GCSTO Coaches Profiles
Nothing but quality, commitment & loyalty!
The GCSTO staff works extremely hard to operate in unity and has made it their mission to promote the concept of "One Team" within the ranks of this program. Each coach fulfills a very specific role in the success of this team that is no less important than the role that any other coach plays on this team. GCSTO has developed an internal coaches’ education program that covers all operational aspects of this team and all coaches provide input into all aspects of program development. Through such input and communication GCSTO has one of the most extensive internal education programs of any program in the country. In fact, GCSTO was the first team in the country to have its’ own internal education program sanctioned for ongoing educational credit by ASCA (the American Swimming Coaches Association). GCSTO utilizes one pre-practice stretching routine, one dryland training routine, one pre-meet warm-up procedure, one series of core development drills and more. This allows everyone on this team to move as one in the same direction in terms of all operational aspects of this team.
Every level on this team has a series of practice performance expectations designated for their particular group which has been written by the head coach. Athletes are expected to accomplish certain physical skills and techniques as a member of that particular level before moving onto the next level. These are designated as our “Level Expectations”. Next, we have developed a series of technical developmental guidelines, termed our “Skills & Drills” that we use in similar fashion across the team to help promote the technical development of our athletes. As well, the staff has also developed a series of actual practice performance test sets for each level on the team that help us determine the actual performance capabilities of the athletes within our practice groups. These are part of our “Challenge Set” and “Goal Set” series. Each and every coach on this team has available to them anything that they could possibly want in terms of written information to help educate them on team operations. Nutrition, hydration, pre-race strategy, warm-down procedures, relay pick procedures, race strategy, practice structure, practice volumes and more has all been discussed on the team and summarized in writing for use by the staff. This staff has available to it hundreds of pages of information associated with how this team approaches all aspects of swimming. All coaches write their own practices in accordance with these series of guidelines established by the staff as a whole.
Each level on the team has its’ own head level coach at each pool. The national team coaching staff is comprised of the head level coaches of level 5, 4 elite and 4. The age group staff is comprised of the head level coaches of all remaining levels. Each level has 3 lanes so there is one coach per 3 lanes during practices. In levels 1, 2 & 3 we also assign an assistant coach to work directly with that group on technical development. That places 4 coaches on deck for 6 lanes at most times during practice. We have a national team development coach working with the senior staff who works as the technical assistant and race strategy advisor to these groups (Level 4, 4 Elite & 5). For all groups at the pools we have also added a video analysis coach at each pool who will videotape athletes during practice and then review these tapes with the athlete right there at practice. Our dryland strength coach handles all aspects of specialized dryland training and strength development in our athletes to ensure consistency throughout the program. |
GCSTO's National Team Coaching Staff
Steve Nye – Head Coach/Level 4 Elite & 5 Coach
Steve is in his 29th year with GCSTO starting with GCSTO in September of 1979 and actually took over the helm of GCSTO in the summer of 1980 as the sole coach of 27 swimmers here on the team. Coach Nye is in charge of GCSTO's Level V training group. He swam for and was graduated from Whetstone High School here in Columbus. He went to Denison University where he competed in, both, swimming and diving, where he remains still as one of the few ever dual individual event conference champions in, both, a swimming and diving event at the collegiate level. He graduated from DU in 1979 with a degree in Biology and went on to OSU for his graduate work in Exercise Physiology specializing in athletic training and swimming injuries. He holds a Masters in this field and went so far as to complete all course work, his oral exams and his general exams for his doctorate in the same field. Before finishing his dissertation, Coach Nye decided to devote himself full time to his coaching career and, as such, simply moved on into the field of coaching. He has coached over 37 US Senior National Qualifiers, 50 Junior National Qualifiers, 18 US Olympic Trial Qualifiers, 16 World ranked swimmers and 2 Olympians. He has served on several US National Team staffs during his tenure having the honor of working with some of America's (and the world's) best athletes while serving as a coach member of those national team staffs. He has also been selected as Ohio Swimming's Senior Coach of the Year no less than 7 times... more than any other coach in Ohio swimming history. He is currently owner/operator of Aquatic Consultants Enterprises, Inc., which is the parent company of GCSTO. He is married to Juli. They have 3 daughters, Lauren (13) and Victoria (11) and Alexandra (7).
Contact coach Nye at stevenye@sbcglobal.net or 614-478-5445.
