Coaches and Directors

Coaches and Directors
Coaching Staff
Mathew O'Brien Program Director/Head Coach - Medford

Mathew grew up swimming for NSSC and Lexington High School where he won 2 State Championships and multiple All-Scholastic Honors. He attended and swam for Indiana University where he was also an assistant coach for the Bloomington Swim Club. Mathew competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 100 Butterfly. Mathew brings over 10 years of coaching experience and personal training to the role of Program Director. He has coached all levels of children and understands the progression from age group to Senior level swimming. Coach Mat will continue to bring his knowledge and love of swimming to the next generation of swimmers. His new goal is to develop the program to help children grow and reach their full potential, not only as swimmers, but as positive, productive people.

Phone Number: (781) 264-1017

Amy Murphy Program Administrator

Amy has been a part of North Shore Swim Club since she was 6 years old. She swam with NSSC through her time at Lexington High School and continued to swim at The University of Tampa. She swam her way to nationals and received multiple All Scholastic Awards. When school ended, so did swimming. Soon after school she found boxing and is now a certified personal trainer and boxing coach. She had the opportunity to come back to North Shore Swim Club as a program administrator, she is excited to be back in the world of swimming.

(781) 264-1018

Dave Martin Program Head Coach

Dave Martin, Associate Head Coach. Prior to joining the North Shore Swim Club, Dave was head coach of the Potomac Raiders & Chesapeake Bay Swim Teams in LaPlata, Maryland. Over his six years in Maryland he coached numerous State Champions, Eastern Zone finalists and several Sectional qualifiers. He graduated from The University of Pittsburgh, where he swam distance freestyle. Before coaching in Maryland, Dave coached Upper St. Clair High School and other USS programs in the Pittsburgh area. As a Facility Head Coach Dave will continue to work toward his goal of developing each swimmer to his or her fullest potential.

Phone number: (978) 866-3387

Heather Karp Head Coach - SJP

Heather began her teaching & coaching career at the YMCA. She joined NSSC over 15 years ago. She also has experience coaching for SJP High School Team and the Hamilton Wenham Summer Team. She is a mom of two girls and works full time for Landmark School in Beverly, however the pool holds a special place in her heart. She can typically be found on the SJP pool deck with her oldest daughter Lily.  Heather is excited to bring her knowledge and excitement to the Head Facility Coach role! 

Maureen Cownie Head Coach - Lexington
I have been passionate about water my entire life, having grown up by the ocean in New Jersey. After starting a family, I began teaching swimming lessons, which eventually led me to coaching. Over the past 19 years at the Beede Center in Concord, I have worked with swimmers of all ages, coaching high school preseason teams, Masters swimmers, and the Concord Otters Swim Team, where I served as head coach for the last eight years. My focus is on developing strong skills, motivating swimmers to achieve their goals, and promoting teamwork both in and out of the water.
Rebecca Burrell Head Coach - Newburyport YWCA

There’s no place Coach Rebecca is happier than on a pool deck. She joined the NSSC staff in 2023 at the Newburyport and SJP sites, and also serves as the head coach for the Triton High Co-Op team, where she was honored to be named Coach of the Year for the Cape Ann League the past two seasons. She was formerly with YNS, and also an assistant coach at WPI from 1996-2000, where she swam collegiately from 1992-1996. She’s a Level 3 ASCA coach (Educational road), with one Triton swimmer qualifying for YMCA Nationals and many others reaching State and Sectional cut times, in addition to resetting all but two of the boy’s school records during her tenure. She has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and M.E. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, also from WPI. She formerly swam with Cambridge Masters Swim Club (now Charles River Aquatics). Her overall focus as coach is to help swimmers gain the same life-long love of the sport that she was lucky enough to receive from her own coaches over the years!

Gabriella Marchese Head Coach - Gordon College

Gabi began swimming at Melrose YMCA at the age of 6 before joining North Shore Swim Club at the age of 9. She swam for NSSC until she was 18, dueling her middle and high school years for St. Mary’s Lynn High School swim team. She competed in both Sectional and States for a majority of those years along with receiving multiple All Star Conference Awards. She got a scholarship to swim for Merrimack College, but had to stop due to injury. However, she completed her years at Merrimack and is now a licensed elementary school teacher. She had the opportunity to rejoin the North Shore Swim Club community starting at St. John’s Prep, but is now transferring to Gordon College. She loves being able to refuel her love of swimming as a coach and help her swimmers succeed. 

