James McQuade: Speed Swimming CoachJames is very excited to be a part of the Cruisers as a coach this time around. Throughout his life swimming has been his passion. He has been competing for 14 years of his life including many winter and summer programs. He grew up in California where he started his swimming career with the Walnut Creek Sting Rays at the young age of 5 years old, then he was a part of the VSC in Vancouver Washington where he went on to win 4 gold medals in the Oregon State Games. He then came to the Cruisers when he was 9 years old and those 3 years were the greatest and most fun he had ever had in swimming. This is where he was coached by Carrie Matheson. Along with meeting long life friends, in his time with the cruisers he went on to win 12 provincial medals including winning the 100m Freestyle in division two and three. He then pursued his swimming Career joining the North Shore Chena Swim Team, where he qualified for AAA(Provincial), Age Group National and Western National time standards. He then joined the West Vancouver Otters where under Coach Janusz Kaczmarek he qualified for the Sr. National time standard. He participated at the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials when he was 16 were he made the B-final in the 200m backstroke. That same year he went on to make the Canadian Jr. National Team where the team went to Monterey, Mexico for the 2008 FINA Youth World Championships. He has competed in many National and International Competitions over the last 3 years and he is currently 11th in Canada in the 200m Backstroke. Right now he is in his first year at SFU and is swimming with the varsity swim team. He is very excited to bring his passion and experience to the pool so that he can give back the knowledge from all the great coaches he has had over the years. He wants to create an enjoyable and entertaining atmosphere this summer. As well he wants to have as much fun as possible! He is looking forward to seeing everyone on the pool deck! |  |
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Michael Medley: Speed Swimming Coach This is Michael’s second year as a Group Coach with Cruisers. Michael has been in the North Vancouver Cruisers since he was 7 years old. That year, he was the youngest person in the club to qualify for Provincials, and he continued to qualify every year after. As well as swimming competitively for 13 years, Michael attended Elite Stroke Clinics coached by Liam Donnelly at SFU for two years. He is a certified lifeguard and swimming instructor, and has volunteer coached for the Cruisers for 5 years prior to becoming a group coach. He loves to seeing swimmers improve their skills and attitudes while still having a great time. He says swimming has made him who he is today, and he hopes to help others foster a lifelong enjoyment of aquatics and health. Michael has just finished his second year at UBC and is in an interdisciplinary science program.
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George Hill: Speed Swimming Assistant Coach George Hill having swum for 12 years is truly excited to be returning for his 7th consecutive year with Cruisers and his second year as an assistant coach. Turning 17 this July, George is enrolled in Grade 11 at Handsworth Secondary School and is taking high level Science courses. He is a fully certified lifeguard and has had the opportunity to meet and learn from many experienced coaches and swimmers who train around the clock to get as fast as they can possibly be. George has two younger brothers, both who transferred to Chena after 6 years with Cruisers to try to become one of those high level swimmers. George in the seven years he has swam with Cruisers has qualified for provincials all but his first time, and raced his strongest strokes backstroke, IM, and his favourite, breaststroke. His experience with Cruisers has been better than he could have ever imagined from any other sport and is proud to say that because of this, swimming will forever be one of his passions. A passion he hopes to invoke in every single swimmer he meets. With bright hopes for the season ahead, he can’t wait for the thrill to begin!
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Sam Donoghue: Speed Swimming Assistant Coach
Sam has been swimming and playing water polo with Cruisers for 10 years. He is super excited for his 11th season with the club and 2nd time as a coach. Sam is currently training 7 days a week with his water polo team as they get ready to go to nationals at the start of May. He also plays on the provincial team and trains with the National Development Center. Sam is looking forward to his grade 12 year at Windsor Secondary. Sam is also a certified lifeguard/ swim instructor and works on the North Shore. He is really looking forward to the season starting!! | 
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Jaime Hills: Speed Swimming Assistant CoachJaime has been swimming with the Cruisers since she was 7 years old. 9 years later she is excited to be going into her second year coaching with the club and looks forward to having the same influence on the younger swimmers that past coaches have had on her. With the Cruisers, Jaime has competed at the provincial championships every year she has swam, winning medals in both relays and individual events. Jaime has also made some of her best friends through swimming and has learned things that extend beyond the pool. She is going into grade 12 at Handsworth Secondary and is a member of the Senior Girls basketball team as well as competing in basketball at a provincial level. Jaime is really looking forward to another awesome summer! | 
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Vita Sackville-Hii: Speed Swimming Assistant Coach Vita has been a competitive swimmer for almost twelve years. She joined Cruisers when she was just five years old and has many great memories of summers spent at the pool. With the help of her coaches she has accomplished a lot, including winning medals at provincials in both individual events and relays. Along with speed swimming, she played water polo for one year and did synchronized swimming for four years with Cruisers. She was a volunteer coach for three years and loves helping kids develop a passion for swimming. Vita will be going into grade 12 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Throughout the year she is involved in numerous sports including field hockey, soccer and rowing and she enjoys snowboarding. She is excited to be coaching this summer and cannot wait to meet everyone! | 
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Stephanie Wood: Splash CoachStephanie is currently a Grade 11 student at Carson Graham Secondary School. She has been a part of the North Vancouver Cruisers Aquatics since she was 6 years old, and she is excited to be coming back for her 12th season. She has participated in many speed swimming meets and provincials over the years, as well as competed in diving for two years, and synchronized swimming for six. Steph has been volunteering with Splash since the 2008 season, and she is thrilled to be coaching the program this summer! She hopes that she can bring a high level of energy and enthusiasm to the pool, and develop the skills of new swimmers as well as create a fun and exciting environment. Spending her summers at the pool have been some of her fondest memories, and she is excited for a great season! | 
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Azin Teimoori: Head Coach - SynchroAzin is thrilled to be coming back to cruisers for her first season as Head Coach! She has been swimming from a very young age, and after a suggestion from her “I Can Swim” instructor, she eagerly began Synchro in 2001. During her time with Cruisers she has won several awards, and has taken the gold medal with her team at provincials for 4 consecutive seasons. She has been swimming with Cruisers for 9 wonderful seasons and couldn’t possibly imagine her summers without those memorable moments at practices, pep rallies, and provincials!
