Coaches

Countryside

Susan Curnette, Head of the Coaches Board. Coach Susan was born in Kansas and raised in Oklahoma. Susan swam at the Phillips 66 Splash Club in Oklahoma from age 12 through high school and also 3 year lettered in basketball and slow-pitch softball. She was an Oklahoma State Collegiate Swimmer for three years. She graduated from Oklahoma State with a major in Physical Education/Recreation and minor in Biology. Susan has lived in Florida since 1980. She is currently teaching Marine Biology at Countryside High School and has been since 1983. Her coaching experience includes Head Coach for Tarpon Lake Village Swim Team (which is now Lansbrook), Susan was also Head Coach for Countryside High School 1982-1986 Currently the assistant Coach. Susan has been the Head Coach for Countryside Country Club Aquatics since 1986. She has three great boys: Josh, Dylan and Levi.  Email

Ian O'Neill, President of the Coaches Board and Head Coach of the Countryside Branch of TBAY: Coach Ian is the Aquatics Director for Countryside Country Club and has been in that position since 1991 and is also a Coach for Countryside Country Club Aquatics, their summer league team. He is also the Head Branch Coach of TBAY Countryside , and has been the Head Coach of the Countryside High School Cougars since 1999. Coach Ian was recently named the 2007 All-County "Coach of the Year" by the "St. Petersburg Times" as well as the 2004-2005 PCAC Girls Team "Coach of the Year." Email

Arbor Greene

Julia Lamb, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Coaches Board; Head Coach of the Arbor Greene Country Club Branch in New Tampa: Coach Julia works with the Senior Competitive Group, the Pre-Competitive Group and the Developmental Group as well as teaching swim lessons. She has been a member of the TBAY family since 2001. She was the Head Coach and Aquatics Director at the Hunter's Green Tennis & Athletic Center from 2001-2009. Coach Julia was chosen to coach the Florida Swimming All Star Team in 2009 and 2010. She has been the Head Coach of the Wharton High School Swim team since 2008 and lead the Wildcats to a District Championship in 2008. Coach Julia has experience working with many nationally ranked, top state swimmers and even aided swimmers in the transition to collegiate NCAA Swimming.  Email

Brandon

Dave Gesacion: "Championship Behavior" is core to TBAY Brandon head coach, Dave Gesacion. He defines championship behavior as that which embodies solid character, respect for others, and integrity for self, on and off the pool deck; at home, school and in the community. Dave is also a firm believer in the "Triangle of Success," where the athlete, coach and parent are all on the same page, each playing their own role in helping the athlete achieve success. A certified ASCA Level 4, Coach Gesacion, is no stranger to success. After graduating from Westminster College in May of 2000, Gesacion was invited to coach at the Longhorn Swim Camp in Austin, Texas with University of Texas and Head Olympic Coach Eddie Reese and womens coach Jill Sterkel. In the fall of 2000, Gesacion became a graduate assistant swim coach at Clemson University, working with both men's and women's programs for a year, before moving to Tampa in 2001 and starting his own branch of TBAY. Under mentor and head coach, Rich Rogers, TBAY won the 2006 Speedo LongCourse Junior National Combined Team Championship in Irvine, California. A year later Dave accepted the position of National Development Swim Coach with Nitro Swimming, in Austin, TX. He has developed more than 150 swimmers that have gone on to compete at all championship levels, including: Junior Olympics, TAGS, Senior Championships, Southern Zone Sectionals, Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals and Olympic Trials. Swimmers from his teams are now swimming at Georgia, Purdue, Texas, UNC, Clemson, Kentucky, Navy, Tampa and many more. Email

As an athlete, Coach Gesacion is a 15 time NAIA All-American, 8 time NCAA Division II All-American, NAIA National Champion in the 200 Butterfly, 4 time team MVP, and a CoSIDA Academic All-American. As a coach he was a 2006 Speedo Long Course Junior National Champions (Associate Head Coach), 2007 recipient of the ASCA Award of Excellence, and a 2008 inductee into the Westminster College Hall of Fame.

Central

Jason Bowes, Head Coach of TBAY’S Central Branch, brings more than 15 years of high-level experience, integrity, innovation, and strong technical skills to his coaching position. Since moving to Tampa in 2008 to become Head Coach of TBAY-Central, Jason has resurrected TBAY’s elite program in a short time. From starting a program for younger age group swimmers in Central Tampa, to organizing swim clinics for the community, Jason has built a strong swimming foundation for a younger generation. Jason’s swim clinics have provided the unique opportunity for over 300 swimmers from the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas to train with gold medalists and world record holders Aaron Peirsol and Garrett Weber-Gale. While under Jason’s leadership as Head Coach, TBAY has developed and cultivated multiple state record-holders and record-breakers, over 50 State medalists, International record-holders, Olympic trial qualifiers, Academic All-Americans, and collegiate-level swimmers at top university programs, including FSU, Notre Dame, Clemson, Washington University in St. Louis, NYU, Alabama, Davidson, Dartmouth, FIU, and Florida Gulf Coast.

