About Our Coaching Team
Remix Artistic Swimming Club realizes the importance of having quality coaches that can deliver our programming and have an impact at the different stages of our athlete's development, so we invest heavily on the recruitment and training of new and experienced coaches, providing them with a solid platform for their development. Remix has coaches with International, National, Provincial, and Recreational artistic swimming qualifications as well as many that have Swim Instructors and/or Gymnastics qualifications. We are proud that many of our coaches work within the education and recreation fields outside of the club bringing a unique lens to our coaching.
If you are interested in joining our coaching team please send a copy of your resume and cover letter to [email protected].
Meet Our 2023-2024 Coaching Staff
Alex Harder
Amy Armstrong
Outside of the pool, Amy is working towards completing her final semester of the Interior Design program at Sheridan College. Prior to this, Amy completed her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from McMaster University.
As a former athlete, Amy has always valued the lifelong experiences, friendships, and opportunities the sport has offered her over the years. As a coach, she strives to help current and future athletes have a positive and impactful sport experience. Amy believes that Artistic Swimming can teach so much more than just the athletic and sport specific skills, and believes in the importance of using sport to teach and facilitate lifelong skills. She hopes to support athletes in developing perseverance, adaptability, and a collaborative mindset to work as a team. Amy is committed to creating a positive and safe environment where each athlete feels valued, challenged, and supported in developing success within and outside of sport.
Clare McCrea
Clare McCrea has been working as a support coach for artistic swimmers for three years. Clare started her coaching journey in 1994, as a Rhythmic Gymnastics Coach and Choreographer. She has coached rhythmic gymnastics athletes at recreational, provincial and national levels, with a passion for music, movement, rhythm and artistic expression. Clare was a former Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team Athlete (1990 - 1994). She was a member of Canada’s Olympic Pool Training Team in 1992, and has had the opportunity to represent Canada internationally. Clare is an experienced Rhythmic Gymnastics Provincial and National Level 1Judge in Canada. Clare is thrilled to contribute her knowledge and skills as a flexibility and gymnastics coach with the Remix Coaching Team.
Clare is an educator with the Toronto District School Board. She holds an Hon BA and BEd. Her additional qualifications include a Specialist in Reading and Specialist in Special Education. Clare also has extensive training in music, dance and drama. She enjoys choreographing for School Musicals (e.g., The Music Man, James and the Giant Peach, Mulan, Alice in Wonderland), and regularly coaches a variety of sports at the school level.
Clare believes that sport is simply a vehicle through which to learn life long skills and develop who you are as a person. Clare hopes to inspire each athlete to be open to learn, take risks and believe in themselves. Clare has confidence that if you give athletes respect, responsibility and opportunity they will rise beyond what you thought possible.
Debra Thomson
Debra is a level 2 Judge and has been involved for over 25 years at this level. There have been many great moments through the years, with swimmers Debra has assisted in coaching who have made it to the Olympic team as well as seeing Variety Village’s 11-12 and 13-15 teams win at the National level. Debra enjoys working with her favourite artist who designs spectacular routine suits, bringing them to life for the swimmers and audience to enjoy.
Outside of Synchro Debra is a full time Sales Rep, Cloud & Cognitive Subscription Annuity with IBM Canada and celebrating her 25th year with IBM.
Outside of the pool, Jaiden is a third year undergraduate student in the co-operative specialist molecular biology and biotechnology program at the university of Toronto. Currently she is on her work term, working full time at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre as a biospecimen technician.
As a former member of the senior national Canadian artistic swimming team Jaiden believes that the training environment has a huge impact on performance. She aims to create a fun and encouraging environment that motivates swimmers to push themselves to the max while strengthening their love for the sport.
Jennifer Koptie
As an educator and administrator, Jennifer holds an honours BA with a major in Psychology as well as a BEd. She has taught students from kindergarten to Grade 8 and holds Specialist Additional Qualifications in both Special Education and Teaching Leadership.
Jennifer has joined Remix Artistic Swimming Club as a contributing team member of a shared leadership model, with the hope of creating change within the sport. Building inclusive programming and creating conditions where all athletes and families can experience and benefit from all that artistic swimming has to offer.
Jennifer believes in a collaborative service model to support athletes and that by building capacity in the areas of strong instructional pedagogy, commitment to descriptive feedback, as well as intentional and equitable programming, Remix can lead the way to inclusion excellence.
Katie Allaire
Katie is currently completing her BA in Child and Youth Studies as well as a BEd at Brock University. Through her degree she has completed placements and done volunteer work with YRDSB, the DSBN, and Bloorview School Authority. Katie also works as an Inclusion Director at a summer camp.
