Dan McGuire, SMAC Head Coach (All Groups)

Contact: [email protected]

Bio: Coach Dan McGuire graduated with a BS in Spanish from the University of Mary Washington where he swam on the varsity swim team for 4 years, specializing in breaststroke and sprint freestyle.

Dan grew up in Fairfax, VA where he swam for both the NCAP and Machine Aquatics club teams. During the summers he swam in the NVSL for Fairfax Club Estates, where he also became the head coach for 5 years. After his college swimming years, he became involved in USMS swimming for both L4 and Alexandria Masters.

Dan also spent a year and a half teaching English in Thailand. When he returned to the US he became a private swim instructor during the day at Swimbox in Fairfax, VA where, over four years, he specialized in rehabilitating injured swimmers and helping individuals improve their swim technique to avoid injury.

Prior to joining SMAC, Dan coached at NCAP in Arlington, VA (a top swim program in the US) working as the Senior Head Coach. He was also the Head Coach of the Meridian High School Swim Team and the Head Coach of the Chesterbrook Swimming summer team. Along with being talented as a swim coach, Dan is also bilingual in English and Spanish. He spends his weekends playing video games, hiking, and playing with his cats. Dan is looking forward to continuing to call WNC home as he uses his enthusiasm and skill to continue to build a great swimming program at SMAC. This will be Dan’s second year as Head Coach of SMAC.

Sydney McGuire, SMAC Assistant Coach (Stroke School Swimmers)

Contact: [email protected]

Bio: Sydney is a lifelong swimmer and record holder as a freestyle and butterfly sprinter at George Mason University where she graduated with a BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. As a senior in college, she also earned her place competing in the 2016 Olympic Trials in the 50M freestyle.

Sydney has been teaching both private and group swim lessons for 11 years and has been a club coach for 7 years. She was a private instructor at Swimbox in Fairfax, VA for the 5 years where she worked with adult learn-to-swim beginners, recreational swimmers, & club team swimmers and developed an expertise in rehabilitating injured swimmers. Sydney is passionate about helping novice to elite swimmers develop proper stroke techniques in order to prevent injury.

Sydney has been a coach for the George Mason University Makos and was the Head Coach for a summer swim team for 6 years. Prior to joining SMAC, she was the Head Coach of Stroke School for 2 years at NCAP Dulles South where she focused on teaching children and teenagers proper stroke mechanics and building strength and endurance in the water. This will be Sydney’s second year as an assistant with SMAC.

Lee Ann Davis, SMAC Assistant Coach (Bronze Swimmers)

Contact: [email protected]

Bio: A native of Haywood County, Lee Ann began her swimming career as a sneaky 6 year old, hiding whenever she had to compete in her first year, but things changed as time passed. Lee Ann returned to the chilly waters of the now long-forgotten Waynesville swimming pool the following summer to give the sport another try.

Swimming remained a positive part of Lee Ann’s life and she was one of the original members of SMAC! As a teenager, she was still figuring out the role swimming would play in her life and endeavored in other pursuits, only to always return to the pool. She regained an interest in the sport when Bob (the second) became head coach and she gave a tearful goodbye to Bob (the first). Although she decided to compete solely for Tuscola her senior year of high school, SMAC still held a spot in her heart. Lee Ann competed for Tuscola for all 4 years until she went off to explore what High Point University had to offer.

In college, Lee Ann swam for the University club team, even managing to host practices each night and organize swim meets. After college, she had the opportunity to assist with Tuscola High School swimming and enjoyed working with teenage athletes again. It is her pleasure to give back to the sport that developed her character and appreciation for competitive sports and see what new things she’ll pick up being back at the pool again!

Cora Dodson, SMAC Assistant Coach (Gold, Stroke School Swimmers)

Contact: [email protected]

Bio: Coach Cora grew up in Waynesville and started swimming for SMAC when she was 8. She graduated from Tuscola in 2016 and went on to pursue a B.S. in Exercise Science at Lenoir-Rhyne University, where she was a member of the women's swim team for four years. During her summers, Coach Cora worked as an assistant coach with Summer SMAC, and then later as the head coach for the West Asheville Waves. After graduating with her B.S. in 2020, Coach Cora worked as an assistant coach for Blues Aquatics for a year. While there, she was primarily responsible for their age group swimmers.

For the past two years, she has been at Georgia Southern University working on her master's in Sport Psychology. While at Georgia Southern, Coach Cora worked with several NCAA Division I athletes on mental elements of their performance. Additionally, she worked with many teams on developing team culture, cohesion, and other team processes. As part of her assistantship at Georgia Southern, Cora taught swimming courses to undergraduate students. Some of Cora's favorite things to do are make pottery, play her instruments (you'll have to ask her to learn how many she plays...), read, and practice her French.

SMAC's Board of Directors

John Ammons, Board Chair

Judy Gibson, Vice Chair

Lee Ann Davis, Secretary

Chad Carver, Treasurer

Jamie Combs

Alysia Wilkinson

Mary Mason

Dan McGuire

Smoky Mountain Swim Team, Inc. d/b/a/ Smoky Mountain Aquatic Club is an exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; EIN 25-1925123.  The non-profit is managed by a board of 7 parent-volunteers and the head coach.