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Tim was born and raised
in Cincinnati, Ohio and aquatics made their presence known almost
immediately. His father was a swimmer, his mother a diver,
and they, too, are honored to have served their sports as
coaches. Due largely to the enthusiasm his parents have
always demonstrated for the water, Tim treasures the time he spent
in the pool and is particularly grateful for the many lasting
lessons and friendships that aquatics have provided him.
Tim's coaching philosophy is to keep things fast, fun and focused
and he enjoys learning from his swimmers just as much as he enjoys
teaching them.
As an athlete, Tim was
fortunate enough to represent such Cincinnati area clubs as Oak
Hills Swim Team, Cincinnati Marlins and M.E. Lyons YMCA, but it was
his experience as a state champion and All-American at Cincinnati
St. Xavier High School that cemented his passion for the
sport. After graduating from St. X in 1998, he competed as a
Kenyon College Lord in Gambier, Ohio and was awarded All-Conference
honors. In 2002, he achieved a B.A. in History from
Kenyon.
Tim has many years of
coaching experience, including summers at Hyde Park Golf &
Country Club in Cincinnati, some time as an undergrad assistant at
Kenyon under the watch of renowned coach Jim Steen and one season
at the high school level with Harvard-Westlake School in North
Hollywood, CA. He also teaches History and PE part-time
at Harvard-Westlake and coaches the athlete-members of Southern
California Aquatics, a U.S. Masters Swimming club.
Tim is currently
enjoying his fourth year as a member of the TSM
family.
Coach Chris has been a
competitive swimmer since the age of six. A Southern California
native, he began his swimming career after having an operation on
his legs to avoid permanent disability. While re-learning how to
walk, Chris found comfort in the water and began a love of our
sport that has lasted for more than 25 years. Chris has coached in
the development of every category of swimmer from beginner to the
national champion. His coaching enthusiasm encourages swimmers to
practice proper technique while getting a tough workout. He creates
practical workouts that cater to each swimmer and the club as a
whole, while aiming toward specific goals. Chris had a highly
successful swimming career. He was the fastest swimmer in the
United States, multiple times in numerous events. He broke four
Southern California Swimming Records, qualified for Jr. Nationals
at 14, USA Nationals by 16, and competed at Olympic
Trials. Chris represented the USA in Paris, France, as Captain
of the USA National Jr. Team. His commitment to age group swimming
was rewarded with a full swimming scholarship to the Division I
Southern Illinois University.
Started swimming at age
5 for Iowa City Swim Club. Swam for Iowa City High School and the
University of Northern Iowa. After graduation, began coaching
career. From 2000-2006, Head Age Group coach for the Iowa City Eels
swim club, assistant (2000-2004)/Head (2005-2006) Boys high school
and assistant girls high school coach. From 2006-2009, Head Age
Group coach for ORCA and assistant coach for El Modena HS. Back in
IA, helped start up the Iowa Flyers swim club.
Erin Robertson is
a graduate from California State University at Northridge
(CSUN) where she studied to become an elementary school
teacher. Erin has been involved in aquatics for the past
twenty years, beginning her swim career at MSJA and continuing on
to her high school team. Erin began teaching swimming
fundamentals with Swim America and has now been with Team
Santa Monica for over two years. She is the coach for the
pre-competitive group; swimmers aged 5-10 and learning proper
stroke technique. She also coaches the silver group, ages 12-17;
mastering strroke technique and proper racing
strategies.
ASCA Level 4
A Life-Long Love of Sports and Competition: Monique began her Swimming career at
age 4 with Phillip 66 Swim Club in Orange County under the
tutelage of Flip Darr and Don Gambril. Her family moved to
Arizona when she was 12 to a town that did not have a swim team (go
figure), so Monique began participating in other sports, though
successful at her on land endeavors (All- State Athlete in HS in
both Basketball and Track,and college All- American, Monique still
loved and missed swimming. At age 16 she moved back to California
alone, and lived with a host family in preparation for Olympic
Trials. Suffice it to say, 80 was not her year. Monique still
loves to compete-- these days, she races outrigger canoes on a
national and international level. No matter where her path takes
her, her heart is in the water. She has coached, life-guarded,
managed pools, and taught swimming lessons, always keeping her
connection to the water/swimming and sharing what it means to be an
athlete with others. She wants each child to have that same passion
and success in sports, and the tools to enjoy being active for a
life-time!
