Swim Saskatchewan is very pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Maszko as Provincial Mentor Coach/High Performance Development Coach effective September 1, 2015.
For the last ten years Coach Maszko has coached in Halifax, Nova Scotia, taking over as Head Coach of the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club (HTAC) in 2010. During his time as Head Coach, Maszko has won numerous CSCTA Domestic Excellence Awards, had swimmers break over 300 club records and 190 Nova Scotia provincial records, and participated in multiple Canadian Prospect and Junior National camps and competitions. Other personal highlights include being a member of the 2011 Nations Cup coaching staff, and coaching swimmer David Sharpe onto the 2012 Olympic Games team. In addition, Aaron has also been an Assistant coach of the Dalhousie Tigers Varsity Team since 2010.
While serving as Head Coach of HTAC, Maszko represented Swim Nova Scotia in leading and organizing coaches and athletes from the surrounding provinces in regional skill development camps, and assisted with many of the Nova Scotia High Performance initiatives including coaching staff for the 2009 and 2013 Canada Games.
“We are happy to have Aaron Maszko joining our provincial team,” commented Marj Walton, Executive Director of Swim Saskatchewan. “Aaron will be a great asset to the Saskatchewan swimming community and we are very fortunate to have someone like Aaron that has experiences from a similar swimming community in Nova Scotia as well as experiences at the higher level come to Saskatchewan and take on this new role.” And Swim Sask volunteer Board Member Dr. John Barden, who was part of the interview process, says: "We are very excited about having someone with Aaron's knowledge and experience come to Saskatchewan to provide high performance leadership to the coaches and swimmers of this province".
“I am very excited about my new position with Swim Saskatchewan,” said Maszko. “I look forward to working with the coaches, athletes, and the swimming community of Saskatchewan as we try to push the bar of performance higher at both the provincial and national levels. I feel my years of experience as Head Coach of HTAC and my role inside the Atlantic community have given me a great base to start from.”
Swimming has been part of Coach Maszko’s life and passion for over 20 years, including being an age group and varsity team swimmer. In addition to being an NCCP Level 3 Certified swim coach he is a member of Coaches of Canada as a Charter Professional Coach, is Certified in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention and has also achieved his B.Ed, M.A.Sc in Biomedical Engineering, a B.Sc in Physics and Applied Math, and has done Doctoral Research in Physics.
Reporting to Marj Walton, Executive Director of Swim Sask, Maszko’s primary responsibilities will be to provide mentorship to coaches across the province, liaise with the club coaches of Saskatchewan’s top swimmers, assist with planning of necessary IST supports, lead the implementation of provincial athlete development initiatives and execute the Swim Sask High Performance Strategic Plan.
“Saskatchewan swimmers have always had a presence at the national level. Helping them take steps towards having the same presence on the international scene is an exciting challenge that I am greatly looking forward to.”
“During my time in Halifax, I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a supportive group of people who shared a vision that high performance athletes can come from anywhere; whether from Halifax, Nova Scotia or North Battleford, Saskatchewan. I will miss working with many of the coaches, swimmers, and volunteers on the East Coast and wish them the best in the future.”
Aaron will assume his role as of September 1, 2015 but will be doing some preliminary review of provincial team initiatives, competition calendar, results and rankings between now and then. He will be based out of Saskatoon.