JERRY HOLTREY, HEAD COACH: The team's head coach since 1968; Coach
Holtrey has enjoyed remarkable success with
RICK STACY, Age Group Coach:
Coach Stacy provides the transition between the novice groups and the more
demanding training required at senior level swimming. Coach Stacy provides a strong endurance base
for his younger swimmers and emphasizes proficiency in all four strokes. Several times selected as age group coach of
the year and head coach of the southern zone
Distance camp in 1999, Stacy has been a presenter
on age group training at the American Swim Coaches Clinic, the USA Coaches
College, the National Age Group Forums and Sports Science Forum held at the
Olympic Training Center. His LESD age
groupers have achieved numerous National Age Group Top 16 awards and several
national records and have enjoyed remarkable longevity in the sport. Coach Rick spoke at the ASCA Age Group Coaches Clinic in Los
Angeles in November 2003 and the 2004 Allegheny Mountain LSC clinic.
IAN MURRAY, Silver Group Coach: Ian is in his fifth year with
the Silver Dolphins coaching staff. He
joined the coaching staff in 2000; assisting head coach Jerry Holtrey with the
Gold/Elite training group. During that
period he led the team at the 2001 USA Swimming Summer Nationals and helped
guide the Dolphins to the 2001 Open Water National Team Title. Starting in September of 2002, Ian assumed
head coaching duties of the Silver Training Group (ages 11-14). With the introduction of a daily dry-land
routine and an increased focus on training intensity, Silver provides the final
transition from age group to senior level swimming. Beginning in 2004, Ian became an assistant
coach at the Hawken School. He also
continues to serve as an assistant to Jerry Holtrey with the Gold/Elite
Group. This past summer he led the
Silver Dolphins at the 2005 Junior National Championships in Irvine,
California. Ian previously served as an
assistant coach at Cleveland State University from 2000-2002, has served on the
staff of the Richard Quick/Stanford National Swim Camp, and was Head Coach of
both the 2003 Ohio Mid-States QUAD Team and the 2004 Lake Erie Zone Team. Ian is also the coaching representative to
the Lake Erie Swimming, Inc. Board of Directors. He is a graduate of Cleveland State
University, where he was a standout swimmer from 1996-2000. Ian served as a team captain and helped guide
the Vikings to back-to-back conference titles in 1998 and 1999. During this period he also represented the
Silver Dolphins as a swimmer and was a national.
PAUL WAGNER, Red Group Coach: Coach Paul creates the basic foundation for
his swimmers to carry throughout their careers.
Now enjoying his 22nd consecutive year of swim coaching, Coach Paul
brings to his protégés a background from summer country club, AAU, YMCA,
CHERYL RIBIC, Younger Age Group Coach: Coach Cheryl has
been coaching the LESD white group since 1999. Her focus is the basic
stroke development of new age group swimmers while maintaining a fun and
exciting learning experience. Prior to LESD Cheryl coached the
eight and under group for Rockville Montgomery Swim Club in Maryland, a team
she represented during
her swimming career at several Junior and Senior National competitions. Cheryl
attended Bowling Green State University on a swimming scholarship where she was
named conference "Swimmer of the Year" for three consecutive years.
Having started swimming at age four Cheryl understands the importance of
mastering basic stroke mechanics while developing an appreciation for the
many diverse experiences swimming has to offer.
JEN CATTON: Blue Group
Coach: Jen
joined the Silver Dolphin coaching staff in 2005. Her focus will be fine tuning all four
strokes and getting swimmers ready for the demands of Bronze. Before joining the Silver Dolphins, Jen ran
the Cleveland State University Children’s Learn to Swim Program for 3 years. At
Cleveland State, she also taught Beginner and Intermediate (Adult) swimming
classes. Jen is originally from Windsor,
Ontario where she began summer league swimming at the age of 6 and then joined
the Windsor Aquatic Club at age 10.
During her 11 year career with
Currently on leave: BETSY
TIETJEN, Blue Group Coach has been with LESD as a coach
for the past 5 years. She has worked,
unofficially and officially, as an assistant coach with Hawken High School for
the past 4 seasons, and having swum for both teams herself, she understands the
teams from the swimmer's perspective.
Betsy grew up in the water at the Chagrin Recreation Center, and started
swimming with USC under Mark Braun when she was 6. She followed Mark to LESD and started with
the team when she was 9. Betsy also
works as Pool Director at Hawken Day Camps.
She has an MA in history, and will teach again when her brand new baby
girl and possibly another child have started school in a few years! She and her husband Kurt are about to
celebrate their 2nd anniversary this August.
RICK BALCAM, Mayfield branch: Coach Balcam joined the coaching staff of
LESD seven years ago, and being a past Dolphin swimmer himself, he was quite
familiar with the program. Rick swam competitively
for twelve years from an age grouper through college. He has coached for 19 years at various levels
from country club, summer leagues to high school. His high school teams have won two
consecutive sectional titles. In the
past seven years he has also qualified swimmers for the state championship meet
five of his seven years as a head high school coach. His coaching philosophy includes a desire
that every swimmer become proficient in all four strokes. He then believes in adding yardage and
stressing mechanics in every workout.
His goals are for every swimmer is to enjoy swimming, have a positive
experience and to learn self discipline.
This he believes will carry over to everyday life situations. Rick Balcam currently teaches World History
at the Memorial Junior High School in
the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School system where he also serves as a team facilitator. Rick spends his summer as pool director for
the Chagrin Falls
Recreation
Department where he runs the “learn to swim program” and supervises the
lifeguards.
BILLY GERMAN, CVAC: Billy joined the Silver Dolphin staff in 2004,
assisting Rick Balcam with the CVAC program.
Billy plans to continue the program that Rick implemented focusing on
stroke mechanics and the development of the four strokes, endurance, and
striving to create an overall positive experience in competitive swimming. He has coached swimmers from the younger age
groups all the way up to the masters level.
Along with coaching, Billy is a firefighter/paramedic with the
Bainbridge Township Fire Department.