Joanna Murphy, Executive Director, Coach

Joanna Murphy joined Suburban in 2019. Having swam for Coach Charlie in her younger years she returned "home" to work with the organization with her years of experience in Non Profit Management and Accounting. Joanna was raised in a multi-generational family involved with swimming. She coached both summer and winter programs. Joanna works with the facility, board, coaches, swim team and programming to continue Suburban's mission of producing good swimmers and good people. Joanna is a graduate of Neumann University, Drexel University and the proud mother of 6 children. Joanna also coaches and teaches private lessons. In her spare time she can be found cheering for everyone!

Coach Charlie Kennedy, Elite Performance Coach

During Charlie’s 40 plus years as the Head Coach, the program has grown from 25 swimmers to over 275 swimmers. Charlie was inducted into the 2021 ASCA Hall of Fame. In 2019 Charlie was voted NCSA Coach of the Year. He was voted “Age Group Coach of the Year” by the American Swim Coaches Association and also “Age Group Coach of the Year” by Speedo.  Within the Mid-Atlantic region, Charlie has been awarded "Senior Coach of the Year" and "Age Group Coach of the Year."

A nationally ranked swimmer at Suburban Swim Center and the University of Iowa, Charlie uses his first-hand experience to help swimmers meet the challenges of this demanding sport. His emphasis on proper technique permeates the entire program. Today, Charlie spends all of his time coaching our Elite swimmers within the Senior Gold group.

During the last 40 years, many of his swimmers have achieved numerous rankings and championships: High School Champions, Jr. National’s qualifiers and champions, Sr. National qualifiers and champions, U.S. Open champions, World Rankings, World Champions, Olympic Trials qualifiers, World record holders, and Olympics Champions. Charlie transitioned to Elite Performance Coach in 2022 working with our highest group of swimmers.

Tara Bolivar, Associate Head Coach

Coach Tara is starting her 15th year at Suburban. She is responsible for programming and overseeing the coaches. As of 2022, Tara coaches across all groups and acts as Assoc. Head Coach. The highest level of swimmers at our club have grown up with Tara as their coach and she is extremely proud of them. Coach Tara was recently named one of ASCA's Top 50 Age Group Coaches for 2023 and was previously in 2015. She was also selected as a recipient of ASCA's 2023 Fellowship program. Tara was selected as a Coach for the Girls Select Camp at the Olympic Trial Training Center in Colorado in 2022.

Tara grew up swimming in New England for Shawmut Aquatic Club based in Framingham, Massachusetts, Framingham South High School and Northeastern University. During her career she competed at a national level, was New England age group and senior level champion, and record holder, Bay State Games champion, and record holder and was a 4-time MIAA state champion, and state record holder. She was awarded to the Boston Herald high school all-scholastic team and Boston Globe high school all-scholastic team for the 4 years she competed for Framingham South High School. Attending Northeastern University, she competed as an Academic All-American and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training.

Upon graduating from Northeastern, Tara became a Certified Athletic Trainer, working as an outreach Athletic Trainer at Upper Merion High School and various semi-professional sports teams in the Philadelphia area. Tara has been coaching at a USA swim club level for over 20 years and prior to that time coached for a summer club in Massachusetts.

Coaching Staff

Svetlana Panayotova

​Svetlana has coached at the club level and high school level for the past 30 years. For the last 20 years she has coached at Suburban with a focus on the mini teams and younger swimmers.

She earned her Masters in Physical Education from The National Sport Academy of Bulgaria. While in Bulgaria, Svetlana earned many national titles, which qualified her for the “Master of the Sport” degree. She is also a coach at Saint Albans Swim and Tennis Club since 2000.

Anne Gavin

Coach Anne is a graduate of Princeton University and has 22 years of coaching experience. While in High School swimming she participated in Districts and States in Pennsylvania as well as North Coast Championships in California (equivalent to PA States). Anne swam four years at Princeton University during which time the team won both Ivy League and Eastern conference Championships. After college, she swam in the US Master’s program and made the Master’s top ten list in 1987.

Anne coached at Upper Main Line YMCA from 2001-2017 at every level in the program as both a volunteer and a paid staff member. Anne was a National Team assistant coach from 2006-2017 for both Spring and Summer YMCA Nationals. This is Anne’s seventh season at Suburban Seahawks Club. Anne coaches our Senior Gold and Silver groups. Her expertise with our older swimmers is a driving force to their success in competition.

Kevin Carson

We asked Kevin for his bio but he likes to remain mysterious.

Natalie DiTullio

Coach Natalie grew up swimming at Marple Newtown Swim Club in the Suburban Swim League where her love of swimming began.  She has great memories of spending summers at the pool. Prior to raising her children, Natalie was a teacher and coach in the Lower Merion School District.  Natalie has 4 children and is the Assistant Coach for ACAC Summer Swim Team.  She is a substitute teacher in the West Chester School District and is certified in Functional Nutrition.  In her spare time, she enjoys watching her children's sporting events, reading, and researching health and fitness.  Natalie has her Bachelors in Education from Villanova University & Masters in Education from Penn State.  

