Here you will find information about our speakers and the program. More speakers will be published as soon as they are confirmed.
You will find the official invitation for both conferences Competitive Swimming and Learn to Swim here: WADC Invitation 2018
Program to Competitive Swimming and Learn to swim:
Competitive Swimming goes from Thursday 11th January at 13.00 to Sunday 14th at 15.00
Learn to Swim goes from Friday the 12th at 10.00 to Sunday 11th at 15.00
At Learn to Swim conference we will have two main subjects;
Quality and engagement in the swim school
How to make quality and engagement in your own teaching, and how to engage and keep your teachers (staff). For many providers of swim schools there is a continuing work to get enough swim teachers and to get good swim teachers. And when you got a good one, how should you work to keep them? How do you work to keep up you own engagement in your teaching?
Swimming and social entrepeneurship
From both a lifesaving perspective, but also a cultural and a social perspective; All people should learn to swim. But not all has the same possibilities. How could your organization and you as a swim teacher work to make this happened, to become more social responsible? Get more knowledge and become inspired by researchers and practitioner in the fields.
Milton Nelms, an American living in Australia, has an international reputation for his work with elite swimming athletes, their coaches, and different swimming and sport organizations. His methods in helping athletes to improve performance led him to develop an interest in the deepest instinctive responses that human beings have when going into the water.
Jukka Shemeikka is Head of Swimming Services at the Santasport – Olympic Training Center Rovaniemi (FIN). Jukka manages the swim program at OTC Rovaniemi which concentrates on international learn to swim and competitive swimming development. For competitive swimming their ongoing development project is called Modern Dryland Training. The goal is to create new awareness in training with new research. Jukka graduated Master of Sports from University of Applied Sciences Rovaniemi. He will present as part of a strong multi-disciplinary team on new initiatives towards optimizing athletic potential in competitive swimming. He will speak at both Competitive Swimming and Learn to Swim.
Marjan Moosavi founded Blue Wave Swim School– an award winning boutique swim school in south west of London- in February 2010. Marjan, a former competitive swimmer, has been an ASA (Swim England) qualified swim teacher and coach since 1995 and holds an MSc in Sport Sciences. Between 2000 and 2008, she was a senior lecturer in Sport Sciences and Exercise Physiology in two U.K universities. This was followed by one year in the US teaching and coaching swimming to under 18s in VA Beach, in the state of Virginia.Marjan likes sports and writing. Her writing has appeared in several publications; from local parents’ magazines to elite scientific journals including Journal of Sports Sciences. Her ‘swimming tips’ blogs are popular amongst swim teachers and parents.
Hanne-Guri Arnesen is project manager for «Svøm Bergen», a joint venture between Bergen city council, The Norwegian Swimming Federation and the 6 Swimming Clubs in Bergen. Its aim is to offer the best possible swimming lessons for the city’s more than 6000 third and fourth graders.
The swimming lessons are carried out in 13 different pools, by professional learn to swim instructors side by side with the pupil’s teachers. The curriculum for PE in fourth grade requires that the pupil should be able to “fall in the water, swim 100 m front side, submerge and pick up an object, float for 3 minutes, swim 100 m backstroke and finally climb back on land”. Last year 85 % of the pupils in Svøm Bergen achieved this goal, something we find quite impressive considering that only 5% of then managed the same 23 weeks earlier.
Ulrika is a former elite swimmer, published author, family counselor, and an expert in infant and children’s swimming whose lifelong passion is helping to create strong and healthy emotional bonds between parents and children through swimming. In 2016, after 22 years in business, Ulrika sold her swim school to dedicate herself to be part of making swimming the best activity for children and parents. Her travels take her to prominent swim schools and organizations throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America where she lectures, educates and help swimming industry professionals and businesses worldwide to reach a greater potential
Liselotte has been working with swimming for over 25 years – she is one of the authors of the Danish Swim associations new teaching material for swim school coaches, she loves to improve and develop both her own skills as well as others. Liselotte has developed a lot of new ways for the coaches to be more reflective during teaching and for the swimmers during learning. Especially her idea of the Swim Club’s educational system and building remarkable CVs for the swim school coaches is interesting, it is a new way of bringing the young and older swim coaches teaching career successfully into use for further education or jobs in ‘real’ life.
