Tommaso Tom Panizza
Head Coach/National + Provincial
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This is Tom's 2nd season as Head Coach of the Thunderbolts and
16th season as a coach. After 10 years coaching in Italy, he
moved to Toronto where he worked in NYAC as an assistant coach
of Murray Drudge and developed the National Development
program achieving important results at a National level,
topped with an Ontario and a Canadian Age Group Record. In
2018 he left Toronto and he moved to Thunder Bay to take the lead
of the Bolts. Coach Tom considers the team as the foundation
for personal achievements, and he believes that hard work and
commitment are important components of any athletes' growth to
become not just good swimmers, but good people.
Tiia Ovaska
Assistant Head Coach/Junior Development
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Tiia is joining us for her second season with the Thunderbolts.
Tiia comes from Sudbury with experience as both a swimmer and coach
with Nickel City Aquatics for more than 10 years prior to moving to
Thunder Bay in 2018. She is organized, has a background in graphic
design, and readily accepts the challenge of assisting Tommaso with
administrative duties on top of coaching the Junior and Senior
Development groups. Tiia believes that although a strong swimmer
may be built from their coach or teammates, it is the families and
community support which raise strong swimmers, students, and goal
oriented people to success.
Andy Ritchie
Senior Development Coach
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When the Thunderbolts started in 1972, Andy was an original
member of the club training under legendary coach Don Talbot.
Within a few years, he was named to the Canadian National Team and
remained there for five years. He earned a spot on multiple
international tour teams, broke National and Commonwealth records,
and earned a spot in the finals of the 400 IM at the Olympics in
Montreal in 1976 at the young age of 17.
Andy then earned a full scholarship to the University of Florida
where he set numerous varsity and state records and then
continued to have multiple gold medal performances swimming at four
Canadian University Championships. He was a bronze medalist at the
World Student Games in Sophia, Bulgaria in 1977. Andy had the
honour of being inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall
of Fame in 2007 and will be inducted into the LU Wall of Fame in
October 2019. He is currently very active as a Masters swimmer
setting numerous Provincial and National records over a 20-year
period and attempting to chase down a world record for
Canada.
Andy began his professional coaching career in 1982 under
National Team coach Derek Snelling, becoming Senior Age Group Coach
overseeing a staff of seven coaches and over 200 swimmers. He also
assisted Coach Snelling with National Team legends such as Mark
Tewksbury, Tom Ponting, and many others. He has been the Head
Coach of the Thunder Rays Masters Swim Team since 2014 overseeing
growth from about 20 swimmers to the current number of 65 with a
waiting list of over 30. He led the Thunder Rays to their first
Provincial title in March 2019.
Andy is extremely honoured and excited to join the coaching team
of the Thunder Bolts!
Zoe Hunt
Assistant Prospects Coach
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Zoe is currently a grade 12 French immersion student at
Hammarskjöld High School. She swam for the Bolts for 10 years,
making and competed in Trials in 2019. She is very excited to coach
again this year and is looking forward to this new season.
Madison Halvorsen
Intro Coach
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Madison Halvorsen started swimming with the Thunder Bay
Thunderbolts when she was 4. She was a national level swimmer in
the 50m and 100m freestyle and carried that over to the University
of Ottawa. She swam with the varsity team where she received
countless experiences and opportunities within the sport. She is
now back in Thunder Bay as a first-year paramedic student at
Confederation College and serves as a Medical Technician with the
Canadian Armed Forces. After volunteering with the thunderbolts
throughout high school, she is looking forward to the 2019/2020
year.
Hannah Leveque
Pre-Competitive Coach
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Hi there! I'm Hannah, one of our pre-competitive coaches. After
being a member of the Bolts community since 2008, I have developed
a passion for swimming and coaching. Being a member of this
wonderful team has allowed me to develop essential interpersonal
skills and has also introduced me to many incredible people who I
now consider a second family. I am a firm believer that swimming
fosters essential qualities such as teamwork, responsibility, and
leadership; it provides an opportunity for youth to thrive and
reach their true potential, not only as an athlete but as an
individual. As a coach, I like to focus on the development of new
skills in and out of the pool through hard work and fun. I
can’t wait to see what the new season brings for each
swimmer!
Julia Siver
Pre-Competitive Coach
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Hi everyone. I’m Julia Siver. I have been a Thunderbolt
Athlete for over 7 years and have loved swimming since the
beginning. Being apart of this team has taught me time management
skills, teamwork, leadership, responsibility, and determination.
These skills have helped me not only as an athlete but also in
school and life. As a coach, my goal is that each athlete has a
positive experience, learn new skills and reaches their swimming
potential.
Rachael Brown
Pre-Competitive Coach
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My name is Rachael Brown and I am a grade 11 student at
Hammarskjold High School. After swimming with the Thunder Bay
Thunderbolts for over 10 years, I am very excited to be joining the
coaching team. I look forward to sharing my love for swimming with
younger swimmers to create a fun and positive learning environment,
and show them how amazing it is to be part of the Bolts
family!
