Coaches and Directors
Dave is the Head Coach of YNS and has been with YNS since the Fall of 2021. He originally joined the team as the Associate Head coach for our Marblehead site, but quickly filled the role of our vacant Head Coach position in the Spring of 2022. Dave is the primary Coach for the 13/Over Swimmers at our Beverly Branch, as well as oversees the Competitive Aquatics program.
Dave is also currently a Level 3 US Paralympic Certified Coach and Member of the Team USA National Coaching Staff for US Paralympic Swimming. Dave is currently coaching local Paralympic Medalist, Leanne Smith. Dave has been on many domestic and international trips with Team USA including: World Championships in Manchester UK, ParaPan Am Championships in Santiago Chile, US National Championships, the US Para World Series, & multiple trips to the USOPC for National Team Training Camps,
Dave has experienced coaching success at numerous levels, including coaching future Olympic Medalists, a Paralympic Medalist, multiple Olympic Trial Qualifiers, YMCA National Champions & Qualifiers, Futures Qualifiers, Zone Champions & Qualifiers, and Age Group High Point Champions. Dave also coached at the HS level and acheived 3 State Championships and 1 State Open Championship where he coached 10 State Champions, 3 State Relay Champions, and 4 All-American Swimmers.
Dave has also been involved in local swimming governance throughout his coaching career. In New England, Dave is on mulitple Governance Committees, as well as serving the role of Disability Coordinator for the LSC. Dave is also the YMCA Regional Representative for the entirety of New England YMCA's. In CT, Dave was the Head Coach & 10/Under Coach of the CT Zone Team, he was a member of the CT Swimming Board of Directors from 2013-2020 as the Junior/Senior Coaches Representative and the Age Group Committee Chair.
Dave came to YNS with multiple levels of competitive swimming athletic and coaching experience at all levels. He started his swimming career as an 8/Under in Newtown, CT for their Summer League Swim Team, swam for the Newtown HS, and at the club level for the University of CT where he earned his Bachelors Degree. Dave started his Swim Coaching Career as an Assistant Coach, and quickly moved up the coaching ranks to become the Head Developmental Coach of the Wilton YMCA Wahoos, then the Head Age Group Coach of the Cheshire YMCA Sea Dogs & Head Coach of the Cheshire Rams Girls HS Swim Team, to his Head Coach position now with YNS. Coaching has been a passion for Dave since he started teaching swim lessons when he was 16 years old.
Dave currently resides in Beverly with his adopted rescue dog, Penny.
Jack is the Associate Head Coach and Lead Site Coach at LVO in Marblehead. He joined the Sharks in August 2022.
Jack joins us from the Greater Des Moines YMCA (DSMY) Marlins where he was a part of their inaugural team and began his coaching career. Jack served as the Head Coach for their West Des Moines Age Group site and was an assistant for the Travel Team.
In his coaching career, he has had the opportunity to work with Junior National Qualifiers, Futures Qualifiers, YMCA National Qualifiers, Zone Qualifiers and Champions, and Age Group Qualifiers and Champions. In his final season with the Marlins, their Senior swimmers won the Iowa LSC Senior Championship and the 8&Unders won their LSC Championship. In his 2 years with the Sharks, he has had first time qualifiers at all levels of New England LSC and YMCA Championships and Futures.
Jack began swimming competitively at the age of 7 in Des Moines and has been in the pool or on the deck since. When he was 15, he began teaching private swim lessons as well as began serving as an Athlete Representative for the Iowa LSC. He became interested in getting swimmers involved with the sport and learning more about developmental swimming. In the subsequent years, he would begin teaching lessons at the Y, supervise and teach lessons for the City of Des Moines, and begin coaching.
After high school, Jack moved to western Pennsylvania and attended Allegheny College where he swam and earned his Bachelor’s Degree. During his time with the Gators he earned NCAC Academic Honors and was a conference finalist in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 back. He also enjoyed volunteering at their on-campus coffee shop and serving in various leadership positions in his service fraternity.
In his freetime, Jack enjoys spending time with his friends and family, exploring the surrounding area, and going to the beach.
Coach Garrett Hoce joined YNS in May 2023. He is the Lead Site Coach at Ipswich. He is looking forward to helping swimmers reach their goals!
Garrett joins us from the Palm Harbor YMCA Piranhas where he was an assistant coach. There he coached many different levels of swimmers, from Futures Qualifers, YMCA Nationals Qualifers and Age Group Champions to the developmental level. He was also in charge of the Senior groups dryland workouts and believes that it can be a helpful tool for progress in the pool.
Garrett started swimming competitively at age 9 and has swam in a couple of different states due to moving around as a kid. He was a Junior National level qualifer in multiple events and as a team captain helped lead his high school team in Florida to a State Championship. He swam in college at the University of Iowa.
Gina is excited to return as Lead Site Coach for Salem. Gina was a competitive swimmer in Florida starting at age 6 and began coaching at 15. She attended FSU and USF. She has a BA in Humanities with a concentration in Renaissance Art History. Gina has been in the fitness industry for nearly 20 years and has coached throughout that time. She is a certified BASI Pilates instructor, Hatha Yoga instructor, barre instructor, and more. Gina and the rest of the YNS staff is excited to see Gina focused on building the Salem site and sharing her passion for swimming and fitness.
Coach Garreth is the Assistant Site Coach at Ipswich. Garreth comes to us from Raleigh North Carolina where he was the head coach of his childhood summer league team.
Garreth began swimming competitively at age 13 for the Marlins of Raleigh. He qualified for Futures both his junior and senior year of highschool.
