"The road to success is always under construction." Arnold Palmer - "The King"
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The following coaches can be reached by e-mail through this website. We are here to support your needs. If your questions are related to workouts, meets, events, and other swimming related needs, please contact one of the coaches listed below. For all questions related to administrative, such as dues, safety, or policy issues, please hit the contact us link to the left. For a list of our full coaching staff, click Misc Info and then Full Coaching Staff or click here |
| Coaching Staff |
HEAD COACH - Coaching at Wahoos for three decades, John has been the coach of the Senior A1 group and Wahoos full time facility manager since 1987. He is a level 5 ASCA (American Swim Coaches Association) coach and was Middle Atlantic Coach of the year in 1987 and 1992. John is a 1978 graduate of Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) with a major in business. John and his wife, Barb, have 5 children.
Bruce has coached at Wahoos since 1990, and is the head coach of Junior A1. Bruce was a former outstanding Wahoos swimmer who held the Jersey Wahoos Open Long Course record for the 200 IM. for 25 years until it was broken in 2013. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he majored in exercise science. Bruce specialized in the 400 IM. and swam both the 400 and 200 IM. in the 1988 Olympic Trials. He presently trains with the Masters program. He won the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, a 4.4-mile swim across Chesapeake Bay in 2004 & 2006. Bruce was nominated for the 2016 ASCA National Age Group Coach of the Year.
Chris started coaching at Wahoos in the fall of 2015. A former swimmer at Wahoos, Chris went on to swim at Southern Illinois University from 2006-2010 where he achieved Senior National qualifications and was part of the 2010 All-MAC Team. Chris was voted Team Captain for SIU for 3 years and also was awarded the SIU Swimming and Diving Saluki Pride Award both his Freshman and Senior seasons.
A swim coach for 12 years now, Chris comes with a boatload of coaching experience from a variety of levels and parts of the world. He has been a Head Coach at numerous Tri-County swim clubs including Old Orchard, Pheasant Run and Pomona. Upon receiving his B.S. Degree in Physical Education, he went on to be the Graduate Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach for SIU the next 2 seasons while earning his M.S.Ed Degree in Kinesiology with a specialized focus in Sport Psychology.
After college, Chris was the Assistant High Performance Swim Coach, Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, and Physical Education Teacher at the British International School in Phuket, Thailand. Some of his achievements include having athletes represented and/or qualify for the Youth Olympic Games, Southeast Asian Games, the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, 2016 FINA World Championships in Doha, and having 2 athletes selected to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. During his time at BISP, his athletes broke a total of 66 National Records across Southeast Asia.
Chris has a Silver License Coaching Certification from the Australian Swim Coaches and Teachers Association (ASCTA), is an ASCA Level 4 Coach, and has been a Personal Trainer for 12 years. He was also a presenter at the 2015 Southeast Asia Heads of Physical Education Conference in Phuket, Thailand. He has a strong background in Sports Nutrition and Exercise Science. He will be the Assistant Coach for Senior A2 this season. Chris is also a Physical & Health Education Teacher at Samuel M. Ridgway Middle School.
Bob is a former Wahoos swimmer and has been coaching at Wahoos since 1986. He is the Head Coach of the Senior A swimming group. He has also coached the Haddonfield Memorial High School girls and boys swim teams since 1992.
George has been an assistant coach of Junior A since 2002, and Jersey Wahoos is honored to have this former world record holder and two-time Olympian on deck. He retired as coach and manager of GCIT, and is now here at Wahoos. George’s swimming career began when he entered college at SUNY-Cortland, NY. He joined the swim team because the school didn’t offer rowing (his sport in high school). At Cortland he met legendary coach “Doc” Counsilman, who later coached George at Indiana U. while George studied for his master’s degree. Displaying talent in distance swimming, George set his first world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, lowering the existing record by 13-seconds. At the 1956 Olympics in Australia, he lowered his own world record by another 13-seconds (though he did it in the prelims!) He won three medals at the “56 Games - two individual bronze and one relay silver. During the next four years he won 22 US National Championships, set six world records and competed in the 1959 Pan Am Games. At the 1960 Olympics he won a bronze medal in the 1500 free. George later served as manager of the 1975 Pan Am swim team and the 1980 Olympic swim team. His vast coaching experience includes Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia, U. of Penn‘s swim team, Team Delaware and, most recently, GCIT’s swim team. George has headed a myriad of swimming organizations such as the American Swimming Coaches Association and the USA Olympic International Committee. He is an inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. in 2010 he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Hall of Fame recently he was also inducted into the Bishop Timon High School Hall of Fame. He also is the recipient of many other honors, including the US Swimming Award.
John is a graduate from the University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC). John majored in history and was a member of the swimming and diving team for all 4 years. During his junior season, he was elected teammate of the year and as a senior was elected as a team captain. Over his last 2 years at UMBC, John helped the Retrievers win the CCSA Conference Championship, mainly swimming the breaststroke and IM events. Before UMBC, John swam at Jersey Wahoos for over 12 years. Currently, John is the Head Assistant Coach of Senior A1 and the Head Coach of Senior Prep.
This is Chris’ 19th year of coaching at Wahoos. He is currently the Head Coach of the Mini A swim group. Chris was also a Middle Atlantic Zone All Star team Head Coach for four seasons. He is a 1996 graduate of Temple University and 2007 graduate of Rider University, where he received his Master’s degree in Special Education. He is a 1st grade inclusion teacher in the Pemberton Township School District. Chris and his wife, Gwen, have three children, Allie, Maddie, and Gabe. When not on pool deck, Chris enjoys fishing with his girls, bike riding, drinking Starbucks coffee, and driving to Disney World.
Amanda coached at Wahoos from the late 80’s through the 90’s working primarily with the 8 and under groups (Mini A and TC II). She came back in the late 2011 to help assist with the swim team prep groups. This is her second year as head coach of the Sterling Jr AB2 group. Amanda is currently working on attaining her ASCA (American Coaches Swimming Association) Level 1 and Level 2 certifications. Amanda’s main philosophy as a coach is to teach the fundamentals and mechanics of swimming early so that coaches don’t have to correct a bad stroke later on in a swimmer’s career. The main emphasis of the Jr AB2 group is mechanics first so that speed and endurance have a foundation to build upon when the swimmer becomes bigger and stronger. Amanda swam at Wahoos under Hugh Merkle and was a high school All-American. She swam at Southern Illinois University becoming a 13 time Division 1 All-American and Olympic Trials qualifier.
Rich is a former Wahoos
swimmer who is returning
to the pool deck after an 8 year hiatus from
the sport. He is the
head coach of the JRA2 group and assists with
JRA1 and SRA3. He has
coached for Woodbine and Meadowbrook Swim Clubs as
well as Camden Catholic
High School. In 2008 he shifted his
focus to coaching crew, the sport he competed in while at Clemson
University. While swimming and rowing are quite different, they do both require
a regimented approach to training, commitment to
technique, and unrelenting motivation and
encouragement. Rich teaches Special Education at Camden Catholic
High School. He and his wife Rachel have three children -
Gabriel, Lucy, and Cecilia - and a bulldog named
Stella. Gabe is a Wahoo swimmer who competes in the summer
for Tavistock.
