HEAD COACH

Nancy Day has been involved in swimming since she was a child, and has been teaching and coaching babies, children and adolescents in swimming for over 40 years. Her and her family have always shared a passion for being in the pool, whether it was synchronized swimming, the swim team, or water polo. One of her daughter’s still holds 3 records in long course for the NEOR region. Nancy herself was an avid swimmer for over 10 years and even attended the 1977 Canada games. At 15 years old, Nancy was awarded the very first ‘female athlete of the year’ in Corner Brook, Newfoundland where she grew up. She also played water polo and made the Canada games team, but unfortunately could not attend. 

After lifeguarding and teaching babies and children to swim for many years, Nancy began her coaching career as head coach of the Western Whales Swim Club in her hometown of Corner Brook, Newfoundland. In 2000, she moved to Sault Ste. Marie with her family and coached with SSMAC. While on the team, she designed and implemented a feeder program named “SSMAC-a-roos” for little swimmers, which was very successful. Coach Nancy gradually worked her way up to becoming the head coach for SSMAC.  After a few years of being head coach for SSMAC, she created a new club in the Sault called NSAC, where she was also the head coach. The NSAC club started with 22 swimmers, quickly building up to almost 100. She coached several swimmers to become provincial medalists and national level qualifiers, many even receiving university scholarships. NSAC was very successful over their 8 years, becoming one of the top clubs in the region. The decision was then made to amalgamate NSAC & SSMAC into one club, which is now known as the Sault Surge Aquatic Team (SSAT). Coach Nancy has her Level 2 in coaching and an outstanding reputation for her focus on teaching and perfecting skills in the water.   

Nancy not only has a huge passion for swimming, but a natural ability to connect and work well with kids of all ages. Nancy has always found a way to work with kids throughout her life, whether it was having a home daycare, working in a daycare centre, or teaching private swim lessons and coaching, she’s always known that her life’s work is working with children. She raised 3 daughters which is her proudest accomplishment in her life, and her daughters attest to their mother’s incredible ability to genuinely connect with and encourage anyone she comes into contact with.  You can always see (and hear!) Nancy on deck working diligently at helping or motivating the swimmers or coaches.  Make sure you take the time to get to know Coach Nancy!

EMMA BROADBENT (Seniors & Future Olympians)

Emma swam herself for many years starting off with NSAC. She then joined the Sault Surge when the teams combined. She volunteered her time to coach riptides and waverunners swimmer. This past she year, she worked hard to get her level 1 coaching certificate to be able be a coach on deck during meets. This is her second year in the coach role for the Future Olympians and Senior Groups. Emma gets on deck each day prepared and ready to go. You can definitely see how invested and passionate she is about the sport of swimming. We are blessed to have her as part of our coaching staff.

THOMAS FERRIS (Coach - Age Group)

Thomas has been involved in competitive swimming since the age of 9 as soon as he was able to swim one lap of a 25-yard pool in Brampton.  He competed for COBRA (City of Brampton Regional Aquatics) Swim Club and began working on his NCCP (currently Level 1) and Official (currently Level 3) certifications.  Thomas began coaching in 2002 and took a gap year in secondary school to apprentice under the late Murray Drudge in North York.  He then relocated to New Brunswick, Québec, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia through moves with the Canadian Forces. 

A graduate of Laurentian University (B.A. Hons.) and Thorneloe University (B.Th.) in Sudbury, Thomas currently attends the University of Toronto, serves the Soo community in our local schools, and looks forward to bringing his experience from age group and masters clubs, university, and military teams, to help develop good technique, learning how to train, and build skills on being a responsible student athlete.  Thomas possesses the unique ability to coach swimmers in both English and French.

ELLA HAAS (riptides & waverunners) 

Hello, my name is Ella! I was a swimmer on Surge for many years. Many of my positive memories come from swimming with the team, and I can’t wait to be a part of that for your children!