Coaches & Directors

We are here to support your needs. If your questions are related to workouts, meets, events, goal setting, and other swimming related needs, please contact one of the coaches. For all questions related to administrative, such as dues, safety, or policy issues, please contact General manager Steve Leonard.

Coaching Staff

Ron Gercke

MVAC Head Swim Coach

Achievements

•	The 25th Swim Coach in the U.S. to achieve Level 5 Certification, the highest level possible in United States Swimming.
•	Holds 10 National Certificates of Excellence as one of the Top U.S. Swimming Coaches.
•	4-Time Olympic Festival Swim Coach.
•	On the U.S. Swimming International Trip List for 5 years.
•	Swim Coach for the Olympic Development Camp, Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO, prior to Sydney Olympics.
•	4-Time Western Swim Coach, Junior Nationals.
•	Published or been the subject of many articles in Swimming Journals and Magazines, i.e., Swimming World, Swimming Technique.
•	Conducted many Stroke Clinics and Workshops for Swim Coaches in Arizona and throughout the U.S.
•	Was a design consultant for Arena Swimwear USA , Finis Swimwear USA , Finals Swimwear USA .
•	Was a Consultant for Commercial Pool Design in Arizona .
•	Designed the pool at Arizona Country Club.

USS Swimmers Ron Has Coached

•	5 Olympic Swimmers
•	2 Pan-American Swimmers
•	2 NCAA U.S. Champions
•	15 National Age Group Record-Holding Swimmers
•	10 National Record-Holding Age Group Relay Teams
•	Hundreds of Age Group and Senior Swimmers Who Have Achieved Top 16 U.S. Event Times.
•	32 Swimmers Who Have Achieved Top 25 World Times.
•	5 Top 8 Teams at Senior Nationals.
•	8 Top 5 Teams at Junior Nationals.
•	Over 200 Swimmers Who Have Received Swimming Scholarships to Division 1 and Division 2 Universities, i.e. Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, USC, UCLA, Texas, Tulane, SMU, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, ASU, UofA, etc.
•	50 Swimmers who have achieved Scholastic All-American Times.
•	One National High School Swimmer of the Year, Male. (The only Arizona swimmer ever to earn the honor.)
•	Thousands of Swimmers Who Love Competitive Swimming!

*Club Experience*
10 Years at Phoenix Country Club
•	Coached Country Club League Swim Team
•	Coached AAU/USS Arizona Desert Rats Swim Teams
•	Taught Thousands of Swimming Lessons (Toddlers – Adults)

10 Years at Village Tennis Club
•	Developed and Coached Village Vikings USS Swim Team
•	Developed Very Successful Summer Camp Programs
•	Taught Thousands of Swimming Lessons (Toddlers – Adults)

25 Years at Arizona Country Club
•	Developed and Coached Very Successful ACC Country Club League Swim Team, Winner of Many Country Club League Championships
•	Developed, Introduced, and Ran Summer Camp Programs
•	Coached SwimAZ USS Team
•	Coached AFOX USS Team
•	Taught Thousands of Swimming Lessons (Toddlers – Adults)

Charli Proto

Assistant Coach

Charli Proto is a swimmer of 16yrs where she swam under Sam Kramer (now coach at Swim Neptune), Joe Johnson (assistant coach at THS), and finished her athletic career under Coach Brad Grant . Charli spent 2yrs as the assistant to Coach Brad at MVAC and MVCC. In 2009 she was hired by Thunder Cat Aquatics to coach all age groups, as well as Swim America. This past high school season Charli was assistant coach at St. Mary’s High school. She has been a certified USA level-1 swim coach, who has experience with all age groups in water and on deck leading dry-land workouts. Outside of the pool, Coach Charli has attended Arizona Swimming Board of Delegates meetings, USA swim Clinics, Committee meetings, and is trained in using Team Manager, Meet Manager and system 5 operations. Charli is currently applying for the Masters Program in Counseling with a concentration in forensics at Argosy University .

Erin Layman

Jr. Assistant Coach

Erin grew up playing baseball here in the valley. Due to elbow injuries he had to stop playing baseball and look for another sport, he landed himself in the water. Erin swam for North Canyon High School where he placed top 16 in the 50 yard free at 5A state, and helped lead his team to a top 8 finish in the 200 freestyle relay. In 2007, Erin started learning certain techniques from Brad Grant and worked on developing his own coaching style. He currently works with new athlete’s joining the USA swim team, and uses his knowledge to teach swimmers correct stroke techniques. Erin is also in charge of the Country Club Leaque’s 6 and under program. When not on deck coaching he is the Aquatic Supervisor at Moon Valley Country Club.