HEAD COACH

Andrew Scheerhorn

I am a native of West Michigan.  I'm from Holland Michigan and I swam at West Ottawa.  I didn't start swimming with a year-round club until my senior year in high school, that's when I joined WMS.  I was recruited to swim at a few different schools, mostly in Michigan.  The school that won me over was Clemson University.  I swam on the varsity team all four years. 

Every year after school I would come back to Michigan and train and coach with WMS.  I mostly worked with the 8 and unders and the 9-10 age group throughout my summers.  After graduating I moved back and I was the head coach of the Holland Middle School team, and the assistant coach with the Holland High School team.  

Then I had an opportunity to move to Charlotte North Carolina with a few of my college friends.  This turned into an almost 10 year career working for Vanguard.  Towards the end of my time at Vanguard I knew something was missing and that I wasn't doing what made me happy.  I always loved coaching and could always see myself being the head coach of a program.  Randomly I found an article about jobs in swimming, so I scrolled through it and found a post for WMS.  It seemed meant to be so I applied and here I am!

I've always believed that the best results occur when the swimmer-coach relationship is a partnership.  So my coaching philosophy is to have the swimmers work with me, not for me.  Having that partnership will ensure that we both reach the best possible versions of ourselves as swimmers, coaches and people.  I also think it is important to put a heavy emphasis on being competitive in whatever they do. I think there’s a lot of value in applying the will to win and the will to succeed in everything they do in their lives. With that mentality, they will be motivated to win each and every day and will constantly strive to be the best possible version of themselves in and out of the water.  Last but absolutely not least I want our swimmers to enjoy the sport of swimming.

ASSISTANT COACHES

Jon Bob Telgenhof

My swimming adventures started when I was 8 years old when my parents put a pool in our backyard. I cried all summer because I didn’t know how to swim.  One day I fell off a raft and swam to the side.  I never really stopped swimming after that.

I swam competitively from middle through high school at West Ottawa and with WMS in the summers. After a few short semesters of college swimming at Campbellsville University in Kentucky I hung up the speedo for a while to travel.

Swimming would always be a part of my life no matter where I was.  Whether it was surfing in San Diego or open water swimming wherever I could find a lake or ocean. I always found a home near water.

After swimming just for fun or fitness for almost two decades, I decided to take it to the next level and signed up to swim around Mackinac Island.  That’s when I met Jon Vos who introduced me to Drew. They thought I was so awesome they hired me to help with WMS! (or something like that LOL!)  I still enjoy swimming competitively at a master’s level and do open water swims whenever the weather allows.  I feel like coaching at WMS has brought my swimming journey full circle.  It’s extremely satisfying to be able to share my love of swimming with a new generation of swimmers!

Alyssa Zapata

I started coaching in west michigan in 2017, and have coached for 2 teams before joining WMS at the end of 2019! Before that, and while coaching I have also taught swim lessons in East Grand Rapids, at the Kroc Center, and Jenison.