Pete

Director of Flying Fish Aquatics

Head Coach, Flying Fish Swim Team

Peter Caragher has over twenty years of experience as a swim coach and has been teaching children to swim for twenty-three years. He has served as Director of Aquatics at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore since 1992, and founded the YWCA Flying Fish as an extension of the aquatics program in 1994. Since then, he has nurtured the growth of the team from fewer than 25 swimmers in 1994 to 500 in 2008 (one of the biggest teams in the country!). The swim team is large because of the healthy feeder system Pete has established through the Flying Fish Learn-to-Swim program, which has an additional 1500 children.

Pete has never been far from the water – he grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, and learned to swim at the Oak Park YMCA.  As an “age grouper,” he swam with the TOPS (The Oak Park Swimmers) swim team and in high school he competed for the Oak Park River Forest high school swim team.

Both during and after college from 1987-94, Pete served as an assistant coach at TOPS, and he was the Head Coach at Trinity High School from 1990-93. He and his wife, Claire, live in Evanston.

Joanne

Assistant Director of Aquatics

Assistant Coach - Yellowfish, Redfish, Whitefish, Bluefish

Joanne Binder has been part of the aquatics program at the YWCA since January of 1990, longer than anyone else on staff.  She grew up in western Pennsylvania, where she swam on an age group team (no one wore goggles back then!) and on her high school swimming team. She has been teaching swimming lessons since she was fourteen years old, as has coached swimming since she was in college.

Joanne first started working at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore in 1990 as a swimming instructor, lifeguard, and aqua aerobics teacher. She continues to teach in the Learn-to-Swim program and has been a coach for the Flying Fish since 2000. She has also taught lessons at the JCC, and led aqua aerobics at Northwestern.

In her free time, Joanne likes to dabble in art (she painted the pool office windows!).  Her love of the water runs in the family -- her three sons all swam for the Flying Fish, competed on their high school teams at ETHS, and played water polo.

Oswald

Assistant Director of Aquatics

Assistant Coach - Redfish, Seniorfish, Masterfish

Oswald Roper was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He learned to swim at the YMCA of the Sea in Kingston. He was not on a swim team growing up (though he wishes he was), but he did play both soccer and cricket. He first taught swimming at the Jamaican Red Cross Learn to Swim Program for schools and clubs. He started teaching at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore in 1993 and became a Flying Fish coach in 1997. His other hobbies are spear fishing and music – did you know that Oswald (also known as Trevor Roper) is also an internationally renowned Reggae vocalist and guitarist?

Anne

Assistant Coach - Greenfish, Yellowfish, Bluefish, Goldfish, Masterfish

Anne Wolff has been a Flying Fish coach and swim instructor since 2004, but she has never known life without swimming.  Her father, Bill Wolff, served as aquatics director and swim coach at New Trier High School in Winnetka for 35 years.  “Growing up, I was always at the pool,” she says.  “Instead of having babysitters, I just went to work with my dad.”

Anne, who grew up in Wilmette, started swimming competitively in sixth grade.  In high school, she swam and played water polo at New Trier.  She started playing water polo on the boys’ team because there was no girls’ team.  During her junior year, she helped start the girls’ team, serving as captain for two years.  After high school, she played water polo at the University of Kansas, serving as captain and coach for two years.

During high school, Anne coached and taught swim lessons through New Trier’s guard program.  After graduating from Kansas, she returned to New Trier where she coached the girls’ water polo team for three years. 

Anne is excited to be part of the new Flying Fish water polo program, which was launched in the spring of 2006.  And she relishes the opportunity to work with swimmers of all ages through teaching and coaching.  “I love being with the kids and I like learning,” she says.  “With swimming you’re constantly learning, from the 3-year-olds to the Masters.”

Julie

Assistant Coach - Whitefish, Bluefish

Julie McBratney has been a Flying Fish coach for the last five years and a familiar presence at the YWCA for ten years. As a parent to three Flying Fish, now 18, 16, and 14 years old, she has spent (and continues to spend!) many hours in the lobby before, during, and after practices and in the bleachers at swim meets. As a certified official, she has volunteered her time on deck as a starter and stroke and turn judge for four years. And as a Masters swimmer, she continues to work on improving her own stroke technique and endurance in the pool.

