Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club - Meet the Coaches

Meet the Coaches

HTAC continues to be fortunate to have one of the largest, most highly experienced and educated coaching staffs in Atlantic Canada! Our coaches have a strong history in competitive swimming and hold a multitude of coaching certifications.

The entire HTAC coaching staff aspires to work as a professional team, striving to provide a positive learning and training environment for the Trojan swimmers. Our coaches supply a structured and progressive training system that is appropriate for the athlete’s age and ability level, and that adheres to Swimming Canada’s Athlete Development Matrix.

Important skills such as teamwork, problem solving and visualization, as well as goal setting and process orientated performance are emphasized in order to achieve common goals.

Update 2022-2023 Season

You will notice that we have more Lead Coaches than in past seasons for the Aspire and Skills groups. In response to your survey comments and requests from our coaching staff, HTAC has increased the number of coaches and created mini-groups within the Aspire and Skill groups to improve the coaching experience for swimmers and coaches alike.

Stay tuned for biographies and photographs - they will be posted as they are received.

ACTING| HEAD COACH - JOSH SORENSEN

LEAD COACH NATIONAL AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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My name is Josh Sorensen and I am very excited and grateful to be coming in as the Assistant Head Coach and acting as the Head Coach for the Halifax Trojans in the upcoming season.

Most of my swimming and coaching background was fostered in Western Canada where I grew up and went to University. I started swimming with the Nose Creek Swim Association in Calgary before graduating high school and swimming for two years at the University of Lethbridge. When I decided to stop swimming I was very fortunate to be offered a job as an Assistant Coach with both the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns as well as the club team Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club (LASC). Over the next five years, I got to be a part of the journey the teams took as we pushed to make a name for ourselves in the competitive environment of swimming in Alberta and the Canada West conference. Along that journey, I had the great privilege of swimming, working with, and coaching swimmers from these teams that medalled nationally, set provincial records, and made Junior and Senior National teams, including Olympians. In that time I was also very blessed to have worked with the staff that I did, which in turn helped shape me into the person and coach I am today.

Most recently I spent the last two seasons as the Head Coach of the Inconnu Swim Club in Fort St. John, BC. There I was tasked with helping to rebuild and add structure to the club following the covid pandemic. With limited pool space and competition time, we were able to get the club participation numbers boosted back up, grow our competitive side, and set some club records along the way.

Halifax and the Trojans have had great swimmers in the past and fit my belief that fast swimming can come from and be achieved anywhere. I believe every athlete has their own potential and it's my job to help them achieve that.

My coaching philosophy is excellence through learning and application. As coaches it's our job to provide plentiful and diverse learning opportunities to best facilitate the growth of the swimmers physically and mentally. In order to develop as athletes, our bodies must adapt; and in order to create adaptations, we must be given the right stimulus to react to. As swimmers progress through the club, what they need to learn changes. I strive to have a program that creates the opportunities to learn at every skill level while giving them challenges to overcome. Swimming is a process driven sport, while it often becomes defined by results, we have to remember and work through the processes that lead to each result.

I'm looking forward to working with the club in delivering a program that best guides development across all skill levels. A program that keeps kids invested and engaged in the sport, and allows them to grow not only as swimmers but as people.

[email protected]

ACTING ASSISTANT HEAD COACH - MAT BERNIER

LEAD COACH SENIOR BLUE