COACH IRA KLEIN
KLEIN SWIM ACADEMY is under the direction of Head Coach Ira Klein, who has coached 6 OLYMPIANS and over 40 USA, YMCA & COLLEGIATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.
Coach Ira is a certified Level 5 Coach, the highest level attainable with the American Swim Coaches Association. He was the first coach in the country to attain that level as a Senior, Age Group, and YMCA coach. He brings almost five decades of teaching experience and coaching excellence to our program.
Coach Ira is from New York, graduating in 1975 from Queens College with a BA in Physical Education. He then did his graduate study in Exercise Science at the Univ. of Massachusetts. At Queens College Coach Ira lettered in both swimming and water polo.
Coaching has taken him around the country, including four years in Colorado at the Olympic Training Center creating a new Club Services department for USA Swimming. When he was ready to return to the coaching deck he decided to turn down all offers and return to Sarasota where he had prior headed the YMCA program for five years. In 2009, as the Head Coach of the Sarasota YMCA, he led the team to all three team titles with well over 70% best times swum by all swimmers. It was the largest, 45 swimmers, team to attend in the history of YMCA swimming.
AMONG HIS COACHING CREDENTIALS ARE;
· 100% of all program graduating athletes have entered and attended college
· 65% of all program graduates attending college have received scholarships
· Five time USA National Team Coach
· 'Gold Medal' Level ASCA Coach for more than 20 years awarded a National ‘Coaching Excellence’ award.
. Coached Olympic Trial finalists in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008
· Coached over 100 USA Swimming National, NCAA Collegiate, YMCA National, National Age Group and Junior Olympic; individual and team champions!
· Two time past President of the American Swim Coaches Association [ASCA]
· Past Vice President of USA Swimming
Currently elected as a member of the Board of Directors for USA Swimming
But when asked what he enjoys most in coaching swimming, the singular answer is "the ability to watch a young person achieve something, at any level, that they had never done before and learn that all is possible if they are willing to work for it."
http://tv.swimmingworldmagazine.com/shows/all-studio-videos/tagged/5952
See Coach Ira Klein, director of field services for USA Swimming, and host Brent Rutemiller talk about the different responsibilities USA Swimming's field services department has: sports development, sports performance and Masters coaches. Klein gives specific examples of what his department does in each of these three areas, which focus on making age-group programs, their coaches and their staff stronger and help develop future Olympic stars.
http://tv.swimmingworldmagazine.com/shows/all-studio-videos/tagged/415
Ira Klein, when he was head coach of the Sarasota Family YMCA Sharks, joined live edition of The Morning Swim Show
Coach Ira's webinars, articles with USA Swimming