Julie joined her first swim team in fifth grade and swam competitively through high school. During her college years at Colgate University, she taught swimming at her local YMCA and at a summer camp. Julie has been a freelance writer and has worked in marketing and communications since then, and when she's not on deck, she also serves as the Communications Manager for the YWCA Evanston/North Shore.

Kim

Assistant Coach - Greenfish, Copperfish, Silverfish

Kimsour Eap is a Flying Fish coach, swim instructor and lifeguard.  He joined the YWCA staff in the fall of 2004.

A native of Cambodia, Kimsour came to the United States in 1999.  Amazingly, he learned to swim when he joined the swim team at Mather High School in Chicago.  “I was able to float and I just learned as I went,” he said.  A well-rounded athlete, Kimsour also played water polo, soccer and baseball at Mather. 

At age 16, Kimsour started working as a lifeguard and swim instructor for the Chicago Park District.  He continues to teach at the park district during the summer.

Kimsour attends Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.  For recreation, he plays basketball and flag football and swims on the Flying Fish Masters Team.  “Swimming is so good for your body,” he said.  “And you never stop learning with swimming.  I like to learn.”

Michelle

Assistant Coach - Greenfish, Yellowfish

Michelle Fowler is a Flying Fish coach and swim instructor with an extensive background in teaching.  She has been a swim instructor for fifteen years.

Michelle grew up in Evanston and was a synchronized swimmer at Evanston Township High School (ETHS).  She began teaching lessons in high school through the Learn-To-Swim program at ETHS.  Later she taught swimming at the McGaw YMCA in Evanston.  She also worked on the aquatics staff of a summer camp in Michigan.

Michelle attended Northern Illinois University in Dekalb and Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.  Still, swimming remains her passion.  “I enjoy all of what I do,” she said.  “I love to work with kids.  It’s great to get paid to swim and play.”

Nancy

Assistant Coach - Whitefish

Nancy Anderson has been a part-time coach for the YWCA Flying Fish since 2004. 

Nancy grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, where she was an age group and high school swimmer.  In high school and college, she spent her summers teaching swim lessons and coaching.  After a twenty-plus-year leave of absence, her love of swimming was rekindled in 2003 when Pete created the Flying Fish Masters Team.  Getting in the water again made her realize how much swimming meant to her.  It also heightened her awareness of the gifts swimming had given her, including confidence, inner strength, discipline, the ability to overcome fear, and the sense of belonging that comes from being part of team.  She was drawn to coaching again because she believes children of all ages and experience levels can derive these same gifts, which last a lifetime.

Nancy is a 1985 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  While she spends some time on the pool deck, she spends more behind a computer working as a freelance writer and marketing communications consultant. 

Seth

Assistant Coach - Greenfish, Bronzefish, Goldfish, Masterfish

Seth Weidmann is a Flying Fish coach and swim instructor.  He has been affiliated with the YWCA Aquatics Program since 2002, when he began spending summers teaching lessons.  In 2005, after receiving his bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, he joined the staff full-time.

Seth, who grew up in Evanston, started as an age-group swimmer when he was seven.  In high school, he swam for Evanston Township High School (ETHS).  In 2001, during his senior year, the ETHS boys’ team was named national champion.  In addition, Seth was a member of the 400-yard freestyle relay that won both the state and national title.  He continued his swimming career at Gustavus Adolphus, where he was a two-time All-American and two-time individual conference champion.

Seth believes he is lucky to have landed a job that allows him to focus on swimming.  “It’s a great activity for kids and since I was a swimmer, it’s been an easy transition for me,” he said.

Terry

Assistant Coach - Masterfish

Terry Silkaitis joined the YWCA Flying Fish as a coach and swim instructor year, bringing with him a wealth of experience as an elite competitive swimmer.

Terry went to Evanston Township High School, where he was an individual state qualifier all four years. He won the 200 free both junior and senior years and helped propel the team to first place in the state his senior year, when the team was also crowned national public high school swimming champions. At the University of Minnesota, Terry was an 11-time Big Ten champion and 23-time All American, and in 2003 he was voted Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. Terry competed in the 2004 Olympic Trials, and finished 12^th in the 100 freestyle.

coaches of entry-level swimmers

In addition to the above, Jeff Clarkin, Christy Coughlin, Dru Henke, Jane Holt,  and Reid Wellensiek work with entry-level swimmers on the team. All of them are also USA Swimming certified coaches, have extensive swimming backgrounds and swim on the Masters swim team.