College Coaching: She was the Asst. Men's/Women's Swimming Coach and
Lecturer for the Health and Exercise Science Dept. at NMSU for 3
years She developed weight training protocols, athlete
assessments and recruited college-bound athletes. During her
time there, she had great access to the physiology dept. and was
able to do some studies on the athletes and publish research (see
below). Wanting to get back out west, she took the job at
CSUSB as the Asst. Men's/Women's Coach. The University
dropped the program the following year and that led to the
formation of Streamline Aquatics (STAR).
Leadership, Education, and Awards: Monique was the Head Coach at
Streamline, and she developed some powerful athletes at that
program. In 7 years with STAR, she completed her Master's
degree in Physical Education, was voted Eastern Section Age Group
Coach of the Year, served on 3 Zone Team Coaching Staffs, was a
Women's Sports Foundations/Budget Rent A Car nominee for Female
Coach of the Year, and was named in Who's Who Among
American Teachers. She joined the TSM staff 3 years
ago with vast amounts of experience over a couple decades (which
she hates to admit).
Coaching Highlights: Olympic Trials, Sr. Nationals, Jr.Nationals, US Open,
National Top 16, Zone teams, and College
Scholarships.
Research/Publications:
Article: Rohrs, D., Shelton, M., Arabas, C., "The
Relationship between seven Anaerobic Power Tests and Swim
Performance," Journal of Swimming Research. 1991; 6:4
15-19. Presented at the National Strength Coaches
Meeting, San Diego, June 90.
Abstract: " The Effects of Carbohydrate Supplements on Blood
Lactate Concentrations and Heart Rates for Incremental
Workloads." Clithero, L., Shelton, M., Arabas, C.
Ryan was raised in
Stratford Connecticut. He swam for the Stratford YMCA where he
competed in both summer and winter nationals. During High School he
was named All-state in the 100 butterfly and the 50 free style his
junior and senior years. He also held the conference record in both
events. Ryan swam for Central Connecticut State University for two
years until the program was retired due to Title IX. Before
coming to California he was Head Age Group coach for the Fairfield
Fly Fins (2004-06). Ryan coached for Edge Swim Club (2006-2008) and
is now coaching for Team Santa Monica
(2008-present).
Mary Mitchell is a
graduate of Culver City High School in Culver City, California. She
will be attending Loyola Marymount University where she would like
to major in political science with a law emphasis and eventually
obtain a law degree. She started swimming when she was 7 years old
at the Plunge with one of the first recreational swim clubs in
Culver City. She continued to swim with different club teams over
the years and at 12 found a home with Edge Swim Club. She swam with
Edge for 2 ½ years until she started high school and chose
to swim and play water polo. In the summer of 2006, she returned to
the Edge family as an employee. She currently teaches the
Pre-Competitive group . In 2006 she was employed as a swim
instructor at the Culver-Palms family YMCA.
Marty and his wife
Courtney (she takes all the orders for caps, clothes!) are the
proud parents of three children, two of whom are active swimmers on
TSM (blue 2 and red groups), and a third who is a
“seasonal” swimmer. Marty and his family moved to
the West side ofLos
Angelesin the summer of 2005,
having repatriated to theUSafter almost 8 years of
living abroad inLondon,England. A native
Californian, Marty has been involved in swimming for most of his
life. He was an active age-group swimmer in theSan
Diegoarea, swimming under
Coach Jeff Pease, for the gold medal team, North Coast
Aquatics. He also competed in national Junior Lifeguard
competitions. He earned high-school All-American swimming honors,
and then went on to swim varsity atHarvardUniversity, where he majored in
Government. Since moving back to theUS, Marty has been active
at TSM, serving on the head coach search committee in 2006-7 and,
for the past two years, serving as the Board’s President.
Professionally, Marty is a seasoned real estate private equity
investor, with over 20 years of investing experience. Marty
recently started a real estate consulting, advisory, and principal
investing firm, 2120 Partners. He is a frequent panel
speaker, active member of numerous real estate organizations, and a
graduate ofHarvardCollege(A.B. ‘89),
andNorthwesternUniversity’s Kellogg
Graduate School of Management (M.B.A. ‘97).
Denise Marsh has two
children swimming with TSM. Her son, age 14 swims in Sr.
Development and daughter 13, in Blue 2. The Marshes entered
the swim world when their young son told his parents he wanted to
surf, so the family joined the Palisades YMCA. Both kids swam at
PALY, until the Marshes moved to TSM about 5 years ago. Ms. Marsh
came to competitive swimming as a parent having never swum at that
level herself. She says that she now has a working knowledge of
“swim culture and what it means to be a swim parent.”
