Coaches and Directors

Coaches and Directors
Coaching Staff
Crystal Connery Head Coach

Coach Crystal first got involved with competitive swimming during her junior year of high school when she joined the Newington High School team. She then went on to swim at Saint Joseph College. 

Crystal has been coaching with NSC since September 2014, and has been head coach since January 2021. She began coaching with our developmental and age group swimmers before becoming the primary senior coach for the club. In addition to NSC, Coach Crystal has been the head coach of both the girls' and boys' varsity swim teams at Newington High School since 2017. During her coaching career, she has coached multiple age group and senior qualifying swimmers at the club level and state qualifying, all-conference, and all-state swimmers at the high school level.

Prior to coaching, Crystal taught swimming lessons for 6 years at the Rocky Hill School of Swimming and now is a full time lower elementary teacher in a Montessori School.

 

Mike Schumacher Assistant Head Coach

Coach Mike started his swimming career with Newington Swim Club for five years in 2004 and then went on to swim for four years with Newington High School. During college he competed with the UCONN Club Triathlon team and attended the 2018 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Nationals. During his time in high school and college he worked as a swim instructor for all age groups.

After graduating from UCONN Mike began his coaching career with Life Time Swim Colorado as an age group coach in 2019. In 2020 he moved back to CT and began coaching for Newington Swim Club. He has been an age group coach here ever since. He currently enjoys training to compete in triathlon and working as a para educator for Newington High School.

 

Gabby Targonska Age Group Coach

Gabby has been involved with NSC since she first joined the club as a 10 & under swimmer. During her time as a swimmer, she set club records in the backstroke events and was a state qualifier during her high school career. Gabby joined our coaching staff in 2021, and has spent time coaching the bronze and silver practice groups. Gabby builds off her own wealth of experience as a swimmer to teach technique and racing strategies while also helping her swimmers to find a love for the sport. Gabby is currently pursuing a nursing degree at the University of Saint Joseph where she is also a member of the swim team.

Ashley Klopfer Age Group Coach
Sophia Napuli Developmental Coach
Board of Directors