Team History
1969
The Fredericton Y Mariners were established in 1969 with Hugh Sproule as the Head Coach at the YMCA pool in Fredericton. The competitive swimming program was very successful. Many swimmers established provincial records and were Canadian Junior and Senior National attendees and Jeune Canada Games team members. In 1969, 8 women and 3 men from the Fredericton 'Y' team were selected to the NB Canada Summer Games Swim Team
1984
In 1984 the team location was moved from the YMCA to the University of New Brunswick, Sir Max Aitken Pool and the pool at the Lady Beaverbrook Hall Residence. This provided the pool space and pool time needed to allow the team to both grow in size as well as support the ESSO Swim Canada program. The Head Coach from the UNB Varsity Swim Team was appointed the Head Coach of FAST and the program was combined with UNB
1989
In 1989 the FAST Executive addressed the needs of a growing team by hiring a full-time head coach. Robert Eynon was FAST’s first full-time head coach, followed by Claude St. Jean one year later
1990
Bruce Fisher, Head Coach during this time, developed and led a successful swimmer contingent including Hilary Seagrave, Meaghan Seagrave and Marianne Limpert. They were all successful at both the Canada Games and Canadian Nationals. Marianne, continued on to the Olympics and other world competitions.
1996
Under the coaching of Claude St. Jean the team developed a national identity by our swimmers winning the female Eastern Cup, producing top finalists at both the Senior and Junior Nationals, and winning New Brunswick provincial titles. During these years FAST also provided over half of the athletes attending Canada Games. The team produced many provincial records from such swimmers as Victoria Lally, Krista Morrison, Graham Cox, and Matthew Walker, among many others. In 1996 Marianne Limpert returned to be coached by Claude and went on to win a Silver Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. At this point Claude returned to coaching in Quebec
2002
To continue to build and sustain a strong competitive swim team in Fredericton at the Age Group, Varsity and National levels it was recognized that drawing on the strengths of both FAST and UNB would again be necessary. As a result, Andrew Cole, Head Coach of the UNB Varsity Reds, took a role with FAST as the Technical Director, allowing our program to benefit from his vast swimming knowledge. In December 2002 Andrew left FAST/UNB to become the Director of the National Swimming Training Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia., and Paula Stewart (Crutcher) became the Head Coach of UNB.
2003
Paula stepped into the void left by Andrew and became the Head Coach of UNB and the Technical Director of FAST. FAST continues to have top-level coaches and swimmers. Paula was Head Coach of the NB Canada Games swim team played a significant role in the great swims produced by our NB athletes. As in the past, FAST swimmers (both past and present) made up a significant portion of the Canada Games contingent for the NB team. At this time FAST hired Daneen Dymond as the new Head Coach of FAST. Daneen brought a lifetime of swimming experience and continued coaching excellence to our program. In the summer of 2003, with the resignation of Daneen Dymond, James Whynacht was hired as the new Head Coach and remained until February 2008. In August 2008
2008
FAST was pleased to welcome Marta Belsh who joined us after 9 years with the Barrie Trojans Swim Club. Marta is a NCCP Level 3 certified coach with extensive coaching experience from the pre-competitive level to National swimmers. She coached Brittany Grey onto the 2008 Paralympic Team representing Canada in Beijing. She was recently awarded a “Women in Coaching” grant from Swimming Canada to further her studies and will also be developing and delivering coaching education programs. Marta brings new energy and ideas to our program and we look forward to many successful years with her.