ASCA Announces Top 10 Age Group Coaches of the Year
The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) and Fitter & Faster Swim Camps are pleased to announce the Top 10 age group coaches for 2024.
Congratulations to the following outstanding coaches (in alphabetical order):
| Name | Club |
| Joe Finke | Saint Petersburg Aquatics – FL |
| Rod Hansen | Irvine Novaquatics – CA |
| Tom Himes | North Baltimore Aquatic Club – MD |
| Mike Julian | NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, Inc – VA |
| Russ Kasl | SwimMAC Carolina – NC |
| Luke Nelson | NOVA of Virginia Aquatics, Inc – VA |
| Rob Norman | TAC Titans – NC |
| Thomas Pearson | Crow Canyon Sharks – PC |
| Peter Robinson | Nitro Swimming – ST |
| Sherwood Watts | North Carolina Aquatic Club – NC |
The national winner of the Fitter & Faster ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year for 2024 will be revealed at an awards ceremony on September 5 at the 2024 ASCA World Clinic at the Rosen Hotel in Orlando, Florida. For more information on the ASCA World Clinic go to www.ascaworldclinic.com. The Top 10 finalists will be introduced and honored at the Awards Ceremony.
The Top 10 age group coaches were compiled using the USA Swimming Power Points of the top ranked 11-14 year-old swimmers for the 2023 Long Course season and 2023-24 Short Course season. Each athlete was limited to a maximum of 4 swims contributing to their coach’s total.
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with ASCA. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.
congrats to these men, however it’s deeply disappointing that ASCA was unable to recognize even ONE female coach or non-white person for an age group coaching award.
This is clearly a failure by USA swimming or ASCA in how we’re hiring, promoting, growing and making visible female and diverse coaches. Or there is an issue in this award and its criteria. Both should be evaluated more thoroughly, because awarding these 10 white men only perpetuates this problem.