Tommy Seay – Level 4 Coach
Tommy Seay is originally from Buffalo, NY. He attended The Ohio State University receiving his degree in Sports Administration and was a 4-year member of the Men's Swimming and Diving team. Specializing in the sprint freestyles Tommy was an Olympic Trial qualifier and past school record holder at OSU. He brings a wealth of knowledge to his athletes in terms of what it takes to succeed at the upper levels of this sport. Tommy joined GCSTO in the spring of 2007 and is now in his third year of coaching here at GCSTO as our level 4 coach. Not only does he have an incredible personality with which the athletes can relate but he carries an aura about him that reminds them that he is, indeed, their coach and that they he expects much from them. Tommy has been one of the fastest developing coaches on the team and has learned to meld his passion for swimming, his passion for life and his exuberance for excellence into a coaching style that has mesmerized his athletes. Tommy came to us as a coach who had tremendous focus on training but has gone through an amazing growth as a coach into a leader who provides tremendous variety in his practices, both in and out of the water. He is married to Breanne and has two children, Jayden and Melania.
Contact Coach Seay at swmsprint100@yahoo.com or 614-855-7293.
Nate Cohen - Sprint Select Team Coach
TBA
Brian Tann - CA Level 2 and GCSTO's Age Group Team Coordinator
Brian is taking over the helm of our Academy level 2 program this year, our home school program, and will act as our age group team coordinator. Brian comes to us from Ridgefield Aquatic Club in Connecticut where he was their acting head age group coach and assistant senior coach. Brian has coached at RAC since 2006 and has been an acting assistant at Ridgefield High School since 2005. Brian was nominated for Head Age Group coach of the Year in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons while at RAC. Brian was graduated from Denison University in 1996 and completed his Masters degree in History from Claremont Graduate University in California in 2000.He has just finished 4 years of teaching honors history at Ridgefield High School. As part of his head age group coach responsibilities here at GCSTO Brian will also coach 2 times per week with another junior training group (1, 2 or 3) here on the team at Academy and St. Charles. As well, Brian will help coach one of the senior groups at least 4 times per week acting as one of our senior assistants and working directly with one of the senior staff members. This will allow Brian the chance to see, and work with, ALL levels of coaches and athletes on the team and to help facilitate communicate amongst the staff as to what each and everyone is doing on a day to day basis. Coach Tann lives in Old Town East with his wife, Dawn.
Contact Coach Tann at irelander1848@gmail.com or 614-312-8323.
Ritch Caudill - Senior Development Coach
Ritch Caudill comes to us new at the end of our short course winter 09/10 season. Ritch swam from the ages of 5-18 and swam all 4 years at Ball State University. He has coached masters for 2 years, has volunteered with the Ball State collegiate swimming team for a year, has ran the summer swim cap series at Ball State for 4 years and has worked full-time with USA Swimming in the National Events Department out in Colorado Springs for over 2 years and continues to consult with them on major national and international level event projects. Ritch will begin working closely with coach Nye and other senior members of the staff as he moves into a role of helping out with the Level 3 and above groups... especially in the video analysis area.
GCSTO's Age Group Coaching Staff
Nic Davis – SC Level 1 Coach
Nic will be in his first year of coaching with GCSTO but is no stranger to the program. Nic swam for GCSTO for over 5 years and spent 2 of those years swimming for coach Nye. Nic had also been an instructor with our swimming lesson program and specialized in the more advanced levels due to his background and experience in the sport. He has been acting as head coach of the Groveport Summer Team now and has been there for 5 years. He has been an instrumental part of that team tripling in size during that time. A very responsible, articulate and caring young man known by many of the current coaches on staff we feel Nic will be an incredible addition to the staff. He is extremely excited to become a part of this staff and to continue on with the amazing changes that our incredibly advanced and intricately outlined program plan has brought to our swimmers.
Contact Coach Davis at davisne@mac.com or 614-937-6064.
Rhonda Faller - Level 1 at the CA
Rhonda was a competitive swimmer for 9 years during her age group days. She has had 2 children come through our team (Dustin & Courtney) and has had a tremendous amount of experience coaching/helping with summer league teams & our Swim School as she has been teaching for us for over 6 years. She has been helping on staff with the team for the last 2 years now specializing in working with our younger athletes and has been asked to now take over the level 1 position. She also works with Portman Ob/Gyn and with Ft. Rapids Water Park as one of their Aquatics Managers. She's quite a busy individual for sure! Rhonda works extremely well with these younger athletes gently commanding a controlled environment that simply gets things done! She doesn't let them slide with anything and is constantly working with them to be as effective and as efficient as possible while at practice.
Contact coach Faller at jean3940@aol.com or 614-519-5035.
