NTMSC Coaching Team - 2nd to None...
Head
Buckaroo:
Doug Vanderby
Doug is the founding Coach of NTMSC. Coach Doug brings a high degree of leadership, direction, and motivation to the Club. To sum up his coaching philosophy: never use the word "can't" in front of him....
At this years Canadian Masters Championships, Doug was the recipient of Masters Swimming Canada's 2009 Coaching Excellence Award.
In January, 2009 he was Head Coach for the 2nd annual Masters Training Camp at Margarita Island, Venezuela
Before becoming a masters swimmer, he had extensive training as an age grouper and won several University titles. He was Ryerson's Male Athlete of the year in 1982. As a masters swimmer, Doug has been Canadian, US and World Champion. Has several Canadian Masters Records in the 50, 100 & 200 Breast, and a prior World Record for his age group in the 100m Breast. As well, he competes at the World Police /Firefighter Games, the second largest sporting event behind the Olympics held every two years and holds several World Records in those swimming events. He is also an avid open water swimmer.
Doug is a certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Peer Fitness Trainer, as well as an Instructor on the BOSU Balance Trainer and certified as a Level 1 Functional Movement Systems Trainer. Presently, he is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Toronto's Varsity Swim Team and U of T's New High Performance Swimming Centre, catering to Provincially and Nationally Carded Athletes . He is also profiled in the Canadian Million Metre Challenge. and as a Tri Swim Coach at Masters Swimming Canada
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Coach:
Jen Button
Jen entered international waters for Team Canada in 1997 and reached the podium for the first time at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg where she raced to a silver medal in the 200-metre butterfly. Jen went on to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics at age 23 where she finished in the top 20 in both the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly. She also played a key role in the relay events and was a member of two relays that reached the final, the 4x100m medley relay (6th) and the 2x200m freestyle relay (7th). In 2002, she broke the Canadian 100-metre butterfly record three times and produced bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Championships and Commonwealth Games, the two key international events for Canadian swimmers in 2002. Jen was the first Canadian woman to swim the 100-metre butterfly in under a minute and that stood until the summer of 2006. Recently Jen completed her Masters in Sports Administration in Switzerland and now is working with the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Coach:
Kyle Smerdon
Kyle was a member of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Team. His Freestyle stroke is one of the most technically correct strokes you'll ever see. Kyle knows freestyle.
Coach:
Liz Warden
Liz was a member of the 2004 Athens Olympic Team,
placing 11th in the 400 IM in Athens; 1998 Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist in
the 400 IM; Multiple time Canadian National
Champion, voted two time Female University of Toronto Athlete of the year, as
well as the 2002 Canadian Interuniversity Athlete of the Year. Liz brings a wealth
of experience to the North Toronto Masters Swim Club, she knows her strokes! Recently Liz became the
proud mother of Charley, who is already splashing around and kicking like a
frog, a future breaststroker......
Coach: Judy
Garay
It's interesting how things come in full circle in life.... Judy was Canada's top Breaststroker in the late 70's, where she held the Canadian record and was a member of the 1978 Commonwealth Team. At that time, a lanky 17 year old kid walked into her club, she must of had pity for him, for she took him under her guide and helped him along in the world of competitive swimming and breaststroke. That kid was Coach Doug..... While at U of T doing her first degree, Judy was undefeated in her breaststroke events and voted the Female Athlete of the Year. At the age of 42, she returned to U of T for her teaching degree, made the varsity team and set an unofficial world record in the 50 breast! Never say never to Judy.....
Coach:
Suzy Simonetti
Suzy enjoyed competitive swimming growing up and continues to train with the North Toronto Masters Swim Club. Her interest in coaching began during high school, where she would run stroke clinics for the junior swimmers. She coached one year for a senior elementary school swim team and then went on to volunteer with a local high school swim team. In 2005, Suzy began coaching with the North York Aquatic Club in their development program and continues to work with age group swimmers. She received her NCCP Skills Coach certification in 2006. Excited to be coaching with NTMSC, Suzy looks forward to the new challenges of coaching masters swimmers.
