About Our Coaches
The Vortex Swim Club coaching staff are all certified members of USA Swimming. Their goal is the development of lifelong swimmers and the whole athlete. The coaches are available to answer your questions related to workouts, meets, meet events, goal setting, and other swimming related needs. For all questions related to administration such as dues, volunteering or policy issues; please contact the appropriate volunteer or board member. Please click here for our policy on how to to communicate with the coaches
Vortex Head Coach
I began swimming when I was 13 years old when my parents forced me to join the local summer club. At that time, I was a soccer player and that was my passion, but I had a coach that took an interest in me and helped me develop and learn to love the sport of swimming. This was the first time I experienced great coaching that made an impact on me.
After falling in love with the sport, I went to Regis Jesuit High School to swim and was varsity for all four years. My junior and senior year I got my first taste at coaching. My friend and I coached and managed the Heather Ridge Country Club summer club swim team in Denver. I had a great time, learned so much about coaching and had way too many Slurpees! During these 4 years, I had some great coaches at both Regis and my club team.
I accepted a position to swim at Bowling Green State University my freshman year of college. This was hard for me. For the first time in swimming, my coach and I were not compatible. I learned a lot from him, he was technically a great coach, but we just didn’t click. Because of this, I decided to take the opportunity to join my family in Malta. During my time in Malta, I worked as an assistant coach for the Malta National Swim Team.
When my family and I came back to the US, I decided to attend Western State College. While in Gunnison, I coached for the summer club swim team and started the Gunnison High School Swim Teams for both boys and girls. After graduating from college, I moved around a few times until I came to Fort Collins. Since I arrived in Fort Collins in 2008, I have been in the swim community working with summer clubs, running aquatics programs and coaching for Vortex. During the day, I am the Aquatics Manager at Raintree Athletic Club.
My many years of experience working with coaches has helped to create my theory of coaching and the way I approach swimming. Quality over quantity, clear communication, the desire and motivation to get better are all critically important to me. I enjoy teaching technique and helping swimmers improve their strokes. I like to push swimmers both in and out of the water to achieve better times and help them realize how much they can accomplish.
My coaches impacted me, as a swimmer and as an individual. They were modeling character to me. I try to remember that it is now my opportunity to impact these youth, as swimmers, and as people.
In my downtime, I like to spend time with my lovely wife.
Age Group Coach
I’ve been swimming pretty much my whole life, or since my parents and I found out I’m not the best at catching things that are thrown to me! I started out swimming for the Loveland Boltz when some neighbors asked if I would try the team with them and I ended up being the only one to stick it out. I swam for them throughout elementary school and then took a break from club swimming. While I was in middle school, I swam for the Westfield Waves and started to realize that I really liked swimming. I was at a meet and met the coach of Vortex and he told me that I should try year-round swimming with him starting my freshman year of high school. I swam for Vortex all throughout high school and became a team captain. During that same time frame, I swam for my high school, Rocky Mountain, became a team captain, and went to state 3 out of the 4 years. After high school, I went to Morningside College on a swim scholarship where I studied Elementary and Middle school education as well as swimming breaststroke, IM, and the distance freestyle events. I have also lifeguarded and taught swim lessons and have found that my love of teaching and swimming really go hand in hand. I started coaching with the summer league team, Westfield Waves, and am now their head coach. The coaches I had on all these teams really shaped who I am today, and I want to carry on that tradition of building strong, smart, and caring swimmers!
Raintree: Lead Site Coach
I began my swimming career late in life. I learned to swim at the age of 50, but it was not until I was 55 that I started to compete seriously. I still compete at the National level in pool racing, qualifying for the National Championships in several events. At the same time I continue to participate in Open Water. As a member of a relay team, I have completed the Triple Crown of Open Water (English Channel, Swim around Manhattan Island, and Catalina Channel). As a solo swimmer I have competed in many events including the Horsetooth 10K, Waikaki Rough Water, Big Shoulder, with the longest being a 12-mile swim in the Willamette River in Portland.
I began my coaching career as a Masters coach in 2004. I have coached Masters continuously since that time. Prior to relocating from Denver to Fort Collins in early 2018, I coached High School in Denver for 8 years. Since then, I have coached both the youth and Masters teams at Raintree Athletic Club and teach swim lessons to all ages. I have my ASCA Level 2 and Masters Level 3 coaching certifications. I love the opportunity to coach for the Vortex swim team. As both a coach and a swimmer, I feel strongly that technique, along with consistent training, is highly important to success in swimming.
I first started swimming in the first grade, for my neighborhood summer league team, the Westfield Waves. By the fifth grade, I loved the sport so much, I decided to swim year-round so I joined Vortex! I swam with Vortex through all of middle school and high school. I went to high school at Rocky Mountain Highschool where I also swam on the high school swim team. After high school, I started at Colorado State University where I swam with Vortex for another year and a half and for the CSU Club Swim Team.
I'm now starting my fourth year at CSU where I am double majoring in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering. I just finished my third summer coaching for the Westfield Waves and I couldn't be more excited to come back and coach for Vortex! The sport of swimming has given me excellent guidance from coaches, built long-lasting friendships, and helped develop my character into who I am today. I hope as a coach I can give back to the sport just a fraction of what it's given to me!
I am excited to begin coaching for Vortex! I swam for Vortex for close to 10 years and I hope to do my part to inspire a new generation of swimmers. I have been swimming competitively for 15 years and have been coaching off and on for three years. I recently graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in exercise science, I hope to bring my passion for sports and human movement to my coaching at Team Vortex!
My coaching philosophy and approach stretch back to Southern California where I spent time with summer club teams and the University of Southern California in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Having grown up swimming for the Tide Riders (predecessor to FAST) and Poudre High School in Northern Colorado I returned and started coaching at Rocky Mountain High School in the early 1990s and then later at Loveland High School and Loveland Swim Club during my 28-year teaching career at LHS. I was then connected with the Village Green summer program and later Vortex during those years and believe that Northern Colorado Swimming is filled with excellence, tradition, and always has something to prove to the Denver metro teams. I love the place Vortex holds in this community and believe that Vortex can continue to grow into a club which develops all age group athletes to their potential using smart and appropriate training techniques. This approach will allow for a developmental arc which culminates with elite performance, which is injury free at the high school level and beyond. I am inspired to be coaching with the staff at Vortex who I believe can execute this vision with passion and energy in the coming season. I am itching to get back on deck to train, compete, and meet all of you in a concerted effort to grow club culture and community in the coming months. It is time to get to work building this season and as John Wooden always noted… failing to prepare is preparing to fail!
How to Communicate with the Coaches
Email the coach. They will get back to you as soon as possible. If necessary, set up a meeting to talk with the coach after practice. Please do not speak with the coach during practice. Coaches must have their full attention on the swimmers.
If you have a concern about a coach and feel comfortable talking with the coach, please do so. If you do not feel comfortable expressing your concern to the coach or if you have already talked with the coach and the issue continues to be unresolved, please email the Head Coach. If that avenue has not effectively addressed your concern the final step would be to email the Board of Directors.