Mie Pedersen have a huge passion in teaching qualitative, enjoyable and healthy water competences through swimming and waterpolo. Her research is rooted in the phenomenological tradition and closely related to praxis through storytelling, observation and interviews from different perspectives. She is currently teaching at Copenhagen University in waterpolo and swimming and have a special interest in the swim school progress in order to develop swim qualities and competences that lead to a lifelong waterlife.
Bob is, together with his wife Kathy Hubbard, the founder of Hubbard Family Swim School (HFSS) in Phoenix, USA. They started up in the 90’s, running Swim Programs and Summer Sports Camp at Phoenix Swim Club. In 1998, they founded the first indoor Hubbard Family Swim School and Hubbard Summer Sports Camps. Bob has been involved with the United States Swim School Association “USSSA” since 1998, as a board member and also serving as its’ vice president and president. He is a presenter of the USSSA Infant Toddler Instructor course. He is a founding member of the Central Drowning Prevention Coalition of AZ and Swim for Life.
Noriko Inada is a 3 time Olympian for Japan (1992, 2000, 2004) She made her first Olympic team at the age of 16 in Barcelona in the 100 back, finishing 12th (1:03.42) and 200 back, finishing 15th (2:17.68). In 2000, she advanced to the championship final in the 100 back, taking 5th in 1:01.14. Most recently in Athens in 2004, she placed 11th in the 100 back (1:01.74) and led off Japan’s 400 medley relay in prelims.
Noriko has much knowledge to share from her experience as one of the world’s premier swimmers of Japan. She has a passion for the sport of swimming and is eager to share her love for the sport.
Takahisa Ide is in his seventh year working with the GCU swimming program in 2017-18. Originally from Osaka, Japan, Ide attended Tenri University and was the captain of the swim team his senior season.
Ide is an excellent stroke technician and student of the science of the sport. In 2014, he was invited to present at the International Convention on Science, Education, and Medicine in Sport in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ide has coached swimmers from numerous countries to 10 national records and one U.S. Open Championship. Additionally, he has led swimmers under his tutelage to seven Asian records, seven Japanese national records, and one Ecuador national record.
Jeff is the Chief Program Officer at Asphalt Green, a large non-profit dedicated to bringing sports and fitness to all New Yorkers. They have a unique business model where they used fee based programs to fund the programs they run for underserved New Yorkers. They currently have over 50,000 participants in their programs. That includes 3,000 annually in a free, 32 week learn-to-swim program which they hope to double in size in the next five years.” Jeff Ward has been involved in coaching and teaching swimming and other sports for over 40 years.
Dagmar Dahl is a teaching associate professor for swimming, lifesaving and aquatics in the Department of Professional Studies, University of Nordland with long experience in teaching swimming for all age groups and on all levels. Dr Dahl leads a research group on “Metaphorical instructions and embodied learning in swimming”. She is also member of the research group “I’m not drowning” lead by John Connolly, Lifesaving Foundation. Her Ph.D. work from the Norwegian School of Sport Science focused on Sport and Religion and led to further research on swimming in different cultural and philosophical contexts.
Lara is a Sport Scientist carrying out studies about Exercise Physiology in Extreme Conditions at the Environmental Physiology Group, Dept. of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University (Östersund). In 2013 she completed her thesis work at the University of Barcelona’s Sport Science Ph.D. program: “Exercise Physiology applied to hypoxia and performance in Synchronized Swimming”, with Cum Laude honors’. Her research interests are mainly the physiological responses and the sport performance of disciplines involving apnea. Such as freediving, synchronized swimming, underwater hockey and underwater rugby. Her interest in aquatics stems not only from her research experience but also from her passion for these sports, a National Swimming Coach since 2014.
During our 4-day Competitive Swimming Program we will embark on a journey around the world of Swimming. What do they do in Japan to deliver swimmer at such high technical level year after year? What is the impact of Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) in Canada. Did LTAD deliver?
Subjects will provide an overview of Japanese Swimming culture and its developmental programs. Also, a review of a large scale national learn to swim program and the methodologies applied that are factors, or limitations, in the success of Japanese Swimming. Included will be talks on the differences between male and female international programs in Japan.
From Canada we will hear from the High Performance Director John Atkinson and Iain McDonald Next Gen and Pathway Coach, Swimming Canada how they build the programs from LTAD and linking into the Performance Pathway. What do the do to identify athletes and what the plan looked like coming up to the Olympic Games.
Another question that we will look into during our four days is how do we integrate the specialist and new technology into our programs? Physicians, doctors, strength coaches, analysts and sport psychologists all have a place in teams around the world. What is the impact and how do we implement this in our programs.
Also, many swimmers in around the world is interested in attending college in US, what are the things you as a coach need to think about? The Executive director of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America will guide us thru the labyrinth of NCAA.
John is the National High Performance and Sport Director for Swimming Canada having commenced in the role at the beginning of March 2013. He was tasked with delivering international success at the Olympic Games and overseeing the whole Technical program that includes the Olympic pool and open water programmes, the High Performance centres, Paralympic Swimming and the Development team program’s. John worked for British Swimming for 12 years in 3 key leadership roles within the organisation; National Youth Coach Olympic Swimming, Director of World Class Programmes Olympic Swimming and National Performance Director for Paralympic Swimming.
Takahisa Ide is in his seventh year working with the GCU swimming program in 2017-18. Originally from Osaka, Japan, Ide attended Tenri University and was the captain of the swim team his senior season.
Ide is an excellent stroke technician and student of the science of the sport. In 2014, he was invited to present at the International Convention on Science, Education, and Medicine in Sport in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ide has coached swimmers from numerous countries to 10 national records and one U.S. Open Championship. Additionally, he has led swimmers under his tutelage to seven Asian records, seven Japanese national records, and one Ecuador national record.
Jenni Brozena is an international sport scientist and Managing Director of Aqueous, an international human performance and sports medicine organization specializing in aquatic sports. Jenni is responsible for international expansion, strategic alliances, and global initiatives to increase accessibility of technology, evidence-based human performance training, and commercial success of clubs, universities, park and recreation districts, and performance facilities. She regularly discusses commercial facility growth, the value of human performance training, improving aquatic revenue streams. She will present as part of a strong multi-disciplinary team on new initiatives towards optimizing athlete and facility potential in competitive swimming.
Milton Nelms, an American living in Australia, has an international reputation for his work with elite swimming athletes, their coaches, and different swimming and sport organizations. His methods in helping athletes to improve performance led him to develop an interest in the deepest instinctive responses that human beings have when going into the water.
Sara is an Olympic Silver medalist in 200m freestyle – the first Slovenian to bring home a swimming Olympic medal from Beijing, 2008. She continued her swimming and academic career at University of California Berkeley, where she represented the Cal Women’s swim team, under the leadership of Teri McKeever. She later earned a Masters degree in Performance Psychology, from National University of San Diego. Sara has been talking at multiple conferences on mental strength and presented her mental training project for airline pilots on a TEDx stage. In the past few years (and to this day) her main focus has been working with swimmers in Dubai, helping them build their psychological resilience.
Jeff is the Chief Program Officer at Asphalt Green, a large non-profit dedicated to bringing sports and fitness to all New Yorkers. They have a unique business model where they used fee based programs to fund the programs they run for underserved New Yorkers. They currently have over 50,000 participants in their programs. That includes 3,000 annually in a free, 32 week learn-to-swim program which they hope to double in size in the next five years.” Jeff Ward has been involved in coaching and teaching swimming and other sports for over 40 years.
Jesper Dahl from Southcote Proactive Healthcare in Maidstone, UK. He will present as part of a strong multi-disciplinary team on new initiatives towards optimizing athletic potential in competitive swimming. Jesper is a sports chiropractor with experience in various sports at international level. More recently he has taken a keen interest in competitive swimmers and how to develop them as athletes. Recognizing and respecting each member’s role in this process is central to developing a team that works – and in order to do that; there is a need for a common language.
Ingemar Ottosson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of History at Lund University. He worked in Japan once and has been a regular visitor to the country ever since. Ingemar has a long experience of teaching about Japan, its history, culture and modern lifestyle.
Noriko Inada is a 3 time Olympian for Japan (1992, 2000, 2004) She made her first Olympic team at the age of 16 in Barcelona in the 100 back, finishing 12th (1:03.42) and 200 back, finishing 15th (2:17.68). In 2000, she advanced to the championship final in the 100 back, taking 5th in 1:01.14. Most recently in Athens in 2004, she placed 11th in the 100 back (1:01.74) and led off Japan’s 400 medley relay in prelims.
Noriko has much knowledge to share from her experience as one of the world’s premier swimmers of Japan. She has a passion for the sport of swimming and is eager to share her love for the sport.