Coach: Caitlin Black-Allen
Caitlin brings a very energetic and enthusiastic attitude to the Club. She swam competitively at the provincial and university level and internationally in open water swimming. She is currently an age group development coach and along with her background in both physical education and teaching, she has a unique Philosophy of Challenge + Fun = Success.
Coach: Zuzana
Samkova
Zuzana began swimming competitively in Slovakia at 10 years old. She started coaching age group at the age of 17 and gained her coaching certification during university graduating with a degree in physical education. She came to Canada in 2001 and started training with NTMSC shortly after. Currently teaching/coaching swimming with TDSB, she continues to compete and keeps getting faster.
Coach: Alisa
Abgarov
Alisa has swam competitively from the age of 7 and competed at national and international level throughout the years. She won first place in 50 meters Backstroke at the 2009 Canadian Masters Championship. Furthermore, she has been involved in coaching swimming for more than 10 years now and has a very positive presence on deck. She is currently on the board of directors of the Masters Swimming Ontario, in charge of communications.
Alisa is a certified Kinesiologist with a special focus on biomechanics and biomechanics of injury in swimming. As well, she holds a master’s degree, M.Sc. in Kinesiology & Health Science in the area of Sport Psychology. Her research focused in the field of training stress and predisposition to athletic injury, she presented at the 12th World Congress of Sport Psychology in Marrakech, Morocco and at the 41st Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology conference in Toronto.
Chief Executive Communications
Officer: Chris Smelt
Chris's positive and
upbeat energy is always fun to be around. He's been an avid swimmer from age
group (Cornwall Sea Lions) through his Ryerson days in the early 80's (swam on
Coach Doug's relay team). He feels at one with Triathletes and he's done many
of them - but very sensibly - he prefers to take transitions at a more leisurely
pace - they usually take many months or years to get through. He eschews all
rules regarding racing in - for instance - 'an Ironman' and prefers events like
the OUAA championships in 1985 to do the swimming bit...the Rideau Lakes Cycle
Tour 10 times 1991-2005 for the biking bit and the 2004 Marathon for the running
part.
He started at Summerville (as most of us do) with the North Toronto Masters in
the summer of 2005 as the 5th Chris and has been trying to keep up since (his
favorite phrase being "oh do please lead..."). He made the mistake of writing a
little story about a Karaoke event / dinner and sending it out - management
found out about it and now his meanderings get posted under the banner 'Roving
Reporter' on the flashiest, busiest and most interesting Masters Swimming
Website in the World. Then he was caught taking down everyone's e-mail addresses
and sending out invites to parties/events etc. Management perked up again...and
here he is now a CECO.
Science
and Extreme Human Physiologist: Dr. Greg D. Wells
Greg is a physiologist with a Ph.D. in exercise and respiratory physiology from the University of Toronto and has had his research accepted for presentation at the International Olympic Committee Sports Medicine Congress. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, and a member of the Sport Medicine Advisory Committee for the Canadian Sport Centre. If you watched the Winter Olympics on CBC/TSN you may have saw him as host of Superbodies...
Greg role with NTMSC is as a guest speaker involving various swim topics. He also maintains a consulting practice with elite athletes and business executives in the area of physiological performance enhancement. He is a former international competitive swimmer and coach, has won a national championship in water polo, has twice completed the world’s toughest marathon, and in 2003, completed the 10,500 km Tour D’Afrique bike race.
Guest Coach: John Grootveld
John is the director of swimming and Head
Coach for the Toronto Swim Club. This past Summer he was selected as one
of the coaches for Canada's Junior National Team.
He holds a degree in Physical and Health Education from The University
of Toronto and has been coaching competitive swimming for 14 years.
John will also be a guest speaker with NTMSC, sharing his vast coaching
background from swimming. A silver medallist in the 200 metre
breaststroke at the Canada Games in 1993, he swam competitively for 16
years with the North York Aquatic Club and the University of Toronto. He
was CIAU All-Canadian in 1992 and was ranked among the top 80 swimmers
in the world in the 200 m breaststroke.