Denise is a very involved volunteer for TSM. This is her
second term on the TSM Board (4th year) and was on the Board when
the Culver and PALY teams joined TSM. Additional TSM volunteer
positions include: Fundraising, such as the Swim-A-Thon and
Raffles; assisting in coordinating Home Meets, all aspects of
Volunteer Coordination; Website Updating, and Co-Chaired the Team
Banquet (3 years). She is proud of her knowledge of the workings of
TSM, and is on deck observing practice at SMSC about three day a
week. Denise graduated from Art Center College of Design in
Pasadena, CA. with highest honors in Photography. She is now
a busy full time Mom who stays involved with her children’s
activities by volunteering. She has served on several Parent Boards
and chairs fundraisers.
Competed and coached at
the age group, high school, collegiate and master’s
level. Past Board Member of Palm Desert Aquatics and Past
President of Palm Springs Piranhas. Member in good standing
with Team Santa Monica since 2001. TSM at large board member,
long range planning task force chair and head coach search
committee member from 2002-2005. Presently serving the board
and membership as treasurer since September 2008. Spouse
served the board from 2005-2008. Three children on the team
that have participated from beginning to most advanced
groups. Presently has children in SMSC Blue 2 and Senior
Development. Oldest son swam with TSM from 2001-2004 and then
at Irvine NOVAQUATICS from 2004-2006 prior to attending the
University of California – Berkeley as a four year letter
winner and All American. Professionally is a PGA Golf
Professional and Golf Coach and served the PGA of America as
President of the Southern California Section.
A parent to Steven
Turnbull, a 14-year old CCP Senior Development swimmer with Junior
Olympic qualifying times, who swims primarily at the Culver pool
with Coach Monique. They have been part of the TSM family
since early 2008 when the Edge swimmers became part of the TSM
team. She was appointed to the TSM Board at that time as part
of the union of thetwo teams.
As a certified paralegal for more than 20 years, Ms.
Potterhas an extensive
background and experience with the corporate,
litigationtransactional,
and estate planning areas of law. She has a Bachelor
ofScience degree in
Business Administration from Mount St. Mary's
College.
Derek Gipson is a
native of Santa Monica. As a youth, he competed as an age
group swimmer for Team Santa Monica and continued his swimming at
Santa Monica High School. Currently, he has two daughters who swim
for TSM, ages 9 and 7 smsc blue 1 and red. He has also served as
TSM meet director for last three home
meets.Professionally, Derek
is an Assistant Vice President, Fixed Income Trader for a major
bank. He is married to an amazing sixth grade
teacher.
A Cardiologist at
Pacific Heart Institute in Santa Monica, and himself is an active
SCAQ masters swimmer. He has three daughters who were all age
group swimmers on the PALY swim team where he served on the boards
of both the swim team and the YMCA, also serving as the swim meet
director for eight years. As a parent, he has been involved in
Southern California Swimming, High School and CIF meets, Y
Nationals, Sectionals, and US Senior Nationals. His oldest
daughter swam at Stanford, graduating in 2009. Allison,
his youngest daughter, is a current TSM swimmer in the smsc
senior/national group and will be swimming at Amherst college
beginning this fall. He joined the TSM board in 2008 when the
PALY program and pool were permanently closed, appreciating the
smooth transition TSM provided at a very difficult time for the
PALY swimmers. He brings perspective regarding the importance of
volunteerism and the fragile nature of the swim organizations many
take for granted.
Jesse Casso is
the father of Isabel and Liliana Casso, both Senior Group swimmers.
We have been active members of TSM since 2002, volunteering
our time, our home and making donations. We have been supportive of
TSM when it had 70swimmers and now when it has 300 swimmers. Our
family is very focused on diversity and inclusion. There is little
of that in swimming. We worked to obtain a foundation grant
providing scholarships for economically disadvantaged
swimmers.
I am confident that our
family experience at TSM and my work experience will allow me to be
a capable board member.I was most recently the Chief
Investment Officer of The California Endowment. I graduated
from UC San Diego and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I
have lived and worked in Mexico and Japan. I have sat on and
currently sit on a number of public and private company, and
non-profit organization boards. I understand the accountability of
boards to their constituents and believe that serving on the board
of a parent led organization can be as challenging a task as
any.
