Michael Stankiewicz was born and raised in Metuchen New Jersey. His relationship with swimming began late at the age of 10, but would establish roots that would last a lifetime. Starting as an inexperienced novice, Michael would quickly develop into a strong age group swimmer, setting the 1000 yard YMCA NJ state record at the age of 14. In high school, Michael and fellow club swimmers came together to start a men’s team at Metuchen High for the first time where he would lead the team at county championships with 2^nd place finishes in the 200 and 500 respectively. Making a transition to Scarlet Aquatics in 2008, Michael would remain there as a sectional level athlete until the summer after his graduation when he would sink his teeth into coaching.

After many years of providing local swim lessons, and helping the local summer league swim teams, Michael would take a more serious role under Greg Wriede at Peddie Aquatics in 2010. During his 3 year tenure he worked with every group on the team, also volunteering with the high school team which had a range of athletes as high as Olympic Trial caliber. It was during this time that he transitioned his coaching focus from part-time to full-time before heading back home to Scarlet Aquatics in the summer of 2013.

Working under Tom Speedling, Michael would take over the 13-14 age groups for the Rutgers Division of Scarlet Aquatics while being a 3^rd assistant to Tom Speedling for his Senior 2 program. Michael would go on to be a New Jersey Swimming Zone Coach, as well as the coach representative for Scarlet at USA Swimming’s open water distance camp in 2016, all while developing numerous state and sectional qualifiers of his own.

Coach Stankiewicz makes his head coach debut here in Peoria this May. He hopes to bring a young, energetic, and fresh mindset to the team that helps continue the growth of the Water Wizards Name.  

Derek has had a long history of swimming in Peoria area dating back to 1979 when he began his swimming career with the Wedgewood Swim and Tennis Club.  His swimming career continued through the 1990's where he was a swimmer for PAWW, Peoria High School and the University of Illinois.

Derek began his coaching career in 1989 as an assistant for PAWW.  His coaching career has taken him numerous places including Peoria, Metamora, Washington, Dunlap, Pekin, Quincy, and Keokuk, Iowa.

Derek has always had a love for PAWW as this was his home club throughout most of his life.  He is looking forward to taking on the challenges of being the head coach and hopes that not only does he aid in producing fast swimmers, but also athletes of good character.

In addition to coaching PAWW, he works at Caterpillar and in his spare time, he enjoys watching the Bears, Illini, and movies.  He is married to Julee and they have 3 great children, Ashton and Bailey who swim on the PAWW swim team, and Jager, their dog.

Curt is from Tremont, IL and has been a swim coach for over 27 years. Curt joined the PAWW staff in 2018 and is also the Head Coach of the Tremont Torpedos summer team. Curt has also coached several high school teams, including Olympia, Normal West, and West Chicago. He was also a previous coach for the Olympia Country Swimmers.

Curt has an extensive background as a swimmer, where he joined PAWW at the age of 10. During his time at PAWW, Curt's father Mike was a coach at PAWW. Curt swam along side Coach Derek Amerman at PAWW, where they both teamed up to set the 13-14 200 Freestyle Relay record. Curt is also still the PAWW record holder in the 9-10 50 Freestyle. Curt aslo swam at Tremont High School and Eastern Illinois University.

Curt and his wife have two children, who both will swim at PAWW this season.  Outside of swimming, Curt enjoys golfing and watching college basketball.

Amber was born and raised in Anderson, Indiana. She started her competitive swimming career
at the age of 5, for Anderson Community Aquatics Club (ACAC) and Anderson High School. She
graduated from AHS in 1997. After high school, she went on to swim for Western Illinois
University. While there, she specialized primarily in the distance freestyle events. She was
conference champion in the 200, 500, and 1650 freestyle events, and multiple relays. After
graduating from WIU in 2001, with a degree in Medical Technology, she moved to Peoria where
she met her husband Seth. They currently live in Metamora, with their two children Gavin and
Elyse.

Since moving to the Peoria area, Amber has coached for multiple teams, such as Richwoods
H.S., Central Illinois Aquatics, and Metamora Area Swim Team. Recently, she joined the
coaching staff of Peoria Notre Dame girls swim team and PAWW. When she is not at the pool
coaching or running kiddos from place to place, you can find her at the pool early in the
morning swimming with our PAWW Masters team. Amber and her family enjoy traveling,
reading, cheering on all things Iowa State (her husband’s alma mater), and just spending down
time together.

Amanda is from Pekin, she started her swimming career when she was six years old on the Pekin YWCA swim team. She then swam with PAWW through college. While a student at PCHS, Amanda was a conference champ in the 100 fly and relays. Amanda received a swimming scholarship from Missouri State University, graduating in 2003 with a bachelors in accounting. She then received her masters in accounting from U of I in 2005. Amanda and her husband own Pekin Paintball Park and have two beautiful daughters, Aaliyah and Makayla. Amanda loves to swim and has been coaching since 1999. When not at the paintball park, they love to go boating.

Coleton Schrock is from Peoria, Illinois and has been coaching for over 2 years. Coleton Schrock Joined the Peoria Area Water Wizards in 2013 as a swimmer, and started coaching and helping out with the younger groups in 2014. Coleton is currently a silver coach. Coleton Schrock was a member of the PAWW SCY championship team from 2014-2016, and was a member of the PAWW LCM championship team in 2015. Coleton is a huge sports fan. In his free time, he enjoys watching basketball and football. He primarily enjoys watching and cheering on the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Bears.

Danel is originally from Dunlap, she started her swim career at the age of 7 with the Dunlap Dolphins and transferred to PAWW in 2007 competing with them throughout college. During her senior year of high school she broke the school, pool, and sectional records in the 100 fly at the 2011 sectional meet in the 100 fly earning her the honor of Journal Star Swimmer of the Year. After graduating from Dunlap High in 2012, she continued her swim career at UIC as a scholarship athlete as a part of their NCAA Division I swim program. Danel competed as a part of their sprint squad in the 50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly, 100 back, 100/200 IM, and several relays. While at UIC she placed 2nd in the 100 Butterfly at the Horizon League Championships for 2 consecutive years, and still maintains the program record. She graduate from UIC in 2016 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Movement Science.

Since moving back to the Peoria area after school she uses her EMT-B license to work in the Emergency Department at OSF St. Francis. Danel began coaching at PAWW in 2016, bringing 5 years of swim instructor experience, to help other young athletes develop and enjoy the sport of swimming. Primarily working the bronze group she focuses on technique, maintaining a positive attitude, and good sportsmanship. In her spare time she swims with the PAWW Master’s group, takes classes at Illinois State, and is currently applying for Medical School.