Wheaton Swim Club team's coaching staff has over 100 years of combined coaching experience. Each coach is a college graduate with varying degrees, ranging from kineseology, to education. Many of our part time coaches are also local teachers in the DuPage County area. Please feel free to contact any of the coaches by clicking the contacts link above and we will return your call or email as soon as possible.
Coaching Staff
Bob Strube - Head Coach
Email: [email protected]
Coaches: Senior Elite (SRE) Group, Senior Group
Certifications: USA Swimming Coach; CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross.
Bob Strube has been coaching since 1977, and in the area since 1986. His list of accomplishments are nearly unparalleled in Illinois and across the country. He has coached 16 Olympic Trials swimmers, countless National Champions, and dozens of state qualifiers. Many of his swimmers have earned college swimming scholarships and have been named Captain of their college teams. Many others have gone on to enjoy successful college careers. Bob is the two time recipient of the YMCA Long Course National Coach of the Year award.
Because of Bob's personal experience in swimming, having not begun swimming competitively until the tenth grade, he is committed to providing something for everyone, regardless of their ability or experience. He believes that teaching swimmers Life Values through competition is more important than fast times. He feels that learning the value of hard work, discipline and self-respect though sportsmanship, respect for others, will result in an overall successful person. Designing and implementing a program which allows swimmers to achieve these things will have successful swimming as a by-product.
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Chris Del Galdo - Head Coach
Email: [email protected]
Coaches: Age Group Elite (AGE)
Certifications: USA Swimming Coach, USA Swimming; CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross.
Chris DelGaldo has coached swimming since 1989. Chris's teams have won 5 JO State Championships and 12 YMCA State Championships. Chris's swimmers have competed in 42 top 6 team finishes in Age Group State Meet competition, over 50 individual event State Champions, many relay state champions as well as several State Records. Chris is the head coach of the Glenbard Co-op Swimming and Diving Team, which encompassed Glenbard North and East High Schools and has included 11 state qualifiers and a state relay in 2010 and a top 20 finish at the high school state meet winning the Sectional Coach of the year award 3 times. He also has coached the COD swim team in 1994, 1995, 1996 where he helped coach the team to a second place finish at the NJCAA Championships. Chris has coached all ages and ability levels during his 30 year coaching career.
Chris believes that young swimmers should be involved in as many activities as possible as they grow up, so that they can choose to participate in an activity which they enjoy. This helps create an atmosphere in which swimmers feel they are involved in the true sport of their choice once they reach the upper levels of the swim team. He believes that each athlete deserves a full explanation of all training and technique principles which are used in the program. As a result, swimmers come to adopt their own philosophies rather than to simply believe things “because the coach said so.”
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Amy Larson
Email: [email protected]
Coaches: Orange, Blue, Bronze
Competitive Lessons Coordinator
Certifications: USA Swimming Coach, USA Swimming Offical; CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross.
Amy began swimming at age 9 and has a life-long love of the sport. She grew up swimming, coaching and lifeguarding in Champaign, IL and is now a proud Wheaton Swim Club Coach, Parent and Official. Amy has been a USA Swimming Official, while her daughters, Maggie and Marlee, were swimming for Wheaton, and has returned to coaching over the last few years. Amy has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. After a 20+ year career in the consumer packaged goods industry, Amy is delighted to be back on the pool deck, not only helping kids to develop their swimming skills, but also to learn teamwork, competition, and healthy fitness habits that will last a lifetime.
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Gregory Fiaccato
Email: [email protected]
Coaches: Gold
Certifications: USA Swimming Coach; CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross.
Greg Fiaccato began swimming at the age of 9, and had the pleasure of swimming for coaches Bob and Chris at the College of DuPage. He swam there for two years before swimming for Minnesota State for the rest of his college career. For nearly 10 years, he coached with Bob and Chris at the club level while also coaching the Saybrook Sharks in the Naperville Park District. During Greg’s tenure with the Naperville Park District his teams were consistently ranked first or second in the city. Greg has worked at Comcast and has been the owner of several successful pizza businesses, including one in Raleigh, North Carolina most recently. Greg has three children who will be part of the Wheaton Swim Club. Greg is thrilled to reunite with Bob and Chris and eagerly anticipates many years of coaching at Wheaton.
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G-P Gargano-Price
Email: [email protected]
Coaches: Silver
Social Media Coordinator
Certifications: ASFA certified personal training, ISSA certified nutrion and group training; USA Swimming Coach; CPR, AED, Lifeguard certified through American Heart Federation.
G-P swam with the Wheaton Swim Club and Glenbard North/East Co-Op and swam at Carthage College and helped win the 2019 CCIW Championship for the co-ed team. As a collegiate swimmer, G-P was ranked consistently in the Top 10 and Top 5 in the 100 and 200 Breastroke, and 50 Freestyle events, respectively. G-P received Academic All-Conference 2019-2023 and was a Senior Varsity Captain in 2023. G-P's favorite aspects about practices finding creative ways to educate swimmers on their technique and endurance.
Additionally, G-P is the Wheaton Swim Cub media coordinator; G-P's role is to provide an educational outlet for swimmers, their families, and their fans to grow in the club's community while celebrating our swimmers' successes. G-P's background consists of a degree in Environmental Sciences, focused on STEM-based cirriculum development and educational media use at The Morton Arboretum and Brookfield Zoo Chicago; G-P's photography background consists of various student-run STEM-based originazations, focused on macrophotography and museum-grade media research and translation.
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Marissa Savegnago
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Coach
Certifications: CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross
Marissa is a recent grad from Univ Illinois at Chicago with a bachelors degree in Industrial Design. During her time at UIC she competed on their D1 Swim Team and was captain in her senior year. Along with going to school Marissa also taught swim lessons and coached for Wheaton Sport Center Stingrays and Chicago Wolf Pack Aquatics. Before college she began swimming around the age of 8 and swam for the Wheaton Sports Center as well as Glenbard North/East Coop High School team. Since graduating Marissa has started her own photography business serving clients throughout the Chicagoland area. She shoots small weddings and events, elopments, engagements and portraits. You can find some of her work at msavdesign.com.
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Seamus Stacey
Email: [email protected]
Assistant Coach
Certifications: CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross
Séamus is a former Irish Senior National Squad member with multiple Irish Senior National titles to his name in 200, 400 & 1500 meter freestyle. He had the honor of being Irish national team captain on several occasions and competed abroad for his country at meets around Europe and at the US Open. Séamus is a graduate from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Business Studies, where he spent two years training under the tutelage of 1996 Irish Olympian Earl McCarthy with whom he spent time on deck assisting in 201. Once he hung up the goggles. Séamus moved to Naperville from Ireland and is currently working as a Finance & Accounting Associate while studying to complete his CIMA qualifications in Management Accounting.
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Ethan Kile
Assistant Coach
Certifications: CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross
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Lily Foung
Assistant Coach
Certifications: CPR, AED, and Lifeguard certified through Red Cross
