To Club and Master's Swim Families, 

Effective Monday, Coach Bryan is resigning from Newburgh Sea Creatures to pursue other opportunities.  The coaching staff and Board of Directors would like to thank Coach Bryan for his time with us and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.   We will miss his fierce intensity, team cheers, and loyal dedication to the swimmers on the team.  Coach Bryan will be informing the children he coaches at Monday’s practice. 

Coach Bryan has helped our team progress and move up the ranks in our area, state, and nationally.  We should all be thankful for the immense energies that he has put into our program.  He has been a very integral part of directing and forming our young team members into the top level team that we are becoming.  I hope that everyone can be supportive of our team and especially Coach Bryan.

While we are sad to see Coach Bryan go, we are very lucky (and excited) to welcome back former Castle, IU, and USA National Team Member, Aaron Opell.   Aaron will be taking over Coach Bryan’s on deck responsibilities. 

Aaron swam for CHS and was a seven time All American. He went on to swim for Indiana University.  During his four years there, he was a Big Ten Champion, NCAA All American and was selected for the 1^st Team All-Big Ten.  Aaron was also a member of the United States National Swim Team and while on the team, earned the honor of one of the Top Ten fastest 200M Breaststroke times in US History. 

Following college where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Healthcare Administration and a Masters Degree in Sport Marketing, Aaron served 8 months as an Administrative Coach and Intern at Swim MAC Carolina.  Swim MAC is one of the few select clubs that is a national training center sponsored by USA Swimming.  It is the club that our Olympic hopefuls go to train.

I would like to make it clear to the club that the board, coaching staff, and Bryan are all on the same page with this decision.  We all wish only the best for Coach Bryan and we trust that our parents will likewise follow suit and provide Coach Bryan with the support and respect he deserves as he moves on to the next phase in his career.  We’ve heard some discussion on this matter over the weekend.  Please know, after talking with Bryan, we waited until after the meet so that he and the kids could focus on a positive swimming environment.  Our goal was not to allow rumors to spread and get misconstrued, but rather to allow the focus of the weekend to be the children, where it belongs. 

I’d like to remind parents that your children will look to you as their guide during this transition in coaching staff.   While your children (and you) may be sad to see Bryan go, our energies are best spent focusing on the opportunity that exists within our club moving forward.   

Finally, for those team members unfamiliar with Aaron, please take five minutes to watch the following link.  Aaron is one a growing group of nationally reknowned swimmers that have been a part of the NSC family.  

Video Here

(if you can't link to this,  google (aaron opell 200 breaststroke, big tens)

Thanks to Coach Bryan for a great time here at NSC!  Good luck in your future endeavors!  

Coach Jon