COLE BAY-- Steve Leal had been named Head Coach and Aquatics Director of the Carib Swim Team. Leal comes from the U.S. with more than 35 years of competitive coaching experience.
Leal has coached a National Championship team at the world-famous Santa Clara Swim Club, and a NCAA championship at Stanford University. Several of Coach Leal’s athletes have made Olympic teams and World Championship teams, both for the U.S. and for several other countries.
Most recently he helped coach SwimMAC Carolina to a Junior National championship. Additionally, SwimMAC has produced the largest number of Academic All-Americans in the U.S. for the past two years, an accomplishment Coach Leal is even more proud of.
“We are not just trying to get young people to swim fast, we are preparing them for life. The lessons they can take from swimming can be applied to their academic careers, and into adulthood,” said Leal.
Leal has coached in the Caribbean region as well, at Storm Swim Club in Antigua. During his four year stint in Antigua, the country had improved from 18th to 10th at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships, beating several larger islands.
“I am very excited to move to the next phase of my career here in Sint Maarten / Saint Martin”, Coach Leal said. “My goal is to use my experience to improve upon what has existed for a while. I want to provide a full-service swimming program that can meet everybody’s needs, from our accomplished Learn-To-Swim program for children, through our competitive youth program, and into our Masters adult swimming program. We will endeavor to provide a fun and healthy program for the youth and adults in Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, and still provide everything necessary to those who wish to achieve at the highest levels.”
