Meet Your Coaches
Built On The Love Of Swimming
Marie
Marie began her swimming career at the age of eight with the Ottawa Kingfish Swim Club. Her father was an assistant coach for the West End junior team, and he taught her invaluable swimming skills. She later competed at the Junior Nationals in synchronised swimming. At university, Marie was team captain with the Carleton University varsity swim team. Marie later became a Level Three certified swim coach. She is also a certified Canadian Natural Nutritionist who champions healthy eating for a healthy lifestyle.
Currently, Marie coaches the Ottawa Swim Masters, who train at the Soloway JCC pool. She conducts personalised stroke improvement sessions for all abilities. She is a former Swim Ottawa head coach.
Emily
Emily began swimming competitively with Swim Ottawa, formerly known as the Gefilte Fish Swim Club, at the age of six. She competed up to the national level. She was also a finalist in the 2016 Olympic Swimming Trials.
She attended the University of Guelph in 2013 and competed as a Gryphon athlete for four years. During university, Emily became a four-time OUA All-Star, an eleven-time OUA medallist, and a U Sports medallist.
Emily is an elementary school teacher. She also organizes swim clinics and instructs private lessons with Marie’s help. She has a passion for swimming and making it fun!
Brendan
Brendan has been a competitive swimmer for eighteen years. He swam with his two sisters and father on the Blenheim Blast Swim Team at an early age. He earned his first provincial medal at age eleven and made his first national event in the 200-meter butterfly at age twelve. He then medaled at age group nationals.
Later on, he competed at the varsity level. He raced for the University of Regina Cougars and the uOttawa GeeGees. He made A final appearances for the Usports National Championship and Canadian Trials in the 100 and 200 butterfly events and the 200 and 400 individual medley events.
Brendan has worked with swimmers of all skill levels, both with his home club and the Regina Optimist Dolphins Swim Club. He’s now had the privilege of working with Marie and her coaching staff for the past couple years. He recently graduated from uOttawa and is now pursuing a career in paramedicine at Algonquin College.
Olivia
Olivia is a passionate member of the aquatic community, both as an athlete and as a coach. She competed as a swimmer for eight years before transitioning to sprint kayaking, where she competed at the national and international levels.
Her coaching role has evolved alongside her athletic journey. She started coaching with the Ottawa Swim Masters in 2019. She enjoys sharing her continued love for swimming. She applies her multidisciplinary athletic experience to her coaching practice. Above all, Olivia values the connections and community that sport fosters. She prioritizes and creates a positive and constructive training environment.
Myles
Myles began competitive swimming at age eight. He spent most of his swimming career competing as part of the COBRA Swim Club in Brampton, Ontario. He competed at both the age-group provincial and national levels before moving onto the University of Guelph varsity swim team. He competed at the varsity level for four years, helping the team at the OUA and USPORTS championships. He specialised in challenging events like the 200 metre butterfly, the 400 metre individual medley, and the 1500 metre freestyle. He is also an accomplished short-course triathlete. He’s competed at the Junior World Championships, the Elite Continental Cup, and the World Cup levels. His swimming strength often asserted himself at the front of the race.
Myles coaches based on his personal experience in the pool with a first-principles mindset. He focuses on improving stroke technique and skill. Coaching with an emphasis on stroke improvement makes swimmers more efficient and faster. He continues to build his knowledge of sport physiology for endurance sports.
Off the pool deck, Myles is pursuing his MASc. in Mechanical Engineering at Carleton University. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and snacking.
Julia
Julia grew up swimming with Swim Ottawa (formerly Gefilte Fish) and GO Kingfish. She learned how to swim and also developed a deep love for the sport. As a competitive age group national-level swimmer, she went on to swim at the University of Ottawa. She qualified for the University National Championships.
Julia has been coaching with the Ottawa Swim Masters since she was sixteen years old and has loved every minute of it. One of her favourite parts of coaching is coming up with challenging and fun sets for motivated adults in the pool. She loves it when swimmers come out of a practice, saying, “That was tough…but I enjoyed it.” She finds it especially rewarding to coach at the JCC, where she first learned to love swimming—she still remembers using chairs as diving blocks to practise their starts, which always gave them a good laugh! She looks forward to many more years of coaching with OSM.
