Dave Gingrich
Coach
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Coach Dave
- M.Ed., CAGS, USA Swimming
Certification, American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA)
Certification Levels 1 & 2
As head coach for the Wavemakers,
Coach Dave oversees all of the workout plans and works closely with
our assistant coaching staff. Dave is looking forward to our
upcoming season of swimming and continues to emphasize: endurance
training, stroke structure, racing strategies, team spirit, and
working together in an atmosphere of support and fun. He employs
video analysis to help swimmers truly see what their strokes look
like. Coach Dave has been a classroom teacher for 32 years and
has enjoyed coaching with the Wavemakers for over 14 years. He has
been swimming competitively for over 40 years. As a swimmer he
continues to compete both Masters swim meets. He is grateful
for the opportunity to combine his love of teaching and swimming
into coaching.
Christine Woodland
Assistant Coach
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Christine Woodland is a health and physical education teacher. She has taught swim lessons, swims with Masters Swim, and has participated in triathlons. Her daughter swims with the team.
Katherine Wilcox
Assistant Coach
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Katie started swimming on a team when she was 6 years old and
swam daily throughout the summers of her youth. She also swam
for my high school team back in St. Louis. Her first job was
working as a lifeguard, then teaching swim lessons at the
local YMCA. She worked for the YMCA throughout high school &
college years. She also ran an ARC swimming program at a camp
in Alton Bay for many years, ending up in New Hampshire.
She met her husband while working at the summer camp and they
still work at the same camp.When not coaching
Katie works as a Nurse supporting computerized charting for
fellow nurses.
Greg Wood
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Greg actually began his swimming career with the Wavemakers when he
was 8 before moving on to the Seacoast Swim Association, and
eventually, the Bernal’s Gators. Greg went on to swim at
UMass Amherst before taking a long break from the sport to focus on
hiking and dirtbiking, two pursuits that he still enjoys.
Greg has been teaching at Belmont Middle School for the last six
years and he employs those skills while helping our swimmers
succeed in and out of the pool.
Valdis Jurka
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Val will start his second year coaching, but is not new to
swimming. Val swam in age-groups, high school and
college. While at Rensselaer Val was a team captain and
vice-president of the water polo club. Summers were spent
working as a camp waterfront director. As his sons grew up
Val was a Boy Scout leader and swim-team parent. After
swimming on and off, Val has rejoined US Masters Swimming and
competes several times a year. Val is a retired environmental
engineer having worked for AT&T, federal government and
consulting. He enjoys helping the kids to swim better and
faster while they grow as individuals on a great team.
Katie Ruggles
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Katie
is a lifelong swimmer who started year-round swimming on a team at
the age of 7 and was the daughter of swim coaches for the Lake
Champlain Waves. She swam competitively for Clarkson
University achieving Academic All-American and graduated with
Distinction with a Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration/Pre-Physical Therapy in 2003, Master of Physical
Therapy in 2005, and obtained her Doctorate Degree in Physical
Therapy in 2008. Her involvement in athletics and the
biomechanics of sport led her to the profession of physical
therapy. Katie has worked in outpatient physical therapy for over
14 years. This is Katie’s first year as a coach for the
Wavemakers and is excited to integrate her knowledge of
biomechanics with her first love of swimming to help kids reach
their life goals.
