Q&A WITH COACH SID CASSIDY

SID CASSIDY

Jovial and dedicated Sid Cassidy has given his life to his family, teams and all forms of swimming— especially open water.

BY MICHAEL J. STOTT

Q.SWIMMING WORLD: Is it fair to say Bob Mattson influenced your life? A. COACH SID CASSIDY: Without question and in many ways. We swimmers stood in awe of his prodigious work ethic fueled by an incredible passion to explore, experiment and achieve. He was at the cutting edge of many technical breakthroughs, including experimentation with the wave breaststroke and other drills that truly solidified him as a coaching legend. Bob is still very much in my life on many levels. I just hosted a Zoom celebration for his 90th birthday!

SW: How did NCSU coach Don Easterling advance your swimming career? SC: He was an incredible motivator and knew how to squeeze every last bit of effort out of you in a training session. His old school methods may not transfer into modern aquatic times, but he did pour a bucket of passion into his daily coaching. Those years were formative for me.

SW: How did you get into coaching in the first place? SC: After agreeing to split ways with Coach Easterling in 1977, I transferred to UCLA, where I spent one season training under the legendary George Haines. Ultimately, I ended up at UC San Diego, where I got into ocean swimming and beach lifeguarding. And I really honed my open water racing tactics as a member of the famed Ocean City (N.J.) Beach Patrol under Captain George Lafferty. In the summer of 1979, I got a desperate call from Bob Mattson, who pleaded with me to just try coaching for a year with his club program. I felt a certain calling, and as a result, fell in love with coaching.

SW: You’ve coached college, club and high school programs. SC: Each position has unique challenges, but the rewards are always the same: gratification upon seeing an athlete complete a challenge set or achieve a breakthrough competitive experience. SW: These days, coaching is a family affair, is it not? SC: Absolutely. Our children, Quinn and Kate, have enjoyed collegiate aquatic success, and we have been able to grow the program at Saint Andrew’s School into a competitive force. Presently, two of my coaches are Quinn and Ramon Walton, who I call my “second son.” My wife, Kara, has built an incredible Florida Swim School business housed in our own indoor pool, which has been integral to our success for 20-plus years, so it really is a family enterprise.

SW: What’s the best thing you learned from coaching? SC: Joyfulness: joy at watching an athlete like Aspen Gersper shed tears of joy at getting her first Olympic Trials cut or see Megan Moroney exhausted with joy upon completing a crazy practice session.

SW: Your club team had some pretty swift relays at this spring’s NCSA meet. SC: Our boys 200 free relay nearly broke 1:20, and the 400 free quartet tied for first, clocking a 2:59.46. (The video can be found at the 2:17.30 mark of Day 4 finals: http://takeitlive.tv/events/21t1007)

SW: You won 11 ACC titles, were a threetime All-American and competed in the La Tuque 24-hour swim. Any tough moments? SC: My toughest in the pool were just training days. The 24-hour swim in LaTuque was always the most grueling marathon. Getting in and out of the water all day and night to race a one-third-of-amile circuit course in bone-chilling water is something I’ll never forget. I learned so much from John Kinsella during those years on the WPMSF circuit...and we had a good bit of fun.

SW: Coach Mattson introduced you to quarry swimming, but how did you become an open water coach and then administrator?

Coach Sid Cassidy

Aquatic Director/Head Coach St. Andrew’s School Boca Raton, Fla.

•University of California, San Diego, B.A., mass communications/media studies, 1979 • 3x CSCAA All-American, 11x ACC champion, North Carolina State University • Professional marathon swimmer, worldranked fourth, 1979 • Aquatic director/head coach, Saint

Andrew’s School, 2005-present • Aquatic director/head coach, Atlantic City, 1998-2005 • Head coach, University of Miami, 1993-98 • Men’s head coach, James Madison

University, 1992-93 • Assistant coach, Florida State, 1985-92 • Assistant coach, University of Tampa, 1983-85; head coach, Greater Tampa

Swimming Association • U.S. open water national team coach, 1991-96; coached and swam on recordsetting USA Swimming National Team

English Channel double crossing • Board member of the International

Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame • 5x Florida High School coach of the year • Halls of Fame inductee: International

Marathon Swimming, North Carolina

Swimming, Ocean City Beach Patrol,

Delaware Museum and Sports • Recipient of USA Swimming Award plus

Paragon, Glenn S. Hummer and Irving

Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial awards

Coach Sid Cassidy has been an international open water steward for more than 40 years, serving as athlete, coach, race director, promoter, administrator, referee, lecturer and the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee chairman. With FINA, he has organized and run the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup and the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit.