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About : Shaker Swimming
Info!

About Shaker Swimming

The Shaker Sharks are a part of USA Swimming. USA Swimming boasts America's largest program of guided fitness activity for children. The Shaker Sharks is the largest USA Swimming team in Northeast Ohio.

Contact Information

Email: shakerswimming@msn.com Shaker Swimming
Telephone: (216) 295-4163
Fax: (216) 295-4353
Mail: Shaker Swimming
P.O. Box 201009
Shaker Heights, OH
44120

Pool Locations

Woodbury Pool
15400 South Woodland
Shaker Hts., OH 44120

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Middle School Pool
20600 Shaker Blvd.
Shaker Hts., OH 44122

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Thornton Park
3301 Warrensville Center Rd.
Shaker Hts., OH 44122

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Why Choose Shaker Swimming?

There are lots of different swim teams around. What is it that makes Shaker Swimming different from the rest? Here are just a few reasons why you should choose us:

  • Low coach to swimmer ratios maximize individual instruction
  • Flexible practice schedules that allow young swimmers to participate in other activities
  • Practices prioritize stroke development and technique
  • Professional, highly educated, and experienced coaches and staff
  • Affordable and straight-forward billing

Our Mission And Values

To guide swimmers of all abilities to reach their goals

  • Lifelong Fitness: We believe physical fitness is an essential part of health, and swimming is the best way to get fit and stay fit for life.
  • A Way of Life: We believe in teaching swimmers how to be reflective and set goals which supports their successes both in the pool and in life.
  • Interdependence: We believe that nurturing positive relationships between the Sharks, swimmers, families, and communities is critical to our mission.
  • Teamwork and Sportsmanship: We believe that swimming is a team sport. When swimmers work together and support each other, they achieve greatness.
  • Safety, Responsibility, and Respect: We believe that character development is essential to swimmer development. We expect Shaker Sharks to make the right choices in and out of the water.
  • Determination and Motivation: We believe that learning to swim efficiently is a demanding lifelong process; there are no shortcuts. Self-esteem is generated by real achievements both in and out of the pool.

Meet the Coaches

Shaker Swimming

Eric Peterson

Eric is entering his ninth year with the Shaker program. He is the head coach for the Shaker Heights High School program. He was the Lake Erie League coach of the year from 2002 - 2010. Eric graduated from Kent State University. Prior to coming to Shaker, Eric was the head coach for the Kent Roosevelt High School team and the Western Reserve Seariders. Eric has served as the head counselor for Richard Quick and Skip Kenney's National Stanford University Swim Camp. Currently, Eric is a swim instructor at Woodbury Elementary School.

Shaker Swimming

Rob Fellinger

Rob was an All-American Hawken High School swimmer and an All-American swimmer at Ohio Wesleyan. Rob has a master's degree in Education. Rob coached the Shaker Sharks and High School swimmers for eleven years. For seven years, he taught in Shaker as an elementary school teacher. Rob will be working with the youth and high school Sharks. Rob will also be co-director of the Shaker Sharks this year.

Shaker Swimming

Brendan Pham

Brendan has been with the Shaker Sharks since its inception twenty three years ago. He is a graduate of Cleveland State University. Brendan will work with the youth sharks and Middle School swim team throughout the year.

Shaker Swimming

Bryan Wamsley

Bryan (seventh year as a shark coach) swam with the Shaker Sharks from 1988 through 1997. Bryan was an All-American Shaker High School swimmer. Bryan graduated from Princeton University in 2001. He also holds a master's degree in Education from John Carroll University. Bryan was a 2007 and 2008 Lake Erie Zone Coach. For the past five years, Bryan has been a teacher at Hawken Lower School. Bryan also developed and continues to run the Shaker Swimming website. He is the head coach of the Select Youth program.

Shaker Swimming

Grace DuGar

This is Grace's third year with the Sharks. She is a graduate of Denison University. Grace was a four year member of the Cleveland Heights High School Varsity Swim Team. Grace will be working with the youth Sharks again this season.

Shaker Swimming

Irena Mazi

Irena is in her second year with the Shaker Sharks. Her coaching experience began at Cleveland State University as the Assistant Women's Swimming Coach for three years. Irena was the head coach of the Willoughby South and Eastlake North Swim teams where she was named the Premier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005. She has also been an assistant coach at Westlake High School and Saint Ignatius. Irena holds master's degrees in Sports Management from Cleveland State and in Education from Ursuline College. She is currently a 9th grade science teacher in Willoughby-Eastlake Schools. Irena will be working with the select youth and high school swimmers.

Shaker Swimming

Mike Larsen

This is Mike's second year with the Sharks. Mike was a four year member of the Cleveland Heights High School Varsity Swim Team where he earned All Lake Erie League Honors in 2001. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from Ohio University in 2007, and recently received his teaching license in Middle and High School Language Arts from Cleveland State University. Mike will be working with the Select Youth and High School swimmers.

Shaker Swimming

Melissa Heiss

This is Melissa's second year with the Sharks. She has been a swim instructor at Cleveland State University and pool director for the Willowick City Pool. She is a Junior at CSU studying Special Education.

Shaker Swimming

Jesse Lewis

Jesse Lewis is entering his first year with Shaker Swimming. He is a 2005 graduate from Walsh Jesuit High School. In 2009 he graduated from Saint Lewis University where he studied history, theology, and philosophy. Jesse swam and set records at both Walsh Jesuit High School and St. Louis University. Jesse's experience in coaching includes Hudson Explorers Aquatic Team, Chagrin Valley Country Club, and The Country Club. Jesse's interest include classic rock, all-you-can-eat buffets, and the Green Bay Packers.

Coming Soon...

Sarah Tobin

This is Sarah's twelfth year with the Sharks. Sarah was the head coach at Cleveland Heights High School and Notre Dame Cathedral Latin. Also, Sarah was the swim coach at Forest Hill Swim Club. Sarah manages the Sharks; she takes care of all the fees and paper work for the Shaker swimming program. Currently, Sarah is a swim instructor at Woodbury Elementary School and is the pool manager for the City of Mayfield Heights in the summer.

Shaker Swimming

Ernest Welsch

Mr. Welsch founded and co-directs the Shaker Sharks Swimming Program. He is a graduate from Temple Universtiy, Penn State and Cleveland State University with a variety of degrees in recreation, health, physical education and exercise physiology. Welsch, the head Shaker High School Swimming Coach from 1982 to 2002, was voted Northeast Ohio Women's or Men's High School Swimming Coach of the Year ten times. Mr. Welsch was also voted State High School Coach of the year for women in 1995 and for men in 1998. Mr. Welsch was inducted into The Ohio High School Swimming Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005. "King" Welsch has been teaching Physical Education in the Shaker School District for thirty one years.