Ira Klein

Head Coach, ASCA Level 5

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SARASOTA SWIM ACADEMY/SRQ TSUNAMI SWIM TEAM is under the direction of Head Coach Ira Klein, who has coached 7 OLYMPIANS and over 40 USA, YMCA & COLLEGIATE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

Coach Ira is a certified Level 5 Coach, the highest level attainable with the American Swim Coaches Association. He was the first coach in the country to attain that level as a Senior, Age Group, and YMCA coach. He brings more than four decades of teaching experience and coaching excellence to our program.

Coach Ira is from New York City, graduating in 1975 from Queens College with a BA in Physical Education.  He then did his graduate study in Exercise Science at the Univ. of Massachusetts. At Queens College Coach Ira lettered in both swimming and water polo.

Coaching has taken him around the country, including four years in Colorado at the Olympic Training Center creating a new Club Services department for USA Swimming.  When he was ready to return to the coaching deck he decided to turn down all offers and return to Sarasota where he had prior headed the YMCA program for five years.

AMONG HIS COACHING CREDENTIALS ARE;

·         100% of all program graduating athletes have entered and attended college

·         65% of all program graduates attending college have received scholarships

·         Five time USA National Team Coach

·         Two time past President of the American Swim Coaches Association [ASCA]

·         Past Vice President of USA Swimming

·         ASCA Coach 'Gold Medal' Level; received for more than 20 years as a national ‘Coaching Excellence’ award recipient.

·        Coached over 100 USA Swimming National, NCAA Collegiate, YMCA National, National Age Group and Junior Olympic; individual and team champions!

But when asked what he enjoys most in swimming, the singular answer is "the ability to watch a young person achieve something, at any level, that they had never done before and learn that all is possible if they are willing to work for it."

Whitney Tucker

Age Group Coach

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Whitney Schaefer-Tucker has been involved with water since she was very young.  She swam for the Sarasota Sharks, Boys and Girls Club and Forest Lakes.  Whitney graduated from Florida State University with a BS in Elementary Education/Early Childhood.  She has been teaching elementary school in Sarasota County for 24 years, she currently teaches kindergarten at Ashton Elementary School.  Whitney has been teaching swimming lessons for over 30 years.  Both of her daughters swam so she became a swim coach for the Sarasota Sharks, Sarasota Wahoos and, when her daughters rowed she was a rowing coach for the Sarasota Scullers.  Whitney enjoys working with the younger swimmers—introducing them to the sport and introducing them to life-long friends at the same time.  Whitney lives with her husband, Kenny (a high school baseball coach), her daughters, Aubry (a student at University of West FL) and Ashleigh (a student at the University of FL) and her best buddy, Bosco. 

John Matthew McNitt

Age Group Coach

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Coach Matt was born on June 21, 1974 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Attended elementary, middle and high school in Sarasota, Fla.  He started swimming in 1981 at the age of seven.  Continued swimming through 1995.  During the course of his career he was a member of GSAC [Greater Sarasota Aquatic Club], Sarasota Boys and Girls Club, Swim Florida and Sarasota High school.  Coach Matt earned two Junior National Qualifying time, four All Americans, four All States, three All Area, and was part of a National High School 200 medly record setting time.
 
Presently he is working for Manatee County Marine Rescue as a EMT/Beach Lifeguard and rescue diver. He lives in Sarasota with his two children, Elexa McNitt and Colby McNitt along with his wife Lisa and three stepchildren - Tyler, Hannah and Collen.
 
His hobbies include surfing, spear fishing, free diving and coaching swimming.
 

Peter Hegwein

Age Group Coach

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Coach Peter Hegwein is a 1984 graduate of The Florida State University with a degree in Biochemistry.  Following a successful 24-year career with Wyeth in sales and sales training, he became a professional swim coach when his two children joined the local swim club in 2006. 

Peter holds certifications from USA Swimming as a N2 Starter and Deck Referee, and is an ASCA (American Swim Coaches Association) level 2 certified coach.  He is a member of WSCA (World Swimming Coaches Association)and USMS(U.S. Masters Swimming).  In addition to his duties with The Sarasota Tsunami Swim Team, he coaches the “Original”Sarasota Masters at the Arlington Aquatics Center, developing many Top Ten finishing Masters swimmers!

Born in Colorado, Peter has resided in Sarasota since 1970, and was a competitive swimmer with the Greater Sarasota Aquatics Club.  Peter is married to Cindy, a Disease Management specialist, and a former competitive swimmer from Westfield, New Jersey.  It is his personal goal to someday beat his wife in butterfly…

Deb Walker

Age Group Coach

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Deb Walker grew up in Valley Forge, Pa, and swam for Suburban Swim Club. She obtained a degree in Clinical Chemistry from Penn State University where she was captain of the swim team for three years. After earning a certification as a Microsoft Systems Engineer (MCSE), she worked in IT for several years before deciding teaching was what she found most gratifying. Deb earned a Master’s Degree (Education) specialty in Integrating Technology in the Classroom, and currently teaches sixth grade science in the IB program at Brookside. She also is the web administrator for Toad Hollow Athletics, a swim supply ecommerce site. Her two grown children were born in Sarasota, and represented Swim Florida where she coached for 16 years.Swimming Credentials

Master’s Swimmer: 28 National and 18 World Records since 1980.

1985-1999: Certified USA Swim Coach, Swim Florida

1992-1999: Head Coach, Cardinal Mooney High School

1992: Appeared in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd”

          Voted Florida Swimmer of the year

1993: Voted High School Coach of the year by the Sarasota Herald Tribune

2004: Inducted into Dick Vitale’s Sports Hall of Fame

Program Director, SwimAmerica

Service Awards

1991: President George W. Bush’s Point of Light for volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club     

2004: Frank Tillotson Service award by the Florida LMSC 

2005: Congressional Special Recognition by Katherine Harris, 2005

2005: Dorothy Donnelly Service award by the USMS (United States Masters Swimming)