Bob Strube
Head Senior Coach |
Contact Bob:
630.752.5770
bob@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
National, Senior, Gold |
Bob Strube has been coaching since 1977, and in the area since 1986. His list of accomplishments are nearly unparalleled in Illinois and across the country. He has coached 16 Olympic Trials swimmers, countless National Champions, and dozens of state qualifiers. Many of his swimmers have earned college swimming scholarships and have been named Captain of their college teams. Many others have gone on to enjoy successful college careers. Bob is the two time recipient of the YMCA Long Course National Coach of the Year award. He is also an assistant coach to Marc Gamble for the College of DuPage Swim Team.
Because of Bob’s personal experience in swimming, having not begun swimming competitively until the tenth grade, he is committed to providing “something for everyone,” regardless of their ability or experience. He believes that teaching swimmers Life Values through competition is more important than fast times. He feels that learning the value of hard work, discipline and self-respect though sportsmanship, respect for others, will result in an overall successful person. Designing and implementing a program which allows swimmers to achieve these things will have successful swimming as a by-product. |
Chris del Galdo
Head Age Group Coach |
Contact Chris:
630.752.5770
chris@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Junior National |
Chris del Galdo has coached swimming since 1989. Chris's teams have won 5 JO State Championships and 12 YMCA State Championships. Chris's swimmers have competed in 38 top 6 team finishes in Age Group State Meet competition, over 50 individual event State Champions, many relay state champions as well as several State Records. Chris is the head coach of the Glenbard Co-op Swimming and Diving Team, which encompassed Glenbard North and East High Schools and has included 3 state qualifiers and a state relay in 2010 and a top 20 finish at the high school state meet. He also has coached the COD swim team in 1994, 1995, 1996 and most recently assisted Marc Gamble as a College of DuPage coach, where he helped coach the team to a second place finish at the NJCAA Championships. Chris has coached all ages and ability levels during his 23 year coaching career.
Chris believes that young swimmers should be involved in as many activities as possible as they grow up, so that they can choose to participate in an activity which they enjoy. This helps create an atmosphere in which swimmers feel they are involved in the true sport of their choice once they reach the upper levels of the swim team. He believes that each athlete deserves a full explanation of all training and technique principles which are used in the program. As a result, swimmers come to adopt their own philosophies rather than to simply believe things “because the coach said so.”
Chris and his wife reside in Wheaton and have two daughters who attended Wheaton Warrenville South High School. They participated in swimming collegiately - Lauren previously at Eastern Michigan and Taylor currently at Rutgers University respectively. |
Jacob Ayers
Head Administrative Coach, Age Group Coach |
Contact Jacob:
630.752.5770
jacob@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Gold, Senior Team |
Jacob Ayers has been coaching since 1995 and is currently the head coach of the Wheaton Co-op High School Team (Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North High Schools), where he has been the head coach since 2000. He is a Wheaton College Swimming alum, and has coached swimmers ranging from novice to All-Americans, State Champions, Olympic Trials qualifiers, and NCAA finalists.
Jacob takes his coaching philosophy from a number of well known coaches, including Ray Lawrence, Tom Aviscious, and Tony Young at the Carmel Swim Club; Jon Lederhouse at Wheaton College; and the other coaching members of the Wheaton Swim Club. He believes in creating a supportive “team” environment which also encourages swimmers to develop individually.
For the younger swimmers, stroke technique and other skills are always placed over simply swimming laps. For the older swimmers these skills are always reiterated as they begin to train more seriously. His catch phrase is “Courage, Commitment, Character” and his first goal is to instill these values in young people.
He and his wife Meghan reside in Wheaton. |
Meghan Daly Ayers
Group Coach |
Contact Meghan:
630.752.5770
meghan@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Bronze, Blue, Orange |
Meghan has coached with the Wheaton Swim Club since 2005. She was previously head coach of the Naper Carriage Hill swim team in Naperville, where she led the team to a second place finish at the city championships in 2006.
She is a Naperville Central grad and also participated in many local swim clubs in Naperville. From the age of 5, she has been involved in competitive swimming on the club, high school, and collegiate level. In College she was a varsity swimmer at both the College of Charleston and UIC, and was elected team captain as a sophomore. Meghan has a paralegal degree from Roosevelt University degree in Chicago and is currently pursing her master's degree in Education from Wheaton College.