Laura Lossing – Novice Head Coach
Laura, too, is also an alum of GCSTO. Laura is in her second year as head coach of our Novice team although she coached with us as an assistant a year before that. She has brought her incredible personality, along with her dedication and organizational skills, to the program. Laura graduated with a BA in Zoology from Miami University in Oxford in 2007. She swam all 4 years at Miami and served as the women's team captain her senior year. She is currently in her third year of Optometry School at OSU and is looking forward to her work in the pediatric clinic. Laura has coached for many years and her experience includes summer league coaching with Spring Valley in Granville, camp coaching with Kenyon College and camp coaching in Leysin, Switzerland.
Contact Coach Lossing at llossing@optometry.osu.edu or 740-398-5003.
Dani Marcia – SC Level 2 Coach
Dani is also an alum of GCSTO. She has taught for several years with our lesson program and became one of our most sought out staff members. Since Dani chose to stay in central Ohio to pursue her college education, we contacted her to become a member of our assistant coaching staff this past fall and she proved her salt within days of coming on deck! She is incredibly interactive with the athletes and can relate to them very well. She jumped in with both feet as an assistant which is why we asked her to become a member of the staff in the spring of 2007 to take over the helm of this group while she continues to work on her degree at OSU. Contact Coach Marcia at daniellemarcia.1@gmail.com or 614-561-3009.
Bill Martin - Level 3 at SC
Bill Martin is in his third year back with GCSTO after coaching with us before. He coached with us in the early 90's with our then operating Denison location and then served as an assistant for a year with our Level 3 swimmers at Academy. Bill is an Analytical Chemist with Roxane Laboratories. Bill swam at Newark High School and has also coached several years with various entities from Y to high school to summer league teams. Bill brings a very professional air with him and is excellent with swimmers of all ages and is especially good with younger swimmers. He is married to Cindy, who is also a coach and who will also help out with the team. They have 3 daughters who swim for GCSTO... Paige, Madison & Sidney.
Contact Coach Martin at billandcindy87@wowway.com or 614-759-4370.
Dave Shumaker - Level 3 at CA
Dave came to us almost 16 years ago as a volunteer coach. He is now in his 12th full year of coaching our Level 3 swimmers at Academy. Dave was graduated from Westerville High School and attended OSU. While at OSU he served as manager for the men’s swim team. Dave currently works with Ameritech as a field technician. He is married to Mandy. They have 3 children, Pete, Lisa and Kirstie. Dave is also GCSTO’s Head Technical Coach in charge of overseeing equipment needs/ repairs and assisting in the set up of meets in our computer system. He is definitely one of the coaching backbones of this team as his knowledge, patience & understanding is endless. Dave's unending dedication to this sport and to this team is admired and recognized by everyone associated with this program.
Contact Coach Shumaker at DShumaker@Ameritech.net or 614-895-9969.
GCSTO's Age Group Assistant Coaching Staff
Jamie Esker
Jamie swam with GCSTO for 6 years before moving to Florida. There she swam for her high school and Clearwater Aquatic Team and taught swim lessons for several years. She moved back to attend The Ohio State University over a year ago, where she is preparing to graduate with a degree in economics. Jamie is quickly developing into one our special coaches who loves working with younger athletes. She is excited to once again be involved with GCSTO.
Contact coach Esker at jamie.esker@gmail.com or 614-863-6532.
Gloria McCarthy - Dry Land & Weight Training Coach
Gator, as she is known by, is something else for sure. Not only is she one of our Masters coaches but she is also our senior and age group dry land coach. On top of that she also helps with the weight training of our senior athletes during the springs, summers and falls. She is an absolutely amazing individual who absolutely loves kids, loves exercise and lives what she preaches. Gator also works as an assistant with Columbus Academy High School (this being her first year there) and came on board with GCSTO last spring when the team restructured its' dry land program. She has an eye for detail, an understanding of what motivates athletes, a GREAT background in physical training and makes every athlete feel great about themselves.
Contact coach Gator at gansmccarthy@juno.com or 614-581-1014.
Kyle Root
Kyle currently works for Pepsi and was a head coach with the Grove City Y before taking on his job at Pepsi which altered his time commitment to the sport. He joined the GCSTO staff at the end of last winter and looks to be a tremendous addition to the staff as he jumped in and got immediately into the groove when GCSTO lost one of its' coaches with just 2 weeks left in the season. He has also coached at Maplewood in Stow and with the Western Reserve SeaRiders in Kent. We look forward to Kyle becoming one of the strongest assistants that we've ever had and hope that one day he will be able to get back involved on a fulltime basis.
Contact Coach Root at karoot@kent.edu or 330-221-4796.
