Naperville Waves swimmers are lucky to have many coaches on staff... each of whom have a unique coaching perspective. Meet each coach below.
Meet Coach Sue:
Sue is the head coach and founder of the Naperville Waves Swim Club. Sue has been a life long swimmer since the age of 4 and swam in both high school and college at the University of Iowa. Her passion is coaching and she spent several summers coaching swimming as a teen and resumed coaching when she became involved in triathlon in 1996. As an athlete, Sue has raced all distances of triathlons completing two ironmans and gaining all American status in both triathlon and swimming. She has found her niche coaching and has coached hundreds of athletes in the Midwest in both swimming & triathlon. She greatly enjoys giving clinics, training other coaches, presenting for USA Triathlon, traveling to any warm swim event she can find, and hosting parties for the Waves swimmers. She is certified with USA Triathlon and American College of Swim Coaches, and is also a Registered Nurse, Certified Personal Trainer and Pilates instructor. Sue received the Naperville JC’s Distinguished Service award in 2000, and has been named Illinois coach of the year in 2000 and 2005. In 2006, Sue was named United States Masters Swimming Coach of the Year. She lives in Naperville with her husband, two teenage children, two dogs and one cat.
Meet Coach Maria:
Coach Maria has been with Waves since our first season. She started as a swimmer and after proving to Coach Sue that she could motivate our swimmers in the pool, she was promoted to “coach” /social secretary. Maria has been swimming ever since her father first threw her into the pool at the age of two. She didn’t drown and it wasn’t long before she began competing in age group swimming and later on with her high school team at Hinsdale Central where she was also a synchronized swimmer. Maria is a triathlete and has competed in everything from the Danskin triathlon to the Ironman. She is also a spin instructor at Edward Health and Fitness. Her other hobbies include: shopping, collecting shoes and conducting home made potpourri-making workshops with Waves treasurer Big Bob and Coach Kate. Coach Maria has 3 kids (Ellie, Casey, and Joshua) and is married to fellow Waves swimmer "Swimmy Jimmy."
Meet Coach Heather:
Coach Heather grew up in New Jersey and swam in high school and college (Division 3). She was a lifeguard at 15 and WSI certified to teach swim lessons at 17 so she's been in or around a pool most of her life. After college Heather was involved in Masters swim programs in Virginia, New York City and then in New Jersey where she coached a team for a year at a Y. Heather moved out to Naperville 8 years ago and became involved with teaching children's swim lessons at the 95th street YMCA for 3 years at which time she met Kathy Kent and Sue Welker and made the transition over to Edwards first as a swimmer on Waves and then as a coach. Heather has two children. Ben is in 8th grade at Crone Middle School and is an achondroplastic dwarf and Timmy is in 6th grade at Crone too, and he's a dare devil. Coach Heather finished her Masters degree in June of 2006 and began this school year as a guidance counselor at Queen of Peace High School, an all girls Catholic school. (Keep your snickers to yourselves!!)
Meet Coach Kate:
This is Coach Kate's sixth year as a Waves coach. Prior to coaching Waves, she coached age-group and high school swimmers for several years. She is an American Swim Coaches Association certified swim coach and has been swimming competitively since the age of eight. She loves coaching masters swimmers because of their enthusiasm for the sport and their love of constantly improving their stroke techniques. In addition to Waves practices, Coach Kate can also be seen on deck leading stroke clinics. Before the birth of her second child, Kate worked full-time as a social worker in addition to coaching, but now devotes all of her work time to coaching and teaching swimming, and raising two children. Kate grew up in Naperville and lives here now with her children Maggie and Owen.
Meet Coach Chris:
Coach Chris Hagenbaumer is 36 years old, married for 11 years and has three children (Julia, Jack and Justin.) He has been swimming since he was little, competing throughout high school and college. The highlight of Coach Chris's high school career was winning state in the 100 breast his senior year. He also competed 4 years at S.I.U. in Carbondale. He has enjoyed training and competing at the Master's level for the past 5 years, and especially coaching, too! Coach Chris recently expanded his training to include the Ironman Florida competition last November, and he states, "I can't say it will be my last!" He and his family love all of their friends (extended family!) they have made on the Waves team and are very excited for this winter season!
Meet Coach Kathy:
You'll be seeing more of Coach Kathy at the pool this year as she focusses more on building a strong and healthy community with more hands-on coaching and personal training this year. Formerly the owner of Heart Zones Cycling and Personal Training, you will find Kathy reminding everyone to bring their heart rate monitor to add a new dimension to Friday workouts. Having just completed the Bonaire Eco Swim (10K), Coach Kathy will be recruiting swimmers for some longer distance open water events in the next year. Stay tuned and swim smart!
Meet Coach Jo:
Coach Jo has been a Waves coach since day one and has enjoyed every workout. She is a Midwest girl from Berea, Ohio, who swam in high school and loved it. Coach Jo has lived here in Naperville for almost 13 years. She's been married since July of 1978 (you do the math) and has 5 awesome children, ages 8 to 20. She says, "Naperville Waves has been such a positive force in my life. I have grown as a coach and swimmer. I have watched so many of you grow with me. Its not really about how fast we swim, its about our commitment to ourselves, our family and the team." This year brings new challenges for Coach Jo. She has decided to become a distributor of a product called juice plus+. Nutrition has always been a passion of hers, whether for herself or her family. Look for some nutrition topics submitted by Coach Jo in Sue's weekly Waves email.
Meet Coach Georgia:
Coach Georgia grew up in Pittsburgh PA and began swimming at the neighborhood pool where she got her first taste of competition and became an Age Group swimmer. Georgia went on to swim in high school and college and has the historical honor of competing in the first two Women's Intercollegiate National Swimmming Championships. While in college she taught swimming and worked as a life guard at a community center in Pittsburgh. Raising her family and teaching PE in Pennsylvania and Illinois consumed her life for the next 24 years. Georgia became involved with Waves in 2004 and has enjoyed every lap. She retired from teaching in 2006 and began working at Edward. Coach Georgia is most proud of her family: sons Derek, Brady, Drew and daughter-in-law Whitney.