Meghan also coordinates private lessons for the Wheaton Swim Club. |
Patty Bartelt
Group Coach |
Picture Coming Soon
Contact Patty:
630.752.5770
patty@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Bronze, Blue, Orange Team |
Patty returns to the Wheaton Swim Club this year having been involved in the sport since 1993. In addition to her coaching background, she also has been a water fitness and safety instructor, aquatics director, and group lessons coordinator. Most recently, she has been the aquatics director and head swim coach at the St Charles Country Club in St Charles, IL. She has led her teams to a league team championship and a league runner-up since taking over as head coach.
On a personal level, Patty has been very involved in her community where ever she has been. She has volunteered for victims of hurricane Katrina; acted at PTO President; and even been a Girl Scout Leader. |
Sydney Campbell
Group Coach |
Contact Sydney:
630.752.5770
sydney@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Silver |
Sydney Campbell comes to our program from the Naperville Riptides, where she coached since 2006. Sydney is a Naperville Central grad and is currently an accounting major at Norther Illinois University. She also has a younger sister who swims with the Wheaton Swim Club.
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Lauren Futris
Group Coach |
Contact Lauren:
630.752.5770
lauren@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Silver |
Lauren swam for coach Bob Strube and coach Chris DelGaldo for many years. She has been coaching the Glen Ellyn Gators Swim Team since 2005 and is excited to return to Wheaton Swim Club. She graduated in 2009 from Illinois State University with a degree in Social Sciences Education.
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Mark Golden
Group Coach |
Contact Mark:
630.752.5770
Groups:
Silver |
Mark Golden recently graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Social Studies Teaching. At Ball State he swam for four years and was captain his senior year. Mark has previously worked with the Roselle Racers Swim Team and is currently the assistant coach for the Lake Park High School Swim Team.
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Tim Keeley
Group Coach |
Contact Tim:
630.752.5770
tim@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Gold, Silver |
Tim Keeley joins the team in 2009 and will be working with the blue, bronze, and orange groups. He will also be occasionally be helping with Gold and Junior National, so please welcome him to the team.
A little bit about Tim:
*25+ years of competitive swimming/coaching experience
*Coached and swam at all levels from swim lessons to NCAA swimming
*Glad to be returning to coaching and working with the swimmers and staff of Wheaton Swim Club.
*To fill in the time between practices, Tim is the Purchasing and Transportation Manager at Oak Park and River Forest High School. He lives in Glen Ellyn with his wife, Kate, a Physician Assistant in cardiology and former distance swimmer. They are both very active with Global Medical Brigades through which they travel to Honduras to provide much needed medical care in remote areas of the country.
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Anna MacCarthy
Group Coach |
Contact Anna:
630.752.5770
Groups:
Blue, Bronze, Orange |
Anna recently graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Social Work. She grew up swimming for the Lisle Park District team. Anna swam for Naperville North during her high school years. She has coached the Lisle Park District team for the past five years and has been head coach for the last three. Anna plans to attend graduate school in the fall to obtain her Master’s in School Social Work.
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Jason Maddux
Group Coach |
Contact Jason:
630.752.5770
jason@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Silver |
Jason swam for coach Bob Strube and for coach Jacob Ayers and is a Wheaton North HS grad. He then competed at Wheaton College on the varsity swim team, and graduated from ISU with degrees in Political Science and Philosophy. He is studying to obtain a secondary teaching certificate in English and Math. He also is the Assistant coach for the new Glenbard High School Girls co-op, and volunteers for the Wheaton Co-op Boy's Swim Team.
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Jenny Woo
Group Coach |
Contact Jenny:
630.752.5770
jenny@wheatonswimming.com
Groups:
Blue, Bronze, Orange |
Jenny graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008 with a degree in Sociology. She swam competitively for 10 years on the club and high school level, even swam for coach Bob. She has previously coached for the Bloomingdale Barracudas and Tanglewood Tigersharks and is excited about the upcoming season.
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Holly Higgins
Wheaton Diving Lessons Instructor |
Contact Holly:
630.752.5770
hollyannehiggins@yahoo.com |
Diving Lessons are instructed by Holly Higgins. Holly competed at the international level, where she was coached by Ken Armstrong, currently the USA Diving National Team Coach. Holly coached in Canada, where she developed several age-group and senior divers who later would final at the Olympic Games, most notably David Bedard, Mark Rourke, Debbie Fuller, and Wendy Fuller. Diving lessons are also assisted by state high school qualifiers.
Holly has a BSC in Physical and Health Education and an MSC in Community Health from the University of Toronto. While working towards these degrees, she also coached the York University Varsity Team, the University of Toronto Diving Team, and the Etobicoke Diving Team.
Holly and her family moved to Wheaton in 1998. She is married to John Blanchard (not the founder of Wheaton College) and she has two sons, both of whom swim for the Wheaton Swim Club. |
