Marcel Da Ponte
Head Coach
Born in South Africa, Coach Marcel is an ASCA Level 4 certified coach who brings 27 years of relevant experience to CMA. He has enjoyed a distinguished swimming and coaching career, both in the United States and Internationally.
As an athlete, he was selected as a team captain for the South African National High School's Team, his club team and his local high school team. Most of his career was spent competing for the Pretoria Aquatic Club swim team in South Africa, where he swam under South African Olympic Coach Gerhard van der Walt. Coach Gerhard was ranked 2nd in the world in the 100m butterfly in 1987 and competed for Arizona State in the late 1980’s. Marcel placed 2nd in the 100m breaststroke and 3rd in the 200m breaststroke at the South African Junior National Championships and was the first athlete in his high school's 100 year history to receive an honors award for swimming. He is a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier (1992 and 1996) in the breaststroke events, placing 5th in the 200m breaststroke at the 1992 trials. Marcel competed at the NCAA Division I level for the Ball State Cardinals in Indiana, graduating with a degree in Business Administration in 2000. During his swimming days, he also trained in the U.S. under famed Canadian National Coach, Nick Baker at the International Swimming Hall of Fame pool in Ft. Lauderdale and attended the prestigious Pine Crest School in Florida for a summer swim season.
As a coach, he spent the early part of his career back in South Africa, before moving to the U.S. Here, he has been head coach of U.S.A. Swimming clubs in both Arizona and Arkansas before moving to Maine. He brings to the team a fantastic combination of coaching expertise, wonderful enthusiasm for the sport of swimming and excellent communication skills. Coach Marcel has produced swimmers who have qualified for National and International teams and at all other levels including, Speedo Far Westerns, Sectionals, Futures, NCSA Junior Nationals, Speedo Junior Nationals, TYR Pro Series, U.S. Open, U.S. Nationals. He has also placed numerous athletes onto NCAA Division I, II and III college teams. He is a coach member of the South African Olympic Committee, Swimming South Africa, African Swim Coaches Association, American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) and World Swim Coaches Association (WSCA). Coach Marcel's coaching philosophy encompases the statement of, "doing the little things exceptionally well", having fantastic underwaters and streamlines, great technique and having fun working hard.
Marcel and his wife Tamaryn are very dedicated parents to their three children, Isabell, Landon and Adrienne.
