2024-2025 Season Welcome from Head Coach Mikayla

September 7, 2024

Hello DCSC Families,

The countdown to the 2024-2025 season is on and I can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the pool!

I am excited to be returning to the club for my second season. We have some exciting events planned for this year including travel meets, and swimmer education sessions that touch on injury prevention, nutrition, and mental preparation. We also have the 2025 Summer Canada Games to look forward to. Stay tuned for more details this Fall!

Here are the season start dates:

Senior start date September 9th
Full club start date September 16th

You can view the Swim Nova Scotia Competition schedule here, and the club events schedule can be viewed on our website. Changes to our schedule will be communicated in advance.

I have been working hard with our staff to provide a strong training program for each group. We will continue to develop athletes that are well rounded and have the confidence to swim every stroke. Our swimmers will develop competency in racing both the individual events, medley’s and distance. DCSC has produced strong medley and distance swimmers, and we are going to continue to represent in these events. Our staff is also very excited to meet you, and I am thrilled to introduce our lead coaches. Look out for a welcome email in the next week from your lead coach.

Junior Lead Coach Maddie Murray

Maddie started her coaching career in triathlon in 2017 with the Hamilton Hammerheads triathlon team before swimming for Acadia University from 2019-2022, where she coached the Wolfville Tritons Nova Tech and novice groups. In 2021, Maddie worked as the assistant coach and Sports Program Coordinator for the Triathlon Nova Scotia Provincial Development Team in preparation for the 2022 Canada Summer Games. Most recently, Maddie was one of the coaches of the Glasgow Caledonian University swim team in Scotland during the 2023/2024 season.

Maddie began her swimming career in 2008 with the Calgary Patriots before moving to Ontario where she swam for the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays and the Oakville Aquatic Club. She attended the 2016 Olympic Swimming Trials, competing in the 200 breaststroke and 200 I.M.

Maddie has earned her NCCP Swimming 101 and Triathlon Community Coach certifications and is actively pursuing her 201. She believes that swimming is a foundation for goal setting, work ethic, leadership, and resilience which will continue to set up each individual swimmer for success long after their swimming career comes to an end. Maddie also firmly believes that fun should be at the forefront alongside hard work, and that swimming is about the whole individual swimmer, both physically and mentally, striving to achieve all-around excellence and a love for the sport.

Gold Lead Coach Victoria Chandler

Victoria is returning to the Crusaders for a second season, this time to lead the Gold swimmers. Previously Victoria coached the Blue group and is looking forward to her new role. She has been coaching since 2014 in BC and NS where she has had the opportunity to work with winter, summer, and masters swimmers. Victoria is Swimming 101 Certified and Swimming 201 Trained. Victoria has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology as well as a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Dalhousie University. Outside of coaching, Victoria presently works full-time as an Occupational Therapist

Blue Lead Coach Susana Somerton

Susana is a returning Crusader having swam for the club for 10 years before moving on to Swim for UNB. Susana has a degree in Kinesiology and currently works full time as an Aquatics Coordinator. You may recognize Susana as she spent some time on deck last season with the Crusader’s as a substitute coach. Susana is very excited to be returning to the Crusaders.

Fundamentals Lead Coach + assisting with Blue: Karley Grimard

Karley is a returning coach and previously was the co-lead for the Fundamentals group. Karley competitively swam for 8 years first in Saskatchewan and then most recently for the Dartmouth Crusaders Swim Club. She then made the move to coaching after completing NCCP Level 1 Certification. Karley is in her third year of coaching for the Crusaders and for various summer swim clubs around the HRM, including Bedford Beavers and Cole Harbour Hurricanes. She has a passion for building foundational skills in younger swimmers and encouraging a positive team atmosphere. Karley is currently in her second year of study at Saint Mary’s University working towards a Bachelor of Commerce. Her favorite stroke is Butterfly!