Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club (SMAC) is a year round team based out of Waynesboro, Fishersville and Crozet. SMAC Swimming is an independent Coach managed swim team which is supported by SMAC Boosters, Inc. a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.
Our Mission
Building an environment where swimmers can achieve excellence. SMAC aims to teach swimmers of all ages and abilities the core values necessary to achieve greatness at the highest level in and out of the pool, both as a team and individually in a safe, competitive environment.
- Our program is committed to:
- Recruiting highly motivated coaches and volunteers who share our vision.
- Providing proper training to our coaches, staff, and volunteers so that a safe environment for the athletes is always maintained.
- Providing swimmers with a safe abuse free environment.
- Provide swimmers with the highest quality coaching possible.
- Recognize each individual (swimmer, coach, parent, volunteer, official) and the role they play in the success of our organization and athletes.
- Teach ideals, life skills, and values useful outside of the pool in everyday life.
- Encourage and provide the safest and best environment for swimmers to strive for their own ultimate excellence.
Core Values
- We are processed based, and performance driven, not the other way around.
- Short term goals and achievement are important, but the long-term development of the person and the athlete always come first.
- A Commitment to Excellence - Individual and Team excellence is important. We encourage the setting of extremely ambitious goals (short term and long term).
- Hard Work –With the setting of ambitious goals must come a knowledge of the work needed to reach those levels.
- Time Management - With increased practice attendance comes the need to properly budget time daily, weekly, and monthly.
- Educationally Based and Ethical Program.
- Everlasting – We aim to keep the program around long after the youngest swimmer on this team graduates from high school.
The Team and The Program - No individual will ever be put ahead of the best interest of the program or the team as a whole.
HONOR YOUR TEAM WITH YOUR ATTITUDE AND EFFORT
Our History
SMAC has been serving the Waynesboro community since 1958. SMAC was a YMCA managed swim team until the pandemic in 2019. Since 2019 SMAC has been a Coach operated team serving the Waynesboro and Crozet communities. SMAC has achieved success at the highest level of swimming. SMAC has been a Silver Medal USA Swimming recognized Team. SMAC has had Junior National, Senior National and Olympic Trial qualifiers throughout our history. SMAC has had numerous swimmers go on to swim in College and become Collegiate All Americans. Many SMAC swimmers who swam in College became Captains of their Collegiate Teams.
Coaching Staff
Robert Rule
Head Coach
Rob spent many years as an Age Group Coach for SMAC, and has coached numerous swimmers and relays to top 8 finishes at Age Group Champs. Several of his swimmers have won at age group champs and he has sent numerous swimmers to Eastern Zones. In the past two years under Robs leadership SMAC has broken 28 Team Records. Rob was instrumental in starting the first high school swim program in Augusta County where he served as Head Coach of Wilson Memorial High School for 3 years. Rob's daughters, Remedy and Brazil swam for SMAC, WAHS (5 consecutive State Championships), Texas and UCONN. Both were nominated as Team Captians for their collegiate teams. Rob has a BS Degree in Chemistry from William and Mary.
Brad Boelter
Lead Senior Coach:
Coach Brad's attachment to water began at an early age, swimming AAU in Upstate New York for the Saratoga Tigers. He moved to Massachusetts and then New Jersey, where he continued with competitive swimming through High School.
After graduating from Kenyon College, Brad began his teaching and coaching vareer in New Mexico at St. Francis Cathedral School. He also taught and coached in Michigan at Cranbrook-Kingswood, and also coached at the Birmingham Athletic Club. Brad moved to Virginia to continue his teaching and coaching career, and began coaching with Winchester Swim Team in 2005. He later joined Valley Swim Team Phoenix in Strasburg, Va as an Age-Group coach, eventually moving up to be Head Coach until 2009. He gave up the Head Coaching position at VSTP to focus on teaching and being Head Coach at Wakefield Country High School. The call of the water was too strong, and Brad rejoined VSTP as Head Coach for the '14-'15 season. That year he had swimmers qualify for Age-Group Champs, Senior Champs, Eastern Zones and Sectionals. He moved to Michigan to be closer to family and became Head of for the Allegan Tigershark Aquatic Club. The pull to build competitive swimming in southwestern Michigan was a major reason for taking the position at ATAC. The position led to an opportunity to work with the Portage Aquatic Club, which became the Greater Kalamazoo Crocs. Brad worked primarily with the Age Group program and coached several swimmers to top 8 finishes at Age Group Champs.
Assistant Age Group Coach
Coach Nellie Murphy will be joining the SMAC staff after spending the summer training with us. Coach Nellie grew up swimming with the NVSL in Northern Virginia where she swam throughout high school. She moved to Wisconsin in 1998 and lived there for 25 years. During her time in Wisconsin, she was a volunteer coach for her twin daughters Club swim team. During covid she continued to coach her daughter who had a scholarship to swim with Ohio University as a D1 swimmer. Nellie enjoys helping young swimmers learn and grow in their abilities and love of this sport, so they too can make swimming a sport they can enjoy for life. She’s excited to be working with SMAC! Outside of coaching Nellie bakes and sells sourdough bread from her home and enjoys volunteering. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors, swimming and gardening, as well as doing home projects with her husband Paul. They have 8 children and 17 grandchildren.
Rachael King
Assistant Age group Coach
Rachael began swimming in her grandparent’s backyard pool then started swimming on her local summer team then began year-round swimming on Regency Park Swim Team. She swam all through High School and swam at Bridgewater College. She swam the 100 Fly, 200 Fly 200 IM and 400 IM at Bridgewater. She has a BS Degree Health and Exercise Science from Bridgewater. She has been Head Coach and an Assistant Coach of Summer Swim Teams in Fredericksburg, VA. Rachael is continuing work to complete her Doctorate Degree in Occupational Therapy at Mary Baldwin University. She is excited to be back with SMAC this Fall.
Contact Information
Coach Brad
Coach Stephanie
Coach Rob
