Coaching Staff
We are here to support your needs. If your questions are related to workouts, meets, events, goal setting, and other swimming related needs, please contact one of the Coaching Staff.
For all questions related to administration such as dues, safety, or policy issues; please contact one of the Board of Directors listed in the Parents Info tab of the website with their pictures.
Mike Mcwha
Head Coach
Group: Senior & Competitive
Mike brings a very comprehensive background in swimming to our coaching staff.
Mike is originally from Windsor and is excited to return back to where it all started. He has been involved in swimming since the age of 8 and has 16 years of competitive swimming under his belt. Mike has been coaching for over 10 years, most recently at the Markham Aquatic Club where his swimmers have medaled at Provincial Championships and Age Group Nationals, breaking National Age Group Records along the way. Mike was named as a Swim Ontario Female Age Group Coach of the year in 2012.
Mike has coached swimmers at every level ranging from developmental to national. Mike's philosophy caters to each individual with a strong emphasis on proper technique and aerobic fitness. "It doesn't matter what your swimming goals are, I will work with you to help achieve them".
During his career, Mike has received many accolades. He was a national team member for 5 years and competed at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. He was team captain for the University of Michigan Swimming and Diving team where he helped the Wolverines win 2 Big Ten Conference Championships. He has been named a 3 time Honourable Mention All-American and 1 time All-American. Mike is a 7 time Canadian National champion and held the 15-17 National Age Group record in the 1500 scm Freestyle.
Mike has a Masters of Human Kinetics from the University of Windsor and Bachelor of Science, Movement Science, Division of Kinesiology, from the University of Michigan.
Jodi Cortese
Group: Senior Development Coach
Jodi has been the head coach of the Riverside Secondary School swim team for the past 10 years and is a former WAC coach & swimmer. Her teams at Riverside have won the WECSSAA championships all 10 years she has coached and placed 2nd at OFSAA in four of those 10 years. She has been coaching on and off for WAC for 9 seasons.
Jodi has had the opportunity to coach three current USA National Team members, one of which swam in the 2020 Olympics (Ali, Gabby, and Catie Deloof) while coaching the girls swim team at Grosse Pointe South High School.
Jodi was a varsity swimmer and school record holder at Wayne State University where she also earned academic awards at the school and got her degree in Chemistry and Secondary Education.
She is currently a full-time secondary teacher for the GECDSB where she teaches math and science.
Vallery Hyduk
Group: Provincial
Vallery has been a volunteer with the Windsor Aquatic Club for over 5 years as the mother of two WAC swimmers. She herself was a competitive swimmer from the age of 7 to 21. During her athletic career she competed at 2 Olympic Trials - narrowly missing the Olympic team in 1988. She was ranked top 15 in the world in the 200m Breaststroke, and top 5 across all Breaststroke events in Canada in her teens and early 20s. Like Coach Mike, Vallery swam varsity for the University of Michigan. There she was a 4-year All-American and helped the women's team win the Big Ten Championships 4 years straight. After retiring from swimming, Vallery wrote the young adult novel, Swim to Win.
Vallery has a double major from the University of Michigan in French and Political Science. She also holds a Bachelors of Education from the University of Toronto and is a Certified Ontario Teacher.
Melinda Noveletto
Group: Age Group
Melinda is entering her third year coaching with the Windsor Aquatic Club and brings over a decade of experience in competitive swimming and coaching. She has been a competitive swimmer in Windsor for over 10 years, competing at various regional and provincial levels throughout her swimming career.
She began her coaching journey in 2018 with the Essex Surge swim team and Special Olympics Canada — concluding her time with both teams in 2020.
Melinda obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2025, graduating with a double major in Criminology and Sociology. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Windsor, where she is completing a thesis as part of her graduate studies.
Melinda is passionate about the sport and is excited to continue working with the swimmers and families at Windsor Aquatic Club!
Brendan Oswald
Group: AGD (Age Group Development)
Brendan recently graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Political Science. He comes to WAC having competed at a very high level in swimming. He retired from the sport in March of 2025 following the USports swimming championships, where he made the "A" final in all four of his individual events and won a silver medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay. He has also won five OUA medals and was presented with the Award of Distinction at the University of Toronto for outstanding athletic achievement.
