Rodney Curtis – Pre-Team Program
Rodney returns to the Badger Swim School for his fourth year with the program running the Pre-Team group and offering private one-on-one swim lessons. Rodney is the lead instructor in our Pre-Team group, which is our learn-to-swim program, typically for children ages 3-5. Rodney is able to calm the fears of hesitant children and make them love the sport of swimming and getting them to want to learn more! During the summer months, he is the Water Safety Instructor for the Shenorock Shore Club camp in Rye.
During the school year, Rodney is the modified swim coach for the Mamaroneck High School team and the Assistant Coach for the Varsity Mamaroneck High School team.
Kate Mortell – Pre-Team Program
Kate Mortell began her swimming career at the age of 10 and has been mentored by some of the most renowned coaches in the country. Some of her swimming accomplishments include being a National Qualifier from the age of 15 on, attending the University of Miami on a swimming scholarship, and an Olympic Trial participant in 1984.
Kate’s coaching experience includes coaching at the High School level for Weston High School and being a private stroke consultant for swimmers on the Greenwich YWCA Swim Team for five years. Kate also attended the World Coaches Clinic in San Diego in 1998.
Kate finished her swimming career in the 1980’s at Badger, under coach John Collins and is back now working with the Swim School in the Pre-Team and Developmental programs. Kate brings the spirit of her mentors influence into each practice with joy and gratitude.
Lara Vivolo – Developmental Group
Lara Vivolo returns this year to the Badger Swim School for her third year with our program. Lara will be the lead instructor in our Developmental Group, a pivotal position in preparing children for the step from the Developmental Group to the 8 & Under program. During the summer months, Lara runs a learn-to-swim program at the Larchmont Yacht Club for over 150 kids. During the school year, Lara is a physical education teacher in the Sleepy Hollow school district. She is also the assistant coach for the Rye High School girls team, and the head coach for the Rye High School boys team.
Lara is a certified coach with Badger and is Red Cross certified in First Aid, CPR, and Lifeguarding.
Lindsey Bolger – 8 & U coach
Lindsey Bolger is coming back for her fist full season as an 8 & under program coach; she has been working with the 8 & under group alongside her sister Shannon. Lindsey has been coaching swimming since graduating high school. Lindsey finished her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education last spring, and she has been working with children as a certified elementary school teacher for over five years. She, along with her sister Shannon, bring an expertise in early childhood education to the 8 & under program that provides a developmentally appropriate experience for their swimmers.
John Castiglia – 8 & U coach
John Castiglia has been apart of Badger Swimming for the past 15 years. For the past two years, John has been one of our full-time assistant coaches for the 8 & Under program, working with the intermediate to competitive group. John also is an assistant head coach at Orienta Beach Club in Mamaroneck during the summer months.
John grew up swimming in Westchester County and has been coaching since his swimming career ended. During the school year, John is a special education counselor at in the Rye Neck school district.
John is a certified USA Swimming coach and also Red Cross certified in First Aid, CPR, and Lifeguarding.
Shannon Bolger – 8 & U coach
Shannon Bolger has been an integral part of Badger Swimming for 16 years. For the past two years, Shannon has been the head coach for the 8 & Under program of the Badger Swim School. Shannon is also the Head Coach for the Rye High School girls varsity swim team. She has coached there for the past ten years. Shannon is also the head coach at Orienta Beach Club in Mamaroneck.
Shannon is completing her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. She is currently working in the Special Education Department for the Mamaroneck School District at Mamaroneck Avenue Elementary School.
Shannon is the anchor of the swim school; she provides sound technical instruction while also laying groundwork for those that wish to pursue a competitive career. Her swimming knowledge and her professional experience in elementary education provide a wonderful, developmentally appropriate, experience for swimmers in her group.
Shannon has been a USA Swimming certified coach, and she is certified Water Safety Instructor and Lifeguard.
Dominick Galimi
For almost 20 years years, Dominick Galimi has been coaching for the Badger Swim club at all levels, with a main focus on the Senior team. The former local age group and high school swimming standout went on to compete at Lehigh University. After completing his engineering and MBA degrees, Dominick was named head coach of the Bronxville High School Girls and Fordham Prep Boys varsity swimming teams guiding them to numerous Division and State championship titles. He is also a twenty+ year veteran head swim coach at the Larchmont Yacht Club in the summer. Through the years he has received multiple Coach of the Year awards from a variety of associations, including The Journal News, Westchester County Swimming Conference and the Catholic high school athletic association. In 2017, Dominick was elected to the Catholic High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Jenny Thompson
2004 Olympic Team
Athens, Greece
- Womens 400-meter freestyle relay – Silver Medal
- Womens 4×100-meter medley relay – Silver Medal
Jennifer Elisabeth Thompson (born February 26, 1973), later known by her married name Jenny Cumpelik, is an American former competition swimmer.
She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history: twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her hometown, began swimming at age 7 at a summer country club called Cedardale in Groveland, Massachusetts. During the indoor season, she swam at the Danvers YMCA from ages 8 to 10, and then at the Andover-North Andover YMCA from the ages of 10 to 12. At age 12 she began swimming for Seacoast Swimming Association under coaches Amy and Mike Parratto, and moved to Dover at age 13.
She first appeared on the international scene as a 14-year-old in 1987, when she won the 50-meter freestyle and placed third in the 100-meter freestyle at the Pan American Games. She won her first world championship in 1991, as part of the USA’s winning 4×100-meter freestyle relay team, and held the world record in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle when she participated in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Thompson attended Stanford University, and swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Pacific-10 Conference competition. She was the recipient of the 1994–95 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year.[1]
Tobie Smith
Tobie Smith (born October 23, 1973) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance and open-water freestyle events. She represented the United States at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Western Australia, winning the gold medal in the 25-kilometer open water event.
To celebrate her completion of her master’s degree in kinesiology, Smith swam the English Channel on August 5, 1999. After swimming two thirds of the distance in an estimated record time, she encountered a force five gale of 19 to 24 miles per hour and white-capped waves. She finished her channel-crossing in eight hours, 15 minutes; the then current record time was seven hours, 40 minutes.