North Bay Aquatics

Ken's swimming career began at age five, coached by Ann Curtis who to this day influences Ken's desire to teach swimmers proper stroke technique as a basis for a successful swimming career. In high school Ken was coached by Don Swartz, the coach of 2 Olympic swimmers/World champion swimmers out of the San Rafael High School pool. Don's organizational skills resulted in a program ranked in the top 5 in the nation in spite of inferior facilities. Don's ability to have success with limited assets is an inspiration for what Ken tries to accomplish today.

At the University of Arizona Ken was all four years All-American. Bob Davis, coach of an Olympian, was Ken's first coach at the University of Arizona. Ken's style of coaching is modeled by the way Bob did things. Bob was a friend, but also a leader that you would try and do anything for. Bob had a great knack for "sneaking" hard work on you. Dick Jochums, coach of many Olympians and recognized as one of the top coaches in the world, was Ken's second coach at the University of Arizona. More than any of the other coaches, Dick Jochums taught Ken the benefits and necessity of toughness in achieving great success.

In Ken's over 25 years of coaching a countless number of swimmers coached by Ken have achieved successful swimming careers on a high school level. There also have been quite a few who swam in college, including at least 3 swimmers who went on to achieve All America status as Division 1 college swimmers (two at the University of Arizona). Since the change to year round swimming in 1994, Ken has coached many qualifiers to the Far Westerns and a growing number of finalists. The senior program offers swimmers the opportunity to compete at senior sectionals and the introduction to national competition.

Mean' Coach Mike began competitvely swimming at age nine for the Reno Aquatic Club, a USS club reknowned for its distance and IM training. Through high school Mike was able to successfully balance swimming and water polo while maintaining high academics. He was team captain and four year letterman in water polo, Nevada State Champion in backstoke, and a National Merit scholar. Mike moved to California to attend Cal, where he swam for one year under Nort Thornton alongside Olympic swimmers.

While Mike attended Cal he was introduced to Ken DeMont's swim lesson program. He also began coaching as an assistant coach for the Tidalwaves in the Marin Swim League. After a brief stint with Ken for one summer, Mike got his first head coaching opportunity with Sleepy Hollow and led them to two undefeated seasons and two MSL championship titles. Mike eventually found a home with Ken at the Tiburon Peninsula Club where the legitimacy of US swimming, the opportunity to coach dedicated athletes year round, and Ken's coaching style result in a rewarding combination for North Bay Aquatics.

Mike believes the first priority to be a sucessful swimmer is proper technique development. "Fury without form is energy wasted." After technical proficiency is achieved, it is time for some serious training. Mike draws from his days in Reno to come up with "diabolical" sets. But technique and training are not enough. You must be willing to risk failure and perservere even if you do fail. Risk taking is difficult, but perserverence is even more so. What makes it possible is having a strong support system (parents, coaches, and especially teammates) and a love of the sport.

Don Swartz began his club coaching career in 1967 as an age group coach with George French at Ladera Oaks Aquatic Club in Northern California. After a stop in Davis, CA he moved to Marin County, CA to become Head Coach of the Marin Aquatic Club. From 1970 - 1976 he coached several swimmers to Olympic, World Championship and Pan-American teams including several world record times. One of his swimmers, Rick DeMont, became, in 1973, the first person to break the 4 minute barrier in the 400 meter free while winning the World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
The Marin Aquatic Club had numerous high school All-Americans and regularly placed in the top 10 at the AAU National Championships. Don was a Board member of the American Swim Coaches Association and a featured speaker at several World Clinics for ASCA. He was a coach on the 1975 World Championship staff and on the 1977 National team staff for the dual meets in East Germany and Russia.

In 1977 he founded the Creative Performance Institute and for 8 years specialized in teaching the mental side of the game to coaches and athletes. His workshops covered topics including: goal setting, risk taking, anxiety management and visualization. His clients included many high school, club and collegiate teams. He also worked internationally in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Sweden and Ireland. In May of 2005 he re-entered the active coaching world as a member of the highly regarded North Bay Aquatics program under the direction of Ken DeMont. North Bay Aquatics is a rapidly developing program with senior swimmers at the Sectional and National level.

His commitment is best stated as: "My goal is to provide the best coaching possible by continuing to expand my potential. I am still growing as a coach. Since I no longer coach in a vacuum my capabilities grow each week."

Marin IJ article on Don Swartz