As I step on deck with our PDSC staff and membership it is with great enthusiam to continue in the spirit of its motto....
“SWIM-COMPETE-HAVE FUN!”
Growing up in Columbus, OH swimming was introduced to me at a very early age & it immediately took root and has guided me through a lifetime dedicated to the sport. My coaching career began in the mid 80s during the summer months of my high school and college years where I coached with the inner-city swim team programs of the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department; a program that still thrives today.
After college, I found myself in upstate New York and soon joined the coaching staff with Middletown Recreation Swim Team, MRST, a team in the Metropolitan LSC. While there I coached all levels, with most of my focus being with the 11-14 age group swimmers. During my years there, I assumed administrative and communication duties & was instrumental in its strategic and branding planning. I implemented its learn to swim program & was a member of the Metropolitan Zone coaching staff.
In moving to Pennsylvania, I coached at various country club & high school programs within the state. And, I eventually found myself establishing a long-standing Head Coaching role with a club in Western Pennsylvania, Chartiers Valley Swim Club (CVSC), a team in the Allegheny Mountain Swimming LSC. Here, after initially joining the coaching staff as their Masters Coach, I very quickly moved into the role of Head Coach. In this role I was able to coach swimmers at all levels: developmental, age group, senior, college & masters. I was a member of the AMS Zone Coaching staff and served on the AMS BOD as the Age Group Vice Chair.
In 2014, I found myself back “home” in Columbus and back at the club where my swimming career first started, Greater Columbus Swim Team of Ohio, GCSTO. Here, I got to coach and work with the 8-under swimmers. I also worked with the club’s swim lesson and swim camp programs.
The summer of 2018 I made my way “out west” and on the deck with the Mission Viejo Nadadores. Initially, I coached the entry level swimmers of the 11-12 & 13-14 divisions. By 2019 I shifted to Division Director of the 11-12 Division and then to Head Age Group Coach. Most recently, the club redefined the roles at the Head Coach level and I was moved to the Co-Head Coach role, while managing specific direction with the 13-14 Division. During these years the Nadador Age Group program and swimmers have; finished at the Top Team rankings at all championships, set numerous team records, achieved national ranking and local and national team selections.
Head Age Group Coach Tom came on board as an Assistant Coach in May, 2016 and coaches our Junior Advanced group. He retired in June 2016 after spending the previous 25 years as a high school social studies teacher in the Coachella Valley and Desert Sands Unified School Districts. During four of those years, he served as the president of the Desert Sands Teachers Association, served three terms on the California Teachers Association State Council of Education, and was a delegate to four National Education Association Representative Assemblies.
Prior to his career in public education, Tom spent 15 years as a swimming coach, literally from Maine to California, and is an ASCA Level 3 certified coach. His successful experience includes being head coach of three club teams, head age group coach of a fourth, head coach of three high school teams, and assistant coach of two others. His swimmers competed at local, state, regional, and national levels. His teams have won state championships, and individual athletes training with him have gone on to become national collegiate champions. At every turn, Tom has been involved in the administration of the sport as well as the advancement of the coaching profession. Between 1988-90, he served as the first National Director of ASCA’s SwimAmerica program. He also was selected to the coaching staff of the Southern California Swimming Western Zone team in 1986.
Before becoming a coach, Tom swam competitively on interscholastic, club, and intercollegiate teams, specializing in middle-distance freestyle, breaststroke, and individual medley events. He is a 1975 graduate of Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he earned a B. A. in Political Science and was captain of the swimming team. He was born and raised in South Portland, Maine. Tom is married to Julia Alberg-Burbank, with whom he shares six children and stepchildren as well as three grandchildren.
John is our Jr Intermediate group and Dryland Training Program Lead Coach preparing our Junior level swimmers for the next level of competitive swimming. John joined the PDSC Coaching Staff in September 2017.
Coach Adrian has been a life-long lover of swimming for fun and for exercise. He has been supporting our team in various capacities since 2021 when his oldest son joined the team and wife began to coach for us. Coach Adrian is originally from Eastern Europe. While there, he studied interior design and volunteered as a youth leader in his church, all while teaching himself English! In 2009, he moved to the US and arrived in the Coachella Valley in 2020. Adrian loves to draw, is a fantastic baker, and loves being with his family and friends. Adrian comes to the team with a grateful heart and is excited to serve his community by empowering our youngest members to develop and nurture their love of the sport of swimming. Coach Adrian lives in Palm Desert with his sons, Enzo and Amias, wife Caylie, and Doberman, Charlie.
