Coaches & Directors

Kevin Zacher

Head Coach--Senior 1

Email

Coach Kevin has been with Scottsdale Aquatic Club since 2002. Over the course of his time with SAC, he has coached all of the group levels, first serving as Senior Assistant Coach and Age Group 2 (Blue) Coach when he began his tenure with SAC. Following those positions, he became Head Age Group Coach in 2004 and then was named Head Coach in August 2007. While at SAC, he has coached many Scottsdale swimmers to National Top 16 recognition in their respective age groups, numerous Junior and Senior National Qualifiers as well as Olympic Trials qualifiers. He also coached the #1 Nationally Ranked 400 Medley Relay for 11-12 Girls in 2007.  oach Kevin was named the 2007 American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Arizona Age Group Coach of the Year. He is also an ASCA Level 4 certified coach.
 

Prior to Coaching at SAC, Coach Kevin was the Head Age Group Coach and Senior Assistant Coach for King Aquatic Club in Federal Way, WA for 5 years. While at KING, Coach Kevin had many National Top 16 swimmers, Junior and Senior National Qualifiers, as well as helping coach a relay foursome of 15-16 year old girls to three National Age Group Relay Records.

Coach Kevin graduated from Iowa State University in 1998, with a BS Degree in Finance. He was a four-year letterman on the men’s swim team, team captain during his senior year and is the school record holder in the 400 Individual Medley. Coach Kevin is happily married to his beautiful wife, Tere, and they have a daughter, Kori.

Click here to read Coach Kevin’s Philosophy Statement.

Rob Blundell

Head Age Group Coach--Gold/Silver

Email

Coach Rob has been with Scottsdale Aquatic Club since August, 2007.  Having completed his degree in Sports Science and Biology, Coach Rob spent two years coaching the Development & Junior County Squad at Stockport Metro Swimming Club in the U.K.. During his time as an assistant coach, Stockport Metro placed 5 swimmers on the GB 2004 Athens Olympic Team (Steve Parry placed 3rd in the 200 FLY 1:55.52, Graeme Smith 6th in the 1500 FREE 15:09.71, James Goddard etc.)

Coach Rob then spent one year lecturing at the University of Chester (Principles and Practice of Sport) and led stroke, nutrition, physiology & psychology clinics and worked on British Swimming’s World Class Start and Potential Camps.

Then,during his time as Head Age Group Coach at the UEA/City of Norwich Swimming Club, his teams placed 1^st and 2^nd in the Norfolk County Junior League, won the Eastern Junior League, and finished 5^th in the Speedo National Junior Inter-League Final both in 2004 & 2005. At the 2005 ASA British National Age Group Championships, UEA/City of Norwich won the Top Girls Club Trophy. 

While Rob was Head Coach at the City Of Peterborough Swimming Club,  they placed first in the Cambridgeshire County Cup in 2005, first in the Junior and Senior Fenland League both in 2005 & 2006 and finished 4^th in the East Midlands National Speedo League. City of Peterborough Master’s Swimmer Barb Gundred also won 4 GOLDS and 1 SILVER at the FINA World Master’s Championships. Coach Rob and his wife, Kyle, have two children, Ben and Gill. 

David Conner

Senior Coach--Senior 2

Email

Coach David has been with Scottsdale Aquatic Club since August 2002.

He is originally from the rainy state of Washington. Coach David graduated from Washington State University with a BS in Kinesiology and a minor in Health and wellness. Shortly after graduating, he started coaching for a summer swim league and King Aquatic Club in Federal Way, Washington. While at KING, Coach David worked his way up to Lead Coach at one of the satellite pools as an age group coach.

After leaving KING, Coach David moved down to sunny Scottsdale, AZ with our current Head Coach Kevin. He has coached at Scottsdale since August of 2002. During that time, Coach David has worked with all of the age groups here at Scottsdale. He is currently the Senior Assistant Coach and is very excited about the future of senior swimming at Scottsdale.  Coach David completed his MBA at Arizona State University in May, 2008. Coach David and his beautiful wife have one daughter with another on the way and share their household with two Labrador retrievers.  

Maryanne Graham-Keever

10&U Director--Blue/Red/White

Email

Coach Maryanne has been part of Scottsdale Aquatic Club for many of the past years since 2002.  Maryanne began swimming on a US swimming team when she was 14 and has been coached by some of the best coaches in the world: Bob Gillette, Walt Schleuter, Ron Johnson, Mark Schubert and Mona Plummer.  She entered the international swimming spotlight as a member of the 1973 World Championship Team that competed in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.  Maryanne went on to swim at Arizona State University where she was All-American in 1974 and 1975 and was part of the 1974-75 National Championship team under Coach Mona Plummer.

 In 1976, while swimming for Mark Schubert and the Mission Viejo Nadadores, she broke the Olympic Trials record in the 100 meter Back. Maryanne made the Olympic team after winning the 200 meter Backstroke at the Olympic Trials, breaking the Olympic Trials record and the American record. Six swimmers from Mission Viejo Nadadores made the Olympic Team that year. At the 1976 Olympics, Maryanne placed 10^th in the 200 meter Backstroke. From 1972-1976, she was one of the most well-rounded swimmers in the country, holding Top 20 World Rankings in the following events: 1972--100 Back; 1973--100 Back, 200 Back, 200 IM, 400 IM; 1974--100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back, 200 IM; 1976--100 Back, 200 Back.  