Brooke O'Connor Head Coach - Shawsheen Tech

Growing up on Long Island Sound in CT, water and swimming has always been a part of my life. I became a lifeguard in high school, but played all the dryland team sports growing up.  I discovered the swim team at WPI freshman year to start my competitive swim career, and even raced alongside Coach Rebecca.  After graduation, I joined the Masters swim team at the North Suburban YMCA, and have been training and competing with them ever since.  Along the way, I helped coach the YMCA Vikings age group team, and then went on to coach the Billerica Boys & Girls Club Sea Wolves for 3 years, and am now currently the Head Coach for the Billerica High School swim & dive team.  I love both pool and open water swimming, and am lucky enough to have a daughter who has followed in my competitive swimming ways.

Amy Boyden Assistant Coach - SJP

Swimming is Amy‘s life. With over 25 years as a competitor and coach, Amy brings unprecedented expertise and high expectations to the sport. In her 18 years as a coach, 15 spent at Matignon High School in Cambridge, and currently the coach at Manchester Essex Regional High School, Amy challenges her swimmers in and out of the pool. The best part? They respond! Amy’s Matignon team brought home the first ever MIAA sportsmanship Award in the school’s history. Amy is ready to not only train you to be the best swimmer you can be, but be the best person you can be.
 

Chelsea Claggett Assistant Coach - Lexington/Hanscom

Coach Chelsea is a former swimmer at Concord-Carlisle High School and continued to compete at the collegiate level at Colby-Sawyer College. She later transferred to Fitchburg State University where she obtained her Bachelor's in Exercise and Sports Science with a minor in psychology. She is currently working on her Masters' in education and strength and conditioning certification with a couple of other degrees to follow, one in sports coaching, and one in psychology. She swam competitively for roughly 15 years with USA Swimming and finished her competitive career with North Shore Swim Club. She has been with NSSC as a swimmer and now a coach for over 10 years. She is also a lifeguard, water safety instructor, and certified pool operator. Chelsea lifeguards at Hanscom Pool. Outside of aquatics, Chelsea enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with family and friends. She is very fond of animals (especially cats and dogs) even though her family does not have any pets.

Jeffrey Fiore Assistant Coach - SJP

Coach Jeff grew up in Peabody, MA spending a lot of time in the pool and started to swim competitively for NSSC at age 11. In High School, Jeff competed for St. John's Prep under Coach Tony and won three MIAA Division I State Championships. Coach Jeff went on to swim for University of Tampa and was an NCAA Division II National Qualifier in the 100 Free, 200 Free and 200 IM, and a member of All American 200 and 400 Free Relays. In addition to coaching for NSSC, Jeff is the Aquatics Coordinator at St. John's Prep and going into his second year as the Head Coach of Water Polo and the State Champion Swim/Dive program.

Missie Bankes Assistant Coach - SJP

Missie began her competitive swimming as one of Coach Dan Warner’s first swimmers at the Cape Ann YMCA back in 1978. She was the backstroker in the 400 meter medley relay that broke the New England 13-14 age group record. She was the first swimmer to represent Gloucester High School and then headed to Boston College. Missie coached at North Andover YMCA for several years and is currently in her fourth season as the Assistant Coach for Merrimack College Women’s swimming.
Aside from coaching, Missie continues to train and compete as a Masters level swimmer. Her two children, Peter and Jennie, are Division 1 collegiate swimmers. Peter is a senior at Boston College and Jennie is a junior at Providence College  

Haidinh Phan Assistant Coach - Medford
Jelena Djuragic Assistant Coach - Medford
Mackenzie Day Assistant Coach - Medford
Sophia Lumino Assistant Coach - SJP
Eleanor Hill Assistant Coach - Lexington
Madelin Svetin Assistant Coach - Medford
Craig Vitale Assistant Coach - Lexington
Mike Ward Assistant Coach - Hanscom
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