If Azin isn’t at the pool, you can usually find her exploring the city with her camera. She is currently attending the University of British Columbia, and aspires to continue her education in the field of Visual Arts in hopes of becoming a professional photographer. Azin can’t wait for another great summer of swimming and bonding, and is so happy to be working alongside Jackie, Megan, Melissa, and the other coaches!
See you on the pool deck!
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Jacqueline Tiplady: Synchro CoachJacqueline first began synchronized swimming 10 years ago after hearing her mom read out the wacky description of the sport in the North Van Rec guide. She joined Cruisers Synchro in 2003 and has been swimming, volunteering and coaching with Cruisers ever since. She has swum 7 team routines, 4 duets and 2 solos with Cruisers, and has enjoyed every minute of it! In 2006, she competed at the BC Summer Games in Kamloops, where she earned a bronze medal in the trio event. Currently Jacqueline is studying English Literature at UBC, and is also the president of the UBC Synchronized Swimming Club.
Cruisers is always one of the best parts of Jackie’s summer and she is very excited to take on her new role as coach! She is looking forward to working with her old teammates Azin, Melissa and Megan, and to sharing her knowledge and passion for synchro with all the swimmers. It’s going to be a great season! |  |
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Megan Steffens: Synchro CoachMegan has been swimming since before she could walk so when she started to get bored of swim lessons her mum decided to sign her up for the Synchro STAR program. From the first class she was hooked. Megan has been doing synchro since she was 8 and has been a part of Cruisers since she was eleven. She has participated provincially in synchro as well as speed swimming and water polo. She has been volunteer coaching for the last 3 years and is thrilled to be an assistant coach this year with her friends and former team mates, Melissa, Jackie and Azin. Megan loves Cruisers and keeps coming back each summer because of the Cruisers family that is built. Cruisers has provided so many opportunities as well as formed some of her closest friendships.
When Megan's not at the pool you can find her finishing her grade 9 year at Mulgrave, playing volleyball, singing, or playing other sports with friends. Megan is thrilled to be back for another year with Cruisers and can't wait for the season to start! |  |
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Melissa Chui: Synchro CoachMelissa is delighted to be coaching Synchro for Cruisers. She loves working with the younger swimmers and helping them to improve and refine their skills. Ever since she was a little girl, she has always been amazed by the synchronized swimming routines performed at the Olympics. She started swimming at a very young age and took on synchro in 2003 through the STAR program. After her discovery of her love for the sport, Melissa joined Cruisers in 2005. She has received several medals since then, including gold medals for the past two years. Every summer, great memories are made as Melissa swims and volunteer coaches with Cruisers. It’s a time for everyone to bond and share their passion for the sport with one another. This year, Melissa is looking forward to her new role with Cruisers: coaching the swimmers. She can’t wait to spawn new memories with them and the other coaches! There’s no doubt that this year will be a blast! | 
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Zach Mathews: Head Coach - Water Polo
Zach Mathews has been a Water Polo coach and player at many different levels, but it all started in the BCSSA at 13 years old. His playing career brought him through several different clubs including several BCSSA and Lower mainland teams, and the Pacific Storm. Zach was also a member of the Junior National Water Polo team.
As a coach, Zach has worked at all different levels in British Columbia. He loves to coach at every different age and skill level, whether it is a Splash program for eight year olds or the U18 National Championships. Each age group and level has a set of different challenges and rewards. As well as being a Nationally Certified coach and lifeguard, Zach is a certified Learning Facilitator for Water Polo Canada. Learning Facilitators teach other people to become coaches and they offer programs to achieve national level certification.
