TEAM PHOTO 

 

FACTS ABOUT SOLO

  • SOLO is a 501(c)3 non-profit aquatics organization serving Menlo Park and its surrounding communities for over 30 Years.
  • SOLO is a member of USA Swimming and has been since its founding.
  • SOLO is proud to have swimmers competing at the local, regional and national level.
  • SOLO has over 100 year round swimmers, ages 3-18.  Our swimmers have all levels of skill: from just begining to swim to those competing in the Junior Olympics.
  • SOLO’s goal is to meet the needs of all levels of competitive swimming.  Our goal is to promote personal excellence through the healthy and positive experience of swimming.
  • SOLO's goal is to provide a safe and healthy environment in which swimmers learn not only outstanding technique, but also life skills, including self-discipline, dedication, loyalty, respect, goal setting, time management, personal success, and overcoming setbacks effectively.  Moreover, SOLO teaches swimmers to truly love the sport.   To SOLO, every individual who works and strives for personal excellence is a champion.

TEAM RECORDS: Top Athlete Times 

MEMBER PROFILES:  Reflections From A Few SOLO Alum

Sarah Winters

 

COACHING STAFF

 

Tom McRae

Head Coach

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Coach Tom graduated from Ohio State University with a Physical Education degree specializing in developmental motor patterns in children. He was Assistant Coach for the Ohio State Women’s Swim Team in 1988-90, and Assistant Coach for the Stanford Women’s Swim Team in 1990-91. Coach Tom has worked with several 1992 & 1996 Olympic medalists from Stanford, and coached swimmers from the Mexican National Team for the 2000 Olympic Games. He is a Certified Level 4 member of American Swimming Coaches Association.

In 1990 he started as an Age Group Coach for SOLO, and became the Head Coach in 1992. Unlike many other Head Coaches, Coach Tom works with all levels of swimmers. His daily activities included being in the water teaching the youngest swimmers, helping Age Group swimmers with their strokes, and running practices for National level swimmers.

Coach Tom was also the Head Coach for Menlo-Atherton High School’s swim team from 2000-11. While at the high school the student athlete numbers grew in size to over 125 and amazing improvements were enjoyed by all who participated. All students were welcomed into the program and many individuals shared in PAL League Championships and over 75 team records. Including swimmers capturing CCS Titles achieving All-American status.

Following his older brothers to the pool put Tom on his first swim team at the age of four. As a high school swimmer things really took off as a member of the Greater Columbus Swim Team. He was a walk-on swimmer at Ohio State as a freshman, which led to coaching the sport. As a masters swimmer Coach Tom broke the World Record in the February Fitness competition in 1995 and again in 1996 swimming over 725,000 yards in a month. The purpose of this exercise was to show the swimmers that if they wanted to achieve success, they needed to work toward a goal. For Tom that turned out to be 25,000 yards per day, which took seven hours. He now enjoys a daily mile or two before practice leading by example!


Robert Peck

Coach

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Coach Bobby joined SOLO Aquatics in early 2010, and absolutely loves it. His goal is to teach swimming technique to swimmers of all ages, and to ensure they have fun along the way. Enjoying swimming at an early age is the best way to create a lifelong love for the water.

Coach Bobby grew up in Palo Alto, and started swimming before he could walk. He joined the Eichler Gators summer league team at age 4, and enjoyed it so much that he spent the next 15 years there, even coming back from college to swim and help out the team. He was on the GUNN High School water polo and swim teams, competing in every event, especially the 50 and 100 Butterfly, and the 100 and 200 IM.

Coach Bobby started teaching swim lessons in high school, working for the City of Palo Alto as a lifeguard, and again in 2009 for Menlo Swim and Sport. He met Coach Sean while working at the Palo Alto JCC, and Sean brought him to SOLO. He graduated from UC Davis in 2008 with a B.S. in Medical Microbiology, but discovered upon graduation that he had a stronger passion for connecting with children than exploring the physical sciences. He loves passing on his swimming knowledge to children, and making the learning process a fun and exciting experience.