Group: Competitive 1 & 2, SEAL 1
Isabella Gibson began competitive swimming at seven years old and was a member of the Windsor Aquatic Club for over a decade. She has a long history of competitive swimming, winning the WAC Iron Man award for outstanding commitment in 2020.
This year Isabella starts her first official year of WAC coaching with the Seal Senior and Competitive swim groups. She is very excited to work with the new generation of up-and-coming WAC swimmers!
Melanie Levack
Group: SEAL 2
Sneha Chitte
Group: S4S Ccordinator
Megan McDonald
Group: S4S coach
Megan started swimming competitively at the age of 10. She swam throughout her years at Brock University where she coached the pre-competitive swimmers on the Brock Niagara Aquatics swim team. She graduated Brock University with a bachelors in Physical Education in 2020. Megan then moved to Windsor to complete teachers college at The University of Windsor. She has now graduated and is an Occasional Teacher with the GECDSB. She loves swimming and teaching and gets to combine those two passions through coaching at WAC.
Isidora Sekaric
Group: S4S
Aminah Siddiquie
Group: S4S
Hazem Al-ashraf
Group: S4S
Liliana Mottillo
Group: S4S
Giuliana Castagna
Group: S4S
Alexandria (Alex) Gignac Goulet
Group: S4S
Alex is very excited to start her first year of coaching with the Windsor Aquatic Club. She has
several years of experience swimming on competitive teams and currently swims on the
master’s team. In the past, she enjoyed working as a certified swimming coordinator, leadership
instructor, and lifeguard. Right now, she works as a licensed Occupational Therapist helping
people to engage in their lives meaningfully as a way of improving health and quality of life.
Fatimah Siddiquie
Dedra Shier
Group: S4S
Originally from Lasalle, Dedra started swimming with the Windsor Aquatic Club at age 5 and swam competitively for 13 years. She is a Registered Practical Nurse, a small business owner, and the mother of 3 WAC swimmers. She swims with the master’s group and when not in the water, she enjoys volunteering on deck at local swim meets. This is her first-year coaching and is proud to coach the S4S group.
Steve Gombai
Group: Masters & Assistant coach
A native of Windsor and a former WAC swimmer and coach, Steve is excited to bring his talents and expertise back to where it all started for him and his 2 older sisters. Steve's sister Gabriella was one of the original member of the inaugural WAC team in 1970. Steve later joined the club at the age of 6 and swam all the way through highschool until Doc Counsilman at Indiana University recruited him with a scholarship offer.
Steve was the swim coach at St Thomas of Villanova Highschool for 15 years where his team place top 3 each year with the honour of being the only team in the top 20 without having a pool on school grounds. At STOV he had several OFSAA champions, numerous medalists and countless finalists. As an age-group coach at WAC Steve's swimmers won several Provincial Championship golds and a handful of his swimmers ranked among the best swimmers in Canada for their age.
During his swimming career Steve had several accomplishments. A National record in ther 200 breaststroke for 10 & under, 11-12 and 15 & under age groups. Steve was a national youth team member twice in 1986 travelling to France/Luxembourg and Germany. Steve was selected to a 17 & under national team traveling to Mito City Japan in 1987 as well as a high altitude national team training camp in France in 1989. Steve qualified for finals at the Canadian Nationals in the 50/100/200 Breaststroke as well as the 200/400 IM. At IU Steve was a 4 year letterman, an 8 time Big 10 finalist and a 2 time NCAA qualifier. As a masters swimmer Steve broke several Michigan State records, Ontario records, Canadian records. He won US Masters Nationals in 1997 and was the 200 meter short course world record holder for the 25-29 year old age group.
Steve has a bachelor of science focusing on Exercise Physiology with minors in both biology and chemistry from Indiana University. He followed that degree with a bachelor in education from the University of Windsor and has been a science teacher with the WECDSB since 1997. Steve is also 2nd degree black belt in Shoryn-Gi-Ryu karate and he is a 2 time world champion gold medalist.