She was inducted into Arizona State University Hall of Fame in 1994.  In 1996, Maryanne was selected to run with the Olympic Torch in Sun City with John Nabor. In 2004, she was inducted into the Mesa Sports Hall of Fame.

 Coach Maryanne has been coaching since 1994.  She coached with various swim programs and ran swim clinics for swim clubs as well as high school teams and gave motivational talks to public schools in the Riverside, CA, area. Here in the Valley, she coached for Scottsdale Aquatic Club with introductory swimmers, before coaching with Swim Neptune as the Senior Coach in 2004.  Upon leaving Neptune in 2007, she returned to SAC as the stroke development coach for the Blue, Red, and White groups.  Maryanne and her handsome husband, John, have three children: Josh, Sean, and Lindsay.

                                       Coach Maryanne’s Interview with Swimming World

Nate Moore

Senior Coach--Senior 3

Email

Coach Nate has been with Scottsdale Aquatic Club November 2007.

Coach Nate has 10 years of coaching experience and is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association. He started coaching in Walnut Creek California as an age group coach in the Contra Costa Swimming Association summer recreation league. This continued through college where Nate worked with the Cal Poly Pool Pals mentor Program with the San Luis Obispo Seahawks. After college, Nate ran a satellite program for the Walnut Creek Aquabears USS program and worked as a manager of a Scottsdale Swim School. Coach Nate has a degree in Political Science from Cal Poly. Prior to joining SAC Nate worked as a Learning & Development Consultant for Wells Fargo and an Education Director at Oxford Learning.

During his swimming career, Nate swam distance free and IM. He was a High School All American and Junior College All American in California and was a Big 8 finalist in the 400 IM and a Big West Finalist in the 500 free, 1650 Free, and 400 IM. He was Team Captain at Cal Poly his senior year. Coach Nate was the winner of the 2002 Donner Lake Swim, and is a three time winner of the Tempe Town Lake Swim. He was a Masters National Champion in 1999 and 2003 and is the Arizona Masters Record holder in the 400 IM for 25-29 year olds and the Pacific Swimming Masters record holder in the 400 scm Free for 19-24 year olds. Nate set the 400 IM record at Diablo Valley College that stood unbroken for a period of time.

Nate and his wife, Erin, have two boys, Cole and Chaz.

Tyler Fox

Age Group Coach -- Bronze

Email

Coach Tyler joined the coaching staff at SAC most recently in March, 2009.   He had previously coached as a volunteer for SAC while in high school. Coach Tyler began his professional coaching career in 2001 when he accepted a position as “Assistant Coach” at Horizon High School here in Phoenix, Arizona. He then spent 4 years working with 2 major High School Swimming programs here in the valley (Horizon High School and Pinnacle High School) and 3 years coaching for the USA Swimming club team Swim Neptune. During that time, Coach Tyler had the opportunity to be mentored by several great coaches as a part of those successful swimming programs in Arizona. He also worked as a Aquatics Instructor and Personal Swim Trainer here in the Valley.

            During his years of coaching, Coach Tyler has developed a passion for helping kids set and achieve goals, especially those goals which at times, those athletes thought were unreachable. “One of my greatest joys as a coach is watching someone set a goal, work towards it, and then experience the joy (and sometimes surprise) of reaching it! Those are big moments in a young athlete’s life.” Coach Tyler is grateful for the opportunity to work with Scottsdale Aquatic Club and to continue helping young athletes develop a life-long love for the sport. He and his beautiful wife, Christine, have two sons, Michael and Matthew.

Adrianne Gers

Blue, Red, White Assistant Coach

Email

Coach Adrianne has been coaching with SAC since March, 2009, although she swam on SAC as an Age Group and Senior swimmer. She started swimming at the age of 5 years, in South Africa. After moving to the U.S., she swam for the Patriot Aquatic Club (PAC) in Lincolnshire, IL, until her family moved to Arizona when she began swimming with SAC. Coach Adrianne attended Horizon High School and swam very well, earning a swim scholarship to the University of Wyoming. She graduated with a B.S. in Dietetics and recently moved back to AZ. Loving the water, she swims Masters and plays water polo for Scottsdale Water Polo. In addition to coaching for SAC, Coach Adrianne multi-tasks as a Wine Broker for Cape of Good Hope wines and is a full-time graduate student at A.T. Still University, working on her M.S. degree in Human Movement.  

Kris Escher

White Coach

Email

Coach Kris has been coaching with SAC since March, 2009. He is an avid athlete, competing in triathlons as well as playing water polo. During his swimming career, Coach Kris was very successful in Breaststroke, swimming with the Arizona Marlins (AZM). He currently works in a bicycle shop, coaches for SAC, and is a Personal Trainer.