Iain Mc Donals has worked with Swimming Canada since 2012. In that time, he has been a central leader in the High Performance department and has contributed significantly to all aspects of the program. As a key advisor to High Performance Director John Atkinson, Iain has led the restructuring of the High Performance Centre Network, the implementation of data management and analytics strategies, as well as high performance coach development programming. Recently Iain has transitioned to the role of NextGen High Performance Pathway Coach. Iain takes on many roles within Swimming Canada junior and senior teams. As the Team Leader of the 2015 World Junior Team, he oversaw one of the most successful junior team performances when the team finished 4th overall in total medals with 12.
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From Toronto, Canada, Tristan is the Co-Founder and CEO of TrionWear where they build advanced sports wearables to fundamentally improve how athletes and coaches train around the world. TritonWear has built the world’s most accurate sports wearable for swimmer’s that hooks onto a swimmer’s goggles and automatically sends data to a coaches tablet for every athlete in the pool simultaneously to automate data collection in training, and logs data to their online platform for long term tracking and analytics. Tristan has deep roots in the sport of competitive swimming growing up as a club swimmer and competing at the college level at the University of Waterloo where he was also the team captain. Tristan tied together his background and passion for swimming with his professional background as a Mechatronics Engineer to build powerful solutions for swimmers and coaches. Over the past 4 years, Tristan has been working closely with National Federations, NCAA teams, and Club teams in 25 countries around the world to effectively integrate data into their training programs as well driving insight from historical data that has never before been possible.
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Former elite-swimmer and coach but most known in Scandinavia as an announcer – 50 times on national championships but also on World- and European Championships and of course World Cup.
Today he´s running his own webpage, podcast and as a commentator for swimming at Eurosport.
Swedish Masters coach of the Year 2016.
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Joel Shinofiels is the executive director of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), the oldest collegiate coaches association in the United States. Joel will give us an insight in what the swimmer, and you as a coach, need to know about swimming at a college level in USA. Shinofield previously served as a collegiate swimming coach at both the DI, DIII, Club and High School levels producing Olympic Trials, NCAA, National and Junior National qualifiers as well as 6 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship winners in 9 years as head coach at Washington and Lee University
Jukka Shemeikka is Head of Swimming Services at the Santasport – Olympic Training Center Rovaniemi (FIN). Jukka manages the swim program at OTC Rovaniemi which concentrates on international learn to swim and competitive swimming development. For competitive swimming their ongoing development project is called Modern Dryland Training. The goal is to create new awareness in training with new research. Jukka graduated Master of Sports from University of Applied Sciences Rovaniemi. He will present as part of a strong multi-disciplinary team on new initiatives towards optimizing athletic potential in competitive swimming. He will speak at both Competitive Swimming and Learn to Swim.
Director, Mukogawa Women’s University Sports Center
Lecturer, Department of Health and Sports Science
Deputy Director, Women’s Swim Team
Kunio Kono joined Mukogawa Women’s University, Department of Health and Sports Science since September 2016 in Japan, after 24 years of dedicated coaching career in the United States of America. He was a Head Coach of the University of New Mexico, swimming and diving team for 4 years, making him only the fourth head coach in the programs history and the first Japanese head coach at NCAA Division I team. Kono spent nine years with the Rebels of University of Nevada, Las Vegas as Associate Head Coach, during his time at UNLV he helped the men’s team to seven consecutive Mountain West conference championships before the team was runner up in 2011-2012 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. While at UNLV he guided the Rebels men’s and women’s sprint groups and coached 16 swimmers to 46 All-America citations. In his career, he sent several swimmers to the World University Games, World Cup, Pan Pacific Championships, Pan American Games, the European Championships and six swimmers to the last three Olympic Games in Athens (2004), Beijing (’08) and London (’12).
Craig is the swimming correspondent and Olympics writer for The Times and Sunday Times newspapers in London. He is also the founder and editor of SwimVortex.com, the sequel site to SwimNews. Craig’s fascination for swimming was fed in London 1971, when he was 8. It was at Crystal Palace and the pool was packed with international stars of the day, from Roland Matthes to Debbie Meyer and Shane Gould, who set her first world record there under the guidance of her coach Forbes Carlile. Those early encounters sewed a seed of fascination in a young swimmer who became a swimming journalist. Craig will guide you through the conference and help us ask good questions to the speakers.