area you live? Try to think about the consequences you might not see. I'm not trying to guide you away, but I'm trying to give you an idea if this is the best choice for your social life and the like. Hopefully you can come out! Good luck to you!