As the Club Manager, Katie looks forward to connecting with families and supporting them in finding the right program for their child (or themselves!) to join the Remix family and experience the benefits of our sport and programs!
Katie believes that by using high impact instructional strategies and collaboration between coaches, athletes and families, we can create a training environment where athletes of all abilities are included in their desired capacity.
Manny Wu
Manny is a graduate of the Advanced Coaching Diploma program from the National Coaching Certification Program, and she is attending UBC for her Masters of High Performance and Technical Leadership.
As our High-Performance Program Head Coach, Manny believes in providing transformational coaching to create a positive training and learning environment for athletes to achieve their personal best and reach team goals together.
Natalie MacMillan
Natalie MacMillan has been coaching synchro for 5 years, both in Ontario and on the East coast in Halifax. She was an athlete for 10 years swimming at several clubs across Ontario. Natalie has her Competition Introduction training certification, and has coached athletes ages 10 to 18 years old, her proudest achievement is seeing her athletes improve day to day at practice, and seeing their gorgeous smiles while swimming at competitions.
Natalie has a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from University of King’s College, and works as a Proposal Writer at a recruitment firm. She believes that every athlete has a different skill set that needs an individual plan to support them, and wants every athlete to feel safe and supported while at practice and competition.
She coaches because she loves getting to know the athletes and other coaches, and working together with a team keeps her coming back year after year. She hopes that synchro can be an experience that gives athletes confidence that they can bring to every aspect of their life, for the rest of their life.
Shelby Harding
Shelby has been involved with artistic swimming as both an athlete and a coach for over 15 years. As a coach, she is both Competition Introduction & Competition Development certified, and has worked with athletes aged 5-18 ranging in level from recreational to high performance. As an athlete, Shelby competed nationally at the high performance level before retiring to pursue further academic endeavours.
Shelby also has her Bachelor of Kinesiology degree from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is a certified personal trainer. After completing her studies in Vancouver, Shelby returned to the classroom to pursue a postgraduate certificate in Human Resources. She is now a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP), and is working as a People & Talent professional in the Toronto tech and startup industry. Similar to coaching, she works with companies to develop their talent and help other professionals grow their careers!
The combination of Shelby’s professional and athletic experience gives her a unique perspective on the athlete journey. Shelby continues to uncover more parallels between the workplace and pool, and her passion for diversity, equity and inclusion in both arenas drives her continued professional development and involvement. Shelby has also made lifelong connections through artistic swimming and strives to provide the same welcoming and positive environment for future athletes and coaches to as well.
Teri Padgett
Teri Padgett has been involved in the sport of artistic swimming since 1992, as a swimmer, judge, referee and coach. She has coached from grassroots to national level swimmers of all ages including masters swimmers. To complement her NCCP artistic swimming qualifications and officials training, Teri has completed training in Mixed Abilities Sport programming and basic gymnastic training. Since Teri started swimming in 1992 she has never stopped. She continues to swim as a masters athlete to this day.
Teri is an educator with the Toronto District School Board. She has an Honours Degree in Physical and Health Education, a MSc in Exercise Science and Sports Medicine and a BEd. She has taught kindergarten to grade 8, including many years in special education and holds a specialist additional qualification in special education.
Teri believes that sport should be accessible to all. She believes that participation in sport should be for life and that a positive training environment, with collaboration and individualized programming for each athlete is important for athletes in order for them to achieve their personal best. Each athlete has their own pathway in sport and believing in your athletes and providing them with a safe, fun, nurturing and positive environment to grow and develop is key to sport longevity.
Theresa Furlonge
Theresa has been involved in sport and recreation for over 40 years, training and competing successfully at a national and international level, in both Artistic Swimming and as an adult, Marathon Running. She has been involved professionally in athlete development and club management for 28 years.
Acquiring an education in Recreation and Sport management from Vancouver Island University, aquatic certifications, which include NCCP Coaching, and Yoga Instructor certification training in India, her goal to have the education and experience to provide a full, well rounded program, was achieved.
Her passion for athletics and personal body and mind development, as it relates to sport, is understanding and recognizing awareness of potential, limitations and the power of the mind. She is task oriented, passionate about safe athletic development and continuously looking for ways to improve her skill set, as well as that of the athletes she works with.
Tory Colby
Tory Colby has been an artistic swimming coach for over 15 years. She has experience coaching all levels of club programming from Grassroots to High Performance. As the Competitive Program Head Coach, Tory works to support all athletes and coaches in reaching their personal goals and developing strong foundational skills.
Outside of the pool, Tory is a Health and Physical Education Teacher at a Toronto Private School.