Garreth also swam in college for the Providence Friars.
Simon is the Assistant Lead Site Coach at LVO in Marblehead. He began coaching with YNS in October 2025.
Simon grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and spent most of his childhood traveling, playing video games, and hanging out at the pool. Simon joined Central Iowa Aquatics in 2013 at the age of 13. He discovered his passion for the sport soon thereafter, quickly finding competitive success in his first year. During his competitive career, Simon won the 200-meter butterfly four times at Iowa’s long course state championships and retired from competition in March of 2020. Since retiring, Simon has stayed around the water and continues to appreciate the physical and cognitive benefits of training.
Academically, Simon earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts at Des Moines Area Community College in 2022 and a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Iowa in 2024. Upon graduating from the University of Iowa, Simon stayed in Iowa City, where he worked as a lifeguard, psychiatric nursing assistant, and lead swim coach for the Iowa Flyers swim club. Fittingly, Simon discovered his passion for coaching and mentoring youth at the birthplace of the butterfly stroke and has remained involved with the sport since then.
In his free time, Simon enjoys spending time outdoors, working out, and driving his car.
Dede Atwood joined the YNS coaching staff in 2016 and assists with the Age Group Elite, High School, Pre-National, and National groups. Dede is a Southern California native and moved to New England in 2005. She swam for Industry Hills Aquatics Club for thirteen years specializing in Backstroke, Butterfly, and IM. She was ranked Top 16 in the nation at 10 in Backstroke. She had no intentions of swimming in college but ended up swimming and playing water polo for Whittier College. Dede held multiple school records, placed 3rd in the 100 Backstroke in her conference, was awarded Female Individual Athlete of the Year, and made Second Team all SCIAC in water polo. She is an active member of the YNS Masters swim team and her daughter, Karli, is a swimmer in the Mako Shark group. Dede works in Boston as a Financial Investigator and lives in Beverly with her husband Kevin and daughter Karli. She is excited to coach with YNS and share her love and passion for swimming, this position “feeds” her soul.
Laura joined YNS at the start of 2018, after taking a year away from the pool. During her time with YNS she has worked with all age groups. Laura’s favorite part of the coaching is integrating the principles of training with the mental side of competition.
She previously served as the Assistant Director of Competitive Swimming for the South Shore YMCA Strypers. Laura worked with swimmers of all ages during her time there but spent the majority of her time on deck coaching the Senior/National level swimmers. During her time the group produced several NE Record Holders, Junior National Qualifiers and numerous Sectional and YMCA National Qualifiers. In 2016 short course season the team won the YMCA New England Championship Meet. Throughout her time with the team Laura was able to learn a great deal about stroke development and technique as well as various training methodologies. The team also implemented a new dryland program that emphasized functional training, coordination and mastering the basics. She was fortunate to be exposed to many aspects of the sport and coaching, as well as the many pieces that go into the administrative side of running a YMCA team.
Laura grew up swimming on the South Shore. She finished her age group career with Kingfish Swimming & her high school team in Pembroke, MA before going on to swim 4 years at Gordon College while earning a degree in psychology. In 2017 she return to the North Shore to pursue her Masters of Education in Moderate Disabilities at Gordon. She currently works as an Inclusion Teacher for the Lynn Public Schools and is working on an Educational Specialist degree in Reading.
Susan is in her 37th year as a lead site coach of the Marblehead Group. She is also in her 30th year as the Head Coach of the Marblehead High School swim team. Susan has an impressive record with both the high school and YMCA teams. Her high school team was runner-up at the 1998 girls N. Sectional championships, placed third at the State Championships that year. Placed third in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Marblehead has won 18 plus Northeast Conference Meet titles. In 2011, her girls won the Division II State Championship with only 7 girls. This was the highlight of her high school swimming career.
Susan is in her 47th year teaching at the YMCA; 23 of those years she was also the Aquatic Director. She has won two Eastern Mass YMCA District Division II titles and an overall girl’s team championship in 1992. In 1990, the Marblehead 9 & 10 Girls won the YMCA New England Championship. In 1995, Susan had a group of nine swimmers qualify for the LC National Championships (her first qualifiers). She has had two swimmers qualify for the SC Nationals and 21 for the LC Nationals as well as four All-American. Susan graduated from Salem State College in 1992 Suma Cum Laude with a degree in Aquatic Management and Biology. She is a Level 3 ASCA recognized coach. Susan holds a top 10 time as a swimmer in the 100 Back and 1650 Free for NE Master's Swimming. She also set the record, for her age group, in the 200m Backstroke at the Bay State Summer Games in 2006 and came in second in 2007.
Jen taught herself to swim at age 5 on a beach in Cape Ann, graduated from Marblehead High School, where she is an assistant Swim Team Coach. Jennifer earned her BA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and her Masters in Classical Archaeology from the University of Texas at Austin. She led an excavation of the first of 12 tombs discovered in an old olive grove/new lettuce patch which turned out to be the ancient Necropolis of Metapontion (Greek) Metapontum (Latin) in Southern Italy. She was also fortunate to be one of 5 crew on a Swan 56 sailboat crossing from Antigua, in the West Indies, to Pula, in Croatia.
Jen has three children, a daughter who graduated with Masters degrees in Architecture from Harvard in 2021, and twins, a daughter who graduated with a BS in Geology from UMass, Amherst, 2020, and a son working in Marblehead.
Jen graduated with honors as a Certified Paralegal at North Shore Community College in January, 2018 and is interested in policies directed towards healthy swimming on Nahant, Lynn, Swampscott and Marblehead beaches.
