Rick Whitson, Head Coach

Rick Whitson comes to the Sharks from the Bow Valley Rip Tides Swim Club in Canmore, Alberta, where he was the head coach.

Rick is a former American swim coach who became a Permanent Resident of Canada on July 31st, 2007. In 2004 Rick married Krista Meyers, a native of Regina, Saskatchewan. Last summer their daughter, Annabelle was born.

Rick is currently NCCP Level 2 Certified, and is working toward Level 3 NCCP Certification. He has attained Level 3 Certification from the American Swimming Coaches Association and is in training for his Level 5 International Certification.

Among Rick's many honours and achievements is his selection by the Alberta Coaches Council as Age Group Coach of the Year for the 2006/2007 season with the Bow Valley Rip Tides. In the three years he was at the club's helm, its membership has doubled in size. Among the Bow Valley swimmers he took to Age Group Nationals were the 2006/2007 Alberta Age Group Athlete of the Year and an Age Group National silver medallist.

Rick is looking forward to working in the Sharks "environment of excellence" with an eye to "continuing to develop nationally ranked Canadian swimmers".

Roger Boucher, Assistant Coach

Roger swam competitively for 17 years. He was on the Sask First team and placed top 16 at Nationals in the 100 and 50 Breast. Roger has been to the World Cup in Edmonton. He received silver medals for 3 years in the Medley relay at CIS Championships and placed 3rd in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:02.90 (provincial record) at CIS championships in 2001. Roger holds the long course provincial records for both the 50 and 100 Breast and the short course record for 100 Breast.

He hopes to bring the experiences that he had to the swimmers that he coaches to make them better. He is now coaching the Green Squad and the Makos.