Mark Schmidt
Mark is a GCSTO alum and swam for the team in the early 80's. Mark is in his third full year of coaching with GCSTO. He has spent the last year and a half working with a variety of levels on the team as one of our key assistant coaches. With his interests in getting involved more on a year around basis, Mark was given the helm of this new level so that we had an experienced coach with this group and so that we could use him more on a year around basis. Mark also has coached for over 6 years with the Olympic Swim and Racquet Club in Clintonville. Mark's greatest asset seems to be his ability to keep his eyes open to continually looking for ways to become a better coach. He is a very concerned and caring individual who seems to always be asking himself what he can do to really make an impact on the athletes. He's extremely well liked by the athletes.
Contact Coach Schmidt at mschmidt113@yahoo.com or 614-570-1226.
Ian Schmitt
Ian, too, swam for GCSTO for over 8 years... 3 of which were under the eyes of coach Nye. Ian just graduated from Gahanna High School in 2008 and was asked to come on board with the staff due to his tremendous energy levels, his love for the sport, his dedication to the team and his incredible ability to work with, and motivate, younger athletes! Ian is currently a student at OSU pursuing his undergraduate degree right now so we'll have him for awhile! He has taught for several years with our Swim School and has helped coach at the Jefferson Country Club and at the Gahanna Swim Club.
Contact coach Schmitt at schmitt.128@osu.edu or 614-832-8101.
Courtney Shearer
Courtney is a GCSTO alum and joined in the fall of 2006 as an assistant coach. Courtney was a multi-event, multi-season qualifier for the USA Sectional Championship Meet & a US Open qualifier in the 200 IM while with GCSTO. She could swim any of the 4 strokes with incredible proficiency during her tenure with us. She was awarded an athletic scholarship to Miami University in Oxford but pool related health issues cut her college career short. Courtney had taught in our lesson program for several years and was immediately asked to come on staff once she decided to pursue her college education back here in central Ohio. Once on staff she proved clearly that she is an incredible technician and that she can relate extremely well to any athlete regardless of their age.
Contact Coach Shearer at court0108@gmail.com or 614-271-2738.
Mandy Shumaker
Mandy has an incredible background with the team as her husband is, indeed, Dave, as she has had all 3 of her children come through as members of the team, as she has coached our adult Master's team for 5 years in the past and as she has now been coaching with the age group team for 3 years! Mandy is an excellent technician, loves to work on race strategy and runs a tight ship with the younger athletes on the team. She has an incredible eye for detail and is always avidly involved in practices. She was a 2-year swimmer while at OSU and continues to swim at times as a masters swimmer.
Contact coach Mandy at mandy55@ameritech.net or 614-895-9969.
Matt Voelker
Matt is new this year to the GCSTO staff and is helping out with our senior swimmers in level 4 as well as our junior swimmers in other levels. Matt is currently finishing his degree at OSU and hopes to graduate in June with a degree in consumer sciences. Matt swam at Upper Arlington High School and was a multi-time state high school finalist. He went on to swim all 4 years at OSU and broke, individually or was a part of 7 team records while there at OSU. His focus while there was on the sprint events and he is bringing his experience and his knowledge to our swimmers here at GCSTO.
Contact coach Matt at freesprinter@hotmail.com or 614-565-0088.
Quintin Ward
Quintin (Q as he is known amongst the ranks) is also a GCSTO alum and swam for Watterson High School at the time specializing in the breaststroke events. He joined the staff in the spring of 2006 helping out with our high school program and has been with us ever since. He also currently acts as head coach to the Watterson High School Swim Team and was assistant coach there for the 3 seasons before this. He relates extremely well to these high school athletes and works exclusively with these athletes within our program. He is involved in our preseason and spring season high school swimmer programs as a result of his ability to work with this level of athlete.
Contact Coach Ward at wardqj@columbus.rr.com or614-560-9684.
Tally Whitehead
Tally is an extremely experienced coach with 4 years of head coaching experience with the West Express Swim Team out of Chaska, Minnesota. She has a BS in Exercise Science from Indiana University and while there also served as an assistant coach to Bloomington Swim Club & Bloomington South High School so she comes to us with vast experience at all levels of this sport. She has incredible patience with younger swimmers and communicates extremely well with these athletes. Tally also heads up our grant committee and is charged with the task of securing funding for our (soon to come we hope) Disability and Outreach swim programs. We are lucky to have someone with such coaching background helping us out and look forward to year’s ahead with her as part of the staff!
Contact Coach Whitehead at etwhitehead@yahoo.com or 740-548-1765.
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