Born and grew up in NYC, Far Rockaway to be exact. Undergraduate attended Queens College, NYC - Physical Education, 1975, both swam and played water polo there. Co-Captain my senior year.  Graduate School Univ. of Mass., Amherst, - Exercise Science, 1977
Started the Tsunami Swim Team in 2010
American Swim Coach Assoc. [ASCA] Level 5 Coach Senior, Age Group and YMCA.  Past President of ASCA,  Past Vice Pres. of USA Swimming
National Team Coach 5 times.
More than 45 years of national and international experience;  I've been privileged to have coached 7 Olympic athletes,  more than two dozen national age group record holders, over 40 senior, junior & YMCA individual national champions and several hundred top ten nationally ranked swimmers.

Chris began coaching with Suburban Swim Club, the team he grew up swimming for under the tutelage of the legendary swim coach Charlie Kennedy. There he taught all age groups and abilities ranging from novice to Olympic Trial finalists. After 8 years learning from one of the great coaches in U.S. Swimming, he got the opportunity to become the head coach of Sunnyvale Swim Club a member of Pacific Swimming, one of the strongest LSC's in the country.
There he coached some of the fastest age group swimmers in Pacific Swimming, while growing the team in numbers and abilities. He coached there for 3 years, and saw multiple all star team members as well as coaching a number of NAG top ten swimmers. He left Sunnyvale Swim Team, so his wife could pursue further education back on the east coast.
Once back on the east coast he took the head age group coaching position at YMCA of the North Shore Sharks, one of the largest YMCA programs in the country. Chris oversaw a multi- site program leading  the age group program for one year before taking a small hiatus from coaching.
He loves the sport of swimming for the teaching aspect but also the continued learning that occurs everyday. Chris is an ASCA Level 3 Certified Coach.
When he's not coaching he enjoys working out and training for obstacle course races and loves spending time outdoors with his wife Courtney and his dog Raul.
He looks forward to working with Tsunami, the swimmers, and the great coaching staff.

Coach Michael 'Kiwi' Babich comes from Auckland New Zealand he has been a swim instructor/coach for the past 12 years. He started coaching as a learn to swim instructor in New Zealand. He then moved to Maine where he became a Red Cross Lifeguard and Water safety Instructor . After teaching swim instruction and lifeguarding for two years he moved to California. In California he worked as an Aquatic Manager at the YMCA and then started to coach competitive level swimmers.

Coach Kiwi coached for 3 years in California where he worked his way up the ranks of his club and was  appointed head coach after only his second year at the club. Coach Kiwi then made a move back to Maine where he took on a head-coaching role in Cumberland. After Coaching in Maine for 2 seasons coach Kiwi had the opportunity to go back to New Zealand after being in the USA for 8 years, and coach at an age group team. He coached in New Zealand for 2 years.

Coach Kiwi has coached swimmers to Junior Olympic medals and records in California,  and on to California and Maine State All Star Teams. He is also very proud of being the direct coach of  a swimmer who made her first Junior New Zealand national level team. Coach Kiwi has been nominated twice for coach of the year in California and in New Zealand.

He is very happy to be part of Tsunami swim club and is looking forward to meeting more of the Tsunami family. Some other places you may see coach Kiwi are on The Out-of-Door Academy campus in his first grade classroom. Singing a song at the local Karaoke bar or hanging out down at the beach with his wife Merin and his son Jayton. You might even be lucky enough to see him swim a few lazy lengths of the Arlington pool in the mornings.

Deb Walker grew up in Valley Forge, Pa, and swam for Suburban Swim Club. She obtained a degree in Clinical Chemistry from Penn State University where she was captain of the swim team for three years. After earning a certification as a Microsoft Systems Engineer (MCSE), she worked in IT for several years before deciding teaching was what she found most gratifying. Deb earned a Master’s Degree (Education) specialty in Integrating Technology in the Classroom, and is retired from teaching from SMA Prep. She also is the web administrator for Toad Hollow Athletics, a swim supply ecommerce site. Her two grown children were born in Sarasota, and represented Swim Florida where she coached for 16 years.Swimming Credentials

B.S. Clinical Chemistry Penn State University M.S. Education Walden University
2023: Retired from Sarasota Military Academy Prep as an Agriculture Teacher

Educational Awards
2021: Teacher of the Year, Sarasota Military Academy Prep
2019: Middle School Agriscience Teacher of the Year Fla Dept Agriculture
2018: Congressional Teacher of the Year, District 16 Vern Buchanan
2017: Teacher of the Year, Sarasota Military Academy Prep
2014: Teacher of the Year, Brookside Middle School
2007: Stewardship Award from the Sarasota Audubon Society
2005: Congressional Teacher of the Year, Florida District 16 Katherine Harris

As a Master Swimmer from 1976 to present
16 National Records, 8 World Records
2004: Inductee, Dick Vitale’s Sports Hall of Fame
As a Swim Coach from 1985 to 1999
1985-1999: Age Group Coach, Swim Florida
1992-1999: Head Coach, Cardinal Mooney High School
1997: High School Swim Coach of the Year, Sarasota Herald Tribune
1991: Recipient of President Bush’s 92nd Point of Light for volunteering at the Boys and Girls
Club of Sarasota teaching minorities how to swim.

I grew up in Gainesville, GA where I started year-round swimming at 5. My older sister was already swimming, so my mom figured I would as well. I had some early success as a 10 and under winning state in a few events, but then didn’t swim for a full season at 11 or 12 because I had a bad attitude about the sport. I was the oblivious kid who was always underwater when the coach was talking. Luckily I grew out of that and after a few years of maturing and getting back into shape I started having success as a 13-16 year old swimming 15:39 in the mile at 16. I plateaued there for about 2 years because I was from a small club and had no training partner the last 2 years.

I swam at Georgia Tech 2002-06 where I dropped to 15:12 my freshman year, and 14:54 by my junior year. I was also 3:52 400 IM and 4:21 500 free. I went to GT to study Mechanical Engineering, but my mom was right. If you breeze through high school math and never study, you won’t have the study habits for the harder maths required for an engineering degree. I switched to business management which I’ve come to terms with, because while I still love anything mechanical, I probably never wanted to work as an engineer anyway.

After college I got big into racing triathlons because I really fell in love with cycling (you get to look at stuff and explore the world rather than staring at a black line), and I was an good runner for somebody 6’3” 195 lbs. I was winning races by the end of my first season and placed top 10 overall twice at the national championships as well as qualifying for my pro card at St. Anthonys Olympic in 2010. I never turned pro in triathlon because I knew I was too big to run fast in the heat and racing hard was incredibly painful (worse than swimming). I didn’t have anything to prove and didn’t want to train as hard as I did in college again.

While racing triathlons I was busy working on my swim and triathlon coaching careers. I was the head coach for 5 years of a small summer team of about 100 kids where we not only taught kids to swim, but to race as well. I started coaching teens and adults in triathlon in 2009 and still do to this day (online only right now).

After my wife and I had our daughter in 2016 while living in Atlanta we decided to RV around the country while she was young and we were trying to find somewhere else to settle with less traffic. We spent a year on the west coast and I worked odd jobs and coached online, but eventually we found ourselves in Florida near my in laws who live in Bradenton. I’ve had a lot of different jobs over the years, but like a bungee cord I always find myself pulled back to coaching. I know the effect a structured swim program can have on a kid because I was one of those obnoxious kids who needed structure and discipline. By working with lots of adult triathletes over the years I can say for sure swimmers train better than any other sports background I’ve encountered. Swimming hard in your youth makes everything else in life seem easier, and I enjoy being part of that process.