Jason also serves as Head Coach of Tampa Preparatory School’s Swim and Dive Team, which has reached record achievements, including High School State Medalists, 4 Hillsborough County Swimmers of the Year, District Championships in 2009 and 2010, Regional Championships, Top 5 at States in 2010, and over 10 All-American recognitions.

In addition to TBAY and Tampa Prep team accomplishments, Jason has achieved personal recognition as the 2010 Hillsborough Girls Swim Coach of the Year. Jason also served as Assistant Coach for Team Florida during their 2009 and 2010 Southern Zone Championships.

Jason moved to the Tampa Bay area from one of the most respected swim programs in the country, North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), which has produced Olympians, and National and World Record holders, including Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff. Jason also led the Pointe-Claire Swim Club in Montreal to the men's overall title at the 2006 Canadian Age Group Swimming Championships. In 2005, Jason was an assistant deck manager at the FINA World Championships and has written for Swim News Magazine International. In 2003, he assisted Justin Finney (former Head Coach of Club Wolverine) on his presentation at the World Swim Coaches Conference/Clinic in Australia. Jason grew up in Montreal where he swam competitively; graduated from Loyola High School; and attended Concordia College. He is a member of numerous coaching organizations, and is certified as a Level 3 coach with USA Swimming.

Today you will find Jason on the pool deck in Tampa Bay coaching future generations of swimmers to reach their goals both in and out of the water.  Email


Lakeland

Lee Stauffer, is the Head Coach of the Lakeland Branch.Coaching swimming has been in Lee Stauffer's blood since he coached a youth program in Athens, GA back in 1967. After spending 1999 to 2003 as Director of Florida Southern's club swimming team, Stauffer elevated the school's swim and dive team to varsity level and brought the Moccasins to their official NCAA debut at their head coach. As last year's boys' coach at Lakeland High, Lee had four swimmers advance to the state meet and was named the Polk County's 2011 "Coach of Year."  Email

New Port Richey

Casey Claflin, Head Coach of the New Port Richey Branch: Coach Casey Claflin has had a passion for water his entire life. Besides being a competitive swimmer since the age of 8, Claflin swam under an athletic scholarship for the Gamecocks of the University of South Carolina (USC), where he also received an MBA in Finance. He holds a U.S.C.G. Merchant Marine (Captains) license and, like Coach Kelley Allen, is an avid fisherman. At one point in his past, Claflin’s love for the water led him to run a charter fishing business in Sarasota. Currently, Claflin's involvement with aquatics includes not only overseeing TBAY’s New Port Richey branch but also coaching the swim team at Gulf High School as well as the Tampa Metro Masters. He has also been a coach for the Sarasota YMCA Sharks (SYS) and the Winter Springs High School swim team. In 2007, Claflin cracked Top 10 US Masters’ Swimming (USMS) short-course and long-course times in the 50, 100 and 200 Backstroke. Since 1999, he has broken 3 Masters' world records although none are currently standing. Today, Claflin lives in Tarpon Springs (a historic city know for its sponge diving and fishing). He has 2 children—daughter Jessica, 20, and his son, Casey Jr., 18, who still holds the 10&U JO state records in the 50M and 100M backstroke. Email

Tampa Palms

Todd Timmons, Head Coach of the Tampa Palms Branch: Coach Todd is a graduate of Drury University where he earned his Masters of Arts Degree in Integrated Marketing Comuunications and his Bachelor of Arts in Exercise and Sports Science. Todd was a Swimming and Diving Graduate Assistant Coach at Drury during his graduate years. In this position, he was not only responsible for coaching at the NCAA DII level and teaching undergraduate classes in fitness, but was also responsible for managing the athletic and academic development of the student athletes on the team. His personal experience as a student athlete and his studies in exercise science has given Todd a strong foundation in physics, biomechanics, and kinesiology associated with movement and swimming. To our developlmental program, Todd brings many years of Learn-to-Swim and stroke technique instruction. Todd has 23 years of competitive swimming experience in which he was primarily a sprinter and breaststroker. Todd considers himself a stroke technichian who loves to be on the pool deck. He is an American Swim Coach Association Member and Coach. We are pleased and excited to have Todd as part of our team at Tampa Palms. We are sure that he will bring you and your swimmers the high level of instruction, practices and drills, and coach commitment that you are accustomed to. Please contact Coach Todd Timmons at the TAC Pro Shop for more information, (813) 632-1676. Email

Westchase

Kelley Allen, Head Coach of the Westchase Branch: Coach Kelley Allen has been coaching in the Bay area for well over a decade now, and has a solid list of accomplishments. As well as earning his ASCA Level 4 Certification, he was named to the Florida Swimming Zone Team Staff in '04 and '06 He was nominated for Florida Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year in '03. Kelley has coached numerous Jr. Olympic Champs and Jr. Olympic High Point winners and was a member of the staff of two Fl Swimming Jr Olympic Championship Teams. With a proven track record of developing young swimmers Coach Kelley looks forward to another decade of fast swimming at Tampa Bay Aquatics. Email