Shannon Powell-Smithers
Head Coach
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After a successful summer season with the Nocatee Bluetide Shannon was asked to help start a year round swim program in Nocatee. Prior to Nocatee she was the Head Age Group Coach for Mandarin Aquatic Club and an Assistant Coach with the Episcopal Amberjax. She has coached year round and summer teams in the Jacksonville area for the past ten years. Shannon has had swimmers qualify for several Championship meets including Sectionals, Senior Champs, FLAGS, Jr. Nationals, and the FL Swimming All Star Team. She looks forward to building the Bluetide Swim Team and having swimmers represent our team frequently at these meets. Shannon is a Jacksonville native who lives in Jacksonville Beach with her two sons who swim for the Bluetide.
Tom O'Hare
Dryland & Gold Group Coach
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Tom is a 1974 graduate of Appalachian State University, in Boone, N.C. After graduation, he moved to Jacksonville, Fl., where he taught P.E. and coached swimming at Jacksonville (formerly Southside) Country Day School. The club team, Southside Swimming Sharks, later merged with the Bolles School and became the Bolles School Sharks, where he served as the head age group coach. Tom moved to St. Augustine in 1982 and became head coach of the St. Augustine YMCA’s summer team which he developed into a year round team. He was also the head coach for St. Augustine High School and Pedro Menendez High School.
After retiring from teaching and coaching, Tom accepted the position as Aquatics Operations Manager at Georgia Institute of Technology. This continued to fuel his interest in competitive swimming as many of the nation’s best swimmers regularly competed there. Tom currently serves as aquatic coordinator for the St. Augustine Y. His grandson is a member of the Nocatee Bluetide.
Nathan King
Bronze Group Coach
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Nathan lives in Jacksonville where he has worked and swam for
different teams over the years. He has been a swim coach and
lifeguard for Jaxparks Aquatics since 2009 where he has worked with
various age groups as well as taught private and group
lessons. Nathan has also volunteered his time and expertise
in swimming to assist both the Kirby Smith Middle School Swim Team
and Southside Athletic Club. His own swimming career consists
of both Middle and High School swimming as well as 2 years of
swimming with the Southside Athletic Club. After Graduating
high school he was accepted to South Georgia State College on a
swimming scholarship where he holds the record for the mile. He has
also participated in open water swimming events in both Hawaii and
Atlanta where he was placed in the top 10 percentile. Nathan
graduated with his A.A. in general education, but he plans on going
back to school to study sports medicine.
Amy Meredith Olive-LeVasseur
Silver Group Coach
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Amy will be joining the Bluetide as a floating Assistant Coach. She will be helping with the different groups as needed while we grow. Amy has 20 years of experience in both swim instruction and competitive swimming. She worked as a volunteer coach and swim instructor with the YMCA, teaching both children and adults with special needs. She also participated as a volunteer instructor in the aquatics portion of the Special Olympics through the YMCA. This led to her becoming the Aquatics Director for The Villages at Carver Family YMCA in Atlanta, GA. From there, she started the Pirahnas Swim Team in Atlanta compromised mostly of children who had never swam before requiring developmental coaching and extensive training. With the YMCA core values at the heart of everything she does, Amy is passionate about the sport of swimming and looks forward to seeing what the Nocatee Bluetide Swim Team will accomplish in the coming years.
