Matthew L Anderson
Senior Coach
Email
Coach Anderson is a former DCST age group swimmer who went on to
swim at NIU. During his senior year at NIU, he was named team
captain. While at NIU, Coach Anderson was also an assistant coach
for DCST. After graduation, he then spent 5 years as the Assistant
Men and Women’s Swimming Coach at NIU. He then left DeKalb to
become the Assistant Women’s Coach at The Ohio State
University for 4 years. After his tenure at OSU, he has been the
Head Women’s Swimming and Diving Coach at Youngstown State
University for the past 14 years.
Joshua Norek
Head Age Group Coach
Email
Josh began competitively swimming at the age of 7 for the Belvidere
YMCA and continued to do so until he was 18. During his career he
was a district champion, regional champion, state finalist, and
swimmer of the year During high school he was named Varsity
Captain for Rockford Christian School's Swim Team. While in high
school he got his first experience as a swim coach as the Head
Coach for Resa Middle School and Head Coach for Marengo Park
District.. After graduating Josh began Coaching as an Assistant
Coach / Lead Assistant Coach for the Belvidere Barracudas for 6
years. While coaching he also attended RVC and graduated with an
Associates Degree in Fire Science. When not on the deck he is a
Firefighter / Paramedic.
"Coaching for DCST has been an amazing experience. We have a really
great program! From the facility to Management to my AWESOME
Assistant Coaches. It has been a blast getting to know so many
talented young people. It is truly an honor to help guide them
towards obtaining their goals and dreams."
Thomas Slater
Lead Great Dane Coach
Email
Coach Tom started competitively swimming in the 1900s at the age of
6 for the Sauk-Prairie Pool Sharks in Wisconsin. He was a 4 year
letter winner in swimming at Freeport High School in Illinois, and
was co-captain of the team his senior year. He did not swim
competitively in college, but stayed active in the water through
water polo and synchronized swimming at the club level. He began
coaching with DCST as an assistant coach in January of 2014. When
he’s not on deck, Coach Tom spends time with his family and
teaches computer skills at Northbrook Middle School in Mendota, IL.
Tom is the only member of his family to not attend Iowa State
University.
“It’s called radio, I can’t pick and choose the
songs… now go swim.”
Casey Beckley.
Assistant Coach
Email
Casey began swimming when he was 10 years old until he hung up his
goggles after his freshman year at NIU. During that time, he
competed at State and Regional Championship meets. Casey then
coached for DCST as a college student, as well as serving as a Head
Coach for the Bloomingdales Barracuda swim team. Besides being a
husband and father of three, Casey has run over 20 marathons,
holding a Boston qualifying time since 2014. Casey is a business
partner with his wife in a Nutrition consulting home business. When
he’s not running or at practice, Casey leads the students and
staff at Mooseheart Child City as their Campus
Pastor
Anthony Biundo.
Assistant Coach
Email
Owen Bockman.
Assistant Coach
Email
Owen is a Junior at Sycamore High School. He enjoys participating
in a whole bunch of different clubs and is active in our
community. During Owen’s swimming career he has been varsity
since freshman year on the Sycamore/ DeKalb Co-op team. Currently
he still swims for DCST and has been coach for about a year.
“I enjoy it very much. I enjoy teaching younger
swimmers and it brings back memories from when I was
younger.” Currently Owen has not decided what college he
would like to attend but is looking forward to that
journey.
Tim Braun.
Assistant Coach
Email
Tim started swimming on DCST in the summer of 2011. He has enjoyed
swimming on DCST for the friends he has made and the lessons he has
learned. Tim also swam on the Dekalb and Sycamore High School Co-op
Swim Team for the past two years. Tim’s favorite event is the
200 Freestyle. “I enjoy coaching because I get to know more
kids on the team.”
Stephanie Despain.
Assistant Coach
Email
Grace Flemming.
Assistant Coach
Email
Grace has been swimming for DCST for the past 12 years. Her
favorite events are the 200 freestyle and the 100 back. “I
really enjoy coaching the younger groups and not only improving
their skills, but getting to know the rest of my team”. Her
favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate with cookie
dough.
Donny Gramer.
Assistant Coach
Email
Dirk Happ.
Assistant Coach
Email
Linda Kocjan.
Assistant Coach
Email
Linda grew up in DeKalb, and began swimming on DCST at the age of
5, and continued on the team for the majority of 8 years, through
8th grade. Fast forward to many years and 2 kids later, and shortly
after her daughter joined the swim team, she decided it might be
fun to encourage other kids through coaching. Although new at the
time to coaching swimming, Linda has been working with kids through
teaching and coaching Color Guard at Sycamore High School from
2008-2018. Linda is the proud swim mom to Alissa and Deegan. When
not on deck at the pool, she is working at the Kishwaukee College
Workforce Development office or training with her dogs, Chase and
Henry.
Mikala Kurzbuch.
Assistant Coach
Email
Mikala is a Physical education major at NIU with a minor in
health education and coaching. She is very excited to be apart of
the DCST program and gain some hands on experience. Growing up she
has always loved the water and swimming. Her swimming career began
during her junior year at Woodstock High School, and feel in love
with the sport. Even though she only competitively swam for two
years, it was the best two years she ever experienced.
Mikala’s favorite events were the 100 breaststroke and short
course freestyle.
“My favorite part about coaching at the YMCA is building a
coach/swimmer relationship with all the kids and getting to see the
kids out at my clinical's for class. I also really enjoy the great
team of coaches i have around me that i know i can go to at any
time and ask them for advice or get their help coaching something
i'm not experienced in.”
Abby Muck.
Assistant Coach
Email
Brook Pugh.
Assistant Coach
Email
Deirdre Pugh.
Assistant Coach
Email
Emily Raetzke.
Assistant Coach
Email
Dylan Rasmussen.
Assistant Coach
Email
Edith Reynolds.
Assistant Coach
Email
David Ruetten.
Assistant Coach
Email
David is currently a junior at Sycamore High School on track to
graduate in 2020,
He’s been on the DCST since he was 7 and has loved
swimming ever since. Currently David swim’s on DCST’s
National Team, and has also competed at the State, Age Group, and
Zone levels. Outside of DCST he also swims on the Dekalb-Sycamore
Coop High School Swim Team, has competed in 3 sectional meets and
was a captain this past year. David started coaching last summer
and has goals of continuing his swimming career in college.
“DCST is my second family. Everyone is super close and get
along super well. I love spending time with the team and teaching
younger kids the sport I love.”
Paul Ruetten.
Assistant Coach
Email
Maddy Strong.
Assistant Coach
Email
Sydney Wight.
Assistant Coach
Email
Calvin Zhou.
Assistant Coach
Email
