Lou Sharp is the owner, director, and head coach of Competition Swim Clinic and has been since clinic’s inception over 35 years ago. He was head coach of the Northern Virginia Swim team in AAU/USA Swimming for 5 years and of Brookville/NVAA Swim Team of the Colonial League for 9 years. He swam for the Indiana University Swim Team and for the Indianapolis Athletic Club Swim Team where he was an Age Group All-American and an Indiana state record holder. He also swam for the Ellenburger City Park youth age-group swim team in Indianapolis. As a USA Masters swimmer, he won the East Coast 50 yard freestyle championship at Princeton University, was 4th in the nation in the 100 backstroke and 5th in the 200 backstroke. His mixed gender 200 freestyle relay for which he swam the anchor leg set a Masters American record. He retired from Georgetown University with over 21 years of service as a department head. Prior to Georgetown, he worked for 5 years as a contract design engineer for NASA Goddard Space Craft Center and 2 years as a project Manager for the development of ALSEP meteor sensors at Union Carbide/NASA. He was also co-author of “Swim Logic” computer software. He studied at Indiana University and Baylor University and earned an MS in Astrophysics.
Tinker Hawthorne has been with the clinic for 30 years as a senior stroke instructor. She was a NVSL swimmer for Overlee and a DCAAU Age group swimmer for the Northern Virginia Aquatic Club under the 1964 Olympic Coach Stan Tinkham. She swam for Marymount University and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts. She was a member of the Rockville JCC synchronized swimming Jr. National Team. Tinker was coach of the summer and winter NVSL programs for Division I Overlee and Tuckahoe. She coached USS age group teams for Solotar, Arlington Aquatic Club and the Northern Virginia Swim Team. She was the creator and head coach of Swim America for Potomac Valley Swimming. She was also the USS Eastern Zone Coach for two years and the head Age Group Coach for one year. She performed graduate studies at the University of Colorado in Physiology and Psychology and completed the United States Swimming’s Coaches College at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Upon graduation from college, she worked for Governor Lawton Chiles of Florida and the Florida State House in Washington, D.C. She worked 15 years at Georgetown University as an Administrative Assistant and Audio Engineer for the Office of the Vice President of Administration and Facilities. She is currently employed by the Merrifield Garden Center Corporation