For Zach, the two most important factors of being a great coach are: being a great role model for young people, and to remember that coaching is a lot of fun. Zach is always excited to get to the pool and loves to be a part of a team.
In his spare time, Zach is an amateur musician who likes to build wobbly wooden furniture. He plays water polo and several other sports as much as he can. Zach is also a freelance travel writer and has several poems published internationally. You'll see him come to practices & games on his awesome new racing bicycle.
Feel free to approach him anytime! | 
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Jocelyn McQuade: Water Polo CoachJocelyn has been a Cruiser since she was 6 years old. She has competed in 8 provincial championships and won medals in relays as well as individual events and as a part of the water polo team. She has been the captain of the Bantam and Cadet Pacific Storm Water Polo team for the last three years and was awarded last year with BC Water polo's athlete of the year. She has been very busy in the past couple years training 5 to 6 times a week with Pacific Storm Water Polo, and the National Development Center, as well as Team BC in the summer. She has competed in 2 National Championships, and is set to compete in the U18 nationals as well as the U16 nationals both in May. In addition to playing, Jocelyn has been a volunteer coach for the past 4 years, in both swimming and water polo. Out of the water Jocelyn is looking forwards to starting her grade 11 year at Argyle secondary school, she excels at art class where she can paint as well as her art metal course where she has learnt to make jewellery. Jocelyn hopes to provide for every athlete the fun and excitement for water polo as was provided for her when she was a cruiser. She is super excited for this summer and can't wait to see everyone at the pool! | 
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Meghan Lappan: Water Polo Coach Meghan is very excited to be coming back to North Vancouver for her 2nd year as a water polo coach and her 13th as a Cruiser. She has just completed her freshman year at Indiana University where she played NCAA Div I water polo for the Hoosiers and studied Sociology and French. Meghan is looking forward to teaching her favourite sport to a whole new group of eager athletes and hope they learn to love it as much as she does. When she isn't at the pool or at the gym, Meghan likes to eat lots of sushi and indulge in naps. | 
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Marianne Tout: Water Polo Coach Marianne is happy to be coaching water polo with the Cruisers this year. She really enjoys working with the younger athletes helping them learn new skills and improve upon their existing abilities. She also gets pleasure from instilling the love of the game in the players. Marianne joined the North Van Cruisers when she was 9 years old as a speed swimmer. Two years later she started playing water polo and has never looked back. She has competed in the BCSSA summer water polo provincial championships for 4 years helping the team win two silver medals and two gold medals. She has also competed in 2 National Championships with the Pacific Storm Water Polo Club and is currently training for both the U18 and U16 National Championships this May. This is Marianne's second year of being a part of the B.C. provincial team and has just completed her first year with the Water Polo Canada National Development Centre. Having been with the Cruisers for 8 years, Marianne is looking forward to a fun filled 9th season. |  |
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Michael Chapman: Water Polo CoachMike started playing water polo with the cruisers when he was 11 years old, and has been hooked on the sport ever since. He played with cruisers his whole BCSSA career before moving on to play with Pacific Storm where he has led his team as they competed in many national tournaments. He has also played on Team BC where he won gold at the Hawaii invitational water polo tournament in 2009 and travelled to Croatia with the team last year. Mike now goes to the University of Toronto where he plays varsity water polo alongside studying Engineering. He also plays with the Toronto Golden Jets Water Polo Club. This will be Mike’s third year coaching with the cruisers, and he is very excited for another fun and successful season! | 
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Ben Marion: Water Polo Coach
Ben has been involved in the water polo community for 5 years. A late start that clearly didn't affect his learning curve. He started playing with the North Shore Titans and then moved on to do swimming and water polo with the North Van Crusiers. In 2008 he joined the Pacific Storm Water Polo Club and was a starting goalie for 4 years. Ben has played internationally, has competed in the Canadian Water Polo Nationals 3 times, and has participated in several National Development Camps. This summer is a next step for Ben's journey in leadership and he hopes to pursue a career in a related field.
Ben has a passion for the outdoors, leadership and sport. He values having fun more important than anything else in sport and in life!
Life is short, so have fun!
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Stuart Malcolm: Head Coach - Diving
A former diver for the West Vancouver Dolphins, Stuart dove in Vancouver for seven years during which he finaled at numerous Junior and Senior Nationals. He continued his training and studies at Princeton University, where he competed at the Ivy League Championships and twice at the NCAA National Championships. He holds his Level 1 NCCP coaching certification.
Stuart retired from the sport in 2008. He holds a degree in Chemistry from Princeton, served as a pediatric-HIV testing coordinator for a year in sub-Saharan Africa, and now performs drug delivery research at the Department of Biochemistry at UBC. | 
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Coming soon: watch here for news of the Diving coaching staff |
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