We are thrilled to welcome Coach Justin Zook to the MCDA coaching staff!

Miami Country Day Aquatics Families- My name is Justin Zook and I am the new Head Age Group Coach at Miami Day Country Aquatics. I wanted to take the chance to introduce myself and provide you with a bit of a background on my work and swimming experience.

To start off, I would like to express how excited to be a part of MCDA I am. After meeting with Coach Pittman, I was enthused with how closely our philosophies towards swimming align. Swimming is a sport with the potential to benefit the children in and out of water. I believe the essential characteristics in swimming (ex: mental toughness, goal setting, determination) translate over into the classroom and can be utilized further down the road. As a coach, I am devoted to not only fine tuning the strokes in the water, but the whole person.

One of the most important objectives in my mind is for the swimmers to recognize how useful the characteristics in the pool can be and how often they are used in other realms of life.

I started swimming at age 7 for physical therapy. When born my right leg growth plates were non-functional. I have required 30 surgeries to date, and will need a few more as I get older. Swimming became a significant part of my life as it taught me to deal with the obstacles outside of the pool much more maturely. As an age group swimmer I won overall state high point championships in Minnesota at ages 8 and 10.

Outside of USA Swimming, I compete for the U.S. Paralympic National Team. The Paralympic Games are those designed alongside the Olympic Games, but only for athletes with physical disabilities. The competition is the second largest in the world (only to the Olympics) with over 4,000 athletes. Since age 12, I have been competing internationally with the U.S. Paralympic National Team.

Collectively, I have three gold medals in the 100 meter backstroke (04’,08’,12’) and one bronze medal in the 50 meter freestyle (’04). I currently hold the World Record in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke.

As a student, I received my undergraduate degree in Sport Management from Springfield College. After attending the 2008 Paralympic Games I attended graduate school at Florida Atlantic University. I received an MBA with a emphasis in Sport Business. During my time as a graduate student I worked in the FAU Student-Athlete Center. My responsibilities with the student athletes included mentoring, maintaining eligibility progress, class scheduling, and providing guidance towards career choices. I valued my time working with student athletes as the experience gave me new perspectives and insights when working with student-athletes.

Prior to graduating, I accepted a full-time position working for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). As acting Emerging Sport Manager, I was responsible for recruiting and maintaining a relationship with over 300 Paralympic athletes. Also, the Veteran Affairs Training Allowance Program was announced while I was with the USOC and I was tasked with managing the financial portion of this program.

My most recent coaching experience was with Life Time Fitness in Minnesota. The program started out as a swim lesson program, and now has over 300 competitive swimmers! I worked primarily with the age group swimmers, but have experience coaching high school swimmers as well. As a coach, I believe my main strengths are stroke mechanics and making swimmers believe in themselves.

Finally, I believe swimming is a year-round sport. In order to fine tune the skills necessary to improve in the water, swimmers should stay in the water regularly. When a swimmer takes a break for one or two months, most of the skills learned previously are completely lost. The best way to keep progressing in the sport is to stay in the water year round. We have the luxury of a heated pool and locker rooms extremely close to get changed. One special treat for the children will be the addition of hot chocolate any time the temperature drops below 60 degrees.

I strongly encourage each family to keep their swimmers in the water for the winter and see how things go. I look forward to meeting you all in the near future hope you have a great day.