Nic LoPresto

 

Nic LoPresto is beginning his 1st year with the Suburban Seahawks after spending 5 years as Head Coach of Swimming and Ultimate Frisbee at Abington Friends School (AFS). He attended Athens High School. While earning a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from St. Vincent College, PA, Nic was an NAIA National Qualifier in the 100 and 200 Yard Backstroke and Breaststroke before a shoulder injury derailed a young college career. 

Nic also coached College Women’s Div III Philadelphia University (Now Thomas Jefferson University) to a 5th place finish at USA Ultimate Frisbee Nationals. Nic can often be found with a Frisbee in his hand, and/or spending as much time around water as he can.

Nic Sardo

Nic began his swimming career at a young age and his fondest childhood memories are of swimming with his team. Aquatics instruction has been a passion his entire adult life. Nic expanded several summer aquatics programs including Concord Country Club and Broomalls' Lake holding the assistant coach and ultimately head coach positions. Nic moved on to Westtown School’s Aquatics department and helped lead the developmental swim program and served as the Summer Aquatic Director for Westtown’s summer camps.  

As Head Coach for the Fitness & Wellness Aquatic Club, Nic worked with swimmers in every age group and worked towards the development of a new competitive swim program. While leading the ACAC Dolphins, Nic developed swimmers of all ages and worked passionately to fulfill the goals of his team and swimmers. 

Nic is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan and moved to Pennsylvania when he was 7. He has four sisters and a small legion of nieces and nephews that he makes an effort to visit when his schedule permits. He also has a dog named Geno. His coaching focus is to help swimmers improve technique and get faster while being a positive role model.

David Schwarz

Dave started swimming at age 12 with his summer swim in the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association swim league. He started swimming year round at 15 when he joined the Princeton YMCA swim team.  Dave attended Montgomery High School in Skillman, NJ where, although his high school didn’t have a swim team, he was able to represent his school in conference and county championship meets.
 
Dave began his coaching career during his college years and became the head coach of both the Princeton YMCA swim team as well as his summer swim club where he began his swimming career.  After moving to Pennsylvania in 2014, he joined the West Chester Y swim team as an assistant coach.  In 2019, Dave joined the coaching staff at ACAC before coming to SSC for the 22-23 season.  He is also a member of the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA).
 
Dave has his B.S in finance from Rider University and an MBA from Penn State.  When he is not on the pool deck, Dave works as a financial advisor

Ashley Suchecki

Coach Ashley has a passion for swimming and swam competitively for 14 years.  Ashley was the Swim Team Captain for Gettysburg College and used her skills in the water to help drive her career in digital advertising.

Prior to joining the Suburban Seahawks Swim Club, Ashley spent 10 years at Comcast creating, developing, and managing sales teams as the Senior Director of Digital Advertising Sales.  Ashley applied the skills, she had learned in the pool of discipline, perseverance and team comradery to help drive her career at Comcast.  After having 4 children, she decided to turn back to the pool and focus on helping youth swimmers continue to develop and find their passion. During the summer Ashley is the Head Coach of St. Albans Swim Team.    

Ashley holds a BA in psychology from Gettysburg College, an MA in Communication from Villanova University and an Executive Leadership Degree from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Dr. Peter Thompson

Pete Thompson is an ASCA Level IV coach with over 30 years of head coaching experience encompassing high school, club, and collegiate levels. A five-time coach of the year recipient, Pete has led his programs to 23 combined league championships in 30 years and, in 2014, Pete led his University of Rochester women’s team to a top 20 Division III NCAA finish. Throughout his coaching career Pete has coached national qualifiers, All-Americans, state/conference champions and record holders, and played an integral role in the development of a future Olympian. He has coached for, and studied under, several national and world-renowned coaches, including a year with Charlie Kennedy in 1998.

As an educator Pete has directed a graduate student affairs department, served as a school counselor, adjunct faculty member, and, for five years as a sport psychology consultant for an NCAA athletic department. Pete earned his Doctorate in counseling and human development at the University of Rochester and his master’s degree in counseling at Villanova University. He is a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). Pete currently runs a private psychotherapy and mental performance practice in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Missy Turner

Missy grew up in Delaware County swimming at Lansdowne Pool in the summers and at age 11 joined Suburban Seahawks. Soon to become a Charlie Kennedy favorite, Missy excelled quickly and earned a spot on the National Team. Missy went on to shine at West Virginia University, winning the 200 Butterfly as a freshman in the Big East Conference Championship Meet. Loved by all her teammates, Missy was team Captain her Senior Year and graduated with a BA in Communications.

After graduation, Missy worked in Corporate Recruiting and Human Resources, but she couldn’t resist returning to swimming as a full time coach. Missy is still involved with Lansdowne Pool during the summers, where she coaches and inspires all swimmers to have fun and enjoy the sport. Suburban was lucky to welcome back Missy in 2018 to coach. She is thrilled to be back on deck with Charlie and working with amazing co-workers. In her spare time Missy enjoys family time with her husband Brian, three boys Brady, Colten and Peyton, and their lovely daughter Blake.

New Coach Coming Soon