Michael A Kraeuter
Head Coach
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Coach Mike’s Corner
Here
Kira M Oliver
Assistant Head Coach
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I have been living in the Northern Virginia
area since 1990 and have been a life long swimmer. I grew up
doing competitive swimming with two year round club teams and an
NVSL summer league team which I also helped to
coach. My favorite strokes were always butterfly and
freestyle. After graduating from the University of Mary
Washington in 2005 with a degree in history, I coached a swim
school for 9 & unders with YORK in Herndon.
I then continued my education with graduate school at GMU and
received my Virginia teaching licence, but decided instead to
pursue a career with coaching. I was the assistant coach of
the Stone Bridge High School swim team for the 07-08 season, and I
have been with the Blue Wave Swim team as the assistant head coach
since February 2008 and am a member of ASCA. I currently
live in Ashburn Farms with my husband, Philip, and our two dogs,
Bruzier and Nikki. In my spare time I like to volunteer
with the Lost
Dog and Cat Rescue Foundationhelping dogs
get adopted by loving families!
Gabe G Ibanez
Head Age-Group Coach
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Gabriel Ibanez was born in Mexico City and moved to the
United States in 1995 with his wife and two cats. He has 14 years
of experience coaching at different levels, from age group to
seniors. He comes to us after seven years with the FISH and been a
member of the American Coaches Association (ASCA).
Gabe decided
to become a coach to inspire swimmers to achieve their dreams and
make a positive difference in someone’s life. He has coached
swimmers that have qualified for Junior National Qualifiers,
Sectionals, Age Group Zones, and High School State Champions. He
has also coached and developed swimmers with Top 16 reportable
times. In keeping up with all swimming related issues, Coach Gabe
has participated in various clinics such as ASCA World Clinics,
Olympic Training Center and International Swim
Clinics.
In Mexico,
Coach Gabe was the Head Coach of Master Swim Team and coached
Masters National Champions. This team placed second at Nationals.
Coach Gabe specializes in developing fundamentals, and maximizing
the growth of all his swimmers’ knowledge, ability and goal
direction.
Tom Pollock
Assistant Coach
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Swim
Coaching Experience:
2006 - 2008
Prep Group I & II Coach, Blue Waves Swim
team
1997 - 2000
Age Group I Coach, Ashburn Village Swim
team
1996 - 2000
Head Coach, Countryside Waves Swim
team
1990 –
1996 Age Group I Coach, Curl-Burke Swim
Club
1990 –
1996 Developmental Swim Coach, Curl-Burke Swim
Club
1979 –
1995 Various Summer League Coaching
Positions
1984-1988
Swimmer, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute & State
University
Professional Educational
Experience:
Assistant Principal, Eagle Ridge Middle
School
Assistant Principal, Sterling Middle School
Adjunct Professor, Shenandoah University
Adjunct Professor, Old Dominion
University
Dean, Harper Park Middle
School
Dean, J. Lupton Simpson Middle
School
Special Education Teacher,
Herndon Middle School
Peer Mediation Coordinator,
Herndon Middle School
Special Education
Teacher, Carl Sandburg
Intermediate
Education:
Master of Arts, Public School Administration, University of
Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Bachelor of Arts, History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute &
State University, Blacksburg, VA
Project Soar, Learning Disabilities, Emotionally Disturbed and
Mentally Retarded Certification Program, University of
Virginia
My wife, Kathy, is a dean at Farmwell Station
Middle School. We have four beautiful children who love to
swim. Our daughters are in the fourth and second grades
at Ashburn Elementary, our son is almost 3 years old and our baby
girl is almost one. In my time away from Coaching, I enjoy
spending time with our family, reading, gardening and studying
eastern philosophy. As a former collegiate athlete at
Virginia Tech, I still love to exercise by swimming, biking,
canoeing and running marathons.
Heather Purk
Assistant Coach
Email
Coach Heather is originally from Sheffield
Lake, Ohio (just west of Cleveland, Ohio). She started her
competitive swimming career at age 5 with the Elyria YMCA/USS Sea
Turtles. As an 8&under, she set team records in the 25 & 50
freestyles. As a 9-10, she set the team record in the 200-yard
freestyle (2:12.01) and qualified in the YMCA Zone Meet and the
USS/Lake Erie Conference (LEC) Junior Olympics. At JO’s,
Coach Heather placed 3rd in the 200-yard freestyle.
During high school, Coach Heather moved to the Lorain YMCA/USS
Torpodoes in order to work with her high school coach, Coach Nathan
Dokter. Coach Heather made Top 10 Conference in the 500-yard
freestyle with a 5:35.16. Coach Heather took a break from
competitive swimming in 1995 after 14 years.
Coach Heather
is a graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science
in Biological Science and Pre-Veterinary Medicine. She has done
graduate studies in Microbial Ecology and Education and served to
Graduate Student Appointments at the CDC in Atlanta,
GA.
In 2005,
Coach Heather returned to competitive swimming when she accepted an
assistant coaching position with the West Georgia Swim Club
Piranhas. She went on to coach with the Piranhas for 3 years.
During that time she coached 3 qualifiers for the GPRA State Meet.
Also, Coach Heather returned to the water and competed in the
Senior (15&Over) Level of USA Swimming.
Coach Heather
currently teaches at the Edlin School in Reston, VA. She enjoys
spending time with her two golden retrievers, Lucy and Amazon
Princess. Coach Heather looks forward to making every swimmer a
better athlete and a better person.
Stefani Shepherd
Assistant Coach
Email
Stefani grew up in Northern Virginia where
she was a competitve swimmer for 17years. During her high school
years she was a member of Ashburn Villiage Swim Team (AVST) which
practiced at the Sports Pavilion. She was a junior coach for the
Ashburn Farms Barracuddas and a developmental coach with AVST. She
then went off to college and earned a degree from George Mason
University where she was a member of the Swim and Dive team and
four time Conference Champion. Upon graduating, Stefani married her
former George Mason teammate, Josh, and lived in Fairfax while
working in the sales/recruiting field.
After a few years in the professional world
and the after the birth of her son, Ethan, Stefani realized that
she missed the water and came upon the Blue Wave Swim Team. She
brings quite a bit of expertise in stroke technique and training
and looks forward to another great season!
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