Photo courtesy of Meredith Burney
Meredith Burney, who teaches classes at the local YMCA, is helping build the sport of triathlon among area youth athletes.
When Meredith Burney arrived in the area three years ago, she didn’t see a youth triathlon community. So she built one.
Burney, a former elite athlete and longtime coach who lives in Homewood and works at the local YMCAs, launched Birmingham Area Multisport (BAM) in early 2024. In just over a year, the club has grown from a small clinic at the Hoover Recreation Center to a program producing youth athletes who have already found success on the national stage.
“I founded BAM from the desire to reach and coach athletes to experience the joys of multisport,” Burney said. “I do not believe in specialization in sport at an early age. There are so many great young runners, cyclists and swimmers in this area and a number of competitive adult triathletes but there wasn’t something to develop the youth.”
That vision paid off quickly. In May, a three-member BAM relay team (Coco Rocque, Madison Comer and Quinn McCurry) stunned the field by winning the XTERRA North American Championships at Oak Mountain State Park, beating adult competition in the process. Burney said the thrill of that experience showed her athletes what was possible.
“It’s a pretty awesome feeling to cross the finish line of your first triathlon and realize you just did three wildly different sports in quick succession in one day,” she said.
Burney’s own story stretches back decades. She began training for the Modern Pentathlon — a mix of cross country running, swimming, horseback riding, fencing and shooting — at age 12 and was accepted into the Olympic Development Camp at 14. She later coached at the University of Texas and earned a graduate fellowship at Smith College while coaching at Smith and UMASS.
From there, her career was shaped by life as a military spouse. “After choosing an alternate career as a military wife, I pursued coaching opportunities at local colleges, high schools and even started my own nonprofit,” Burney said. “Balancing marriage and motherhood with coaching has not been easy. Now that my kids have graduated and moved on, I am able to re-ignite the passion for coaching that I had before.”
That passion now focuses on middle and high school athletes. “I absolutely love working with middle school and high school athletes,” Burney said. “That period of growth and development is exciting and challenging. Kids are beginning to form their life goals intellectually, physically, and spiritually, and the opportunity to be a positive influence during this pivotal time is an honor and privilege.”
BAM also earned support from the USA Triathlon Foundation, which awarded Burney a grant to help build the program. She offers youth clinics at the Mountain Brook YMCA, triathlon swim groups and a free weekly open-water swim at Oak Mountain State Park.
The next milestone comes Aug. 23, when some BAM athletes will line up at the Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon at Oak Mountain. The race doubles as Alabama’s first state high school triathlon championships, though results will come after press time.
Looking beyond, Burney’s goal is steady growth. “Up next is developing the website, recruiting in local schools and building a roster of kids for the 2026 season,” she said. “The vision is to have a developmental program for new triathletes and those who want to do it recreationally, and an elite program for those who want to compete nationally and internationally.”
For Burney, it’s simple: provide opportunities she once had — and watch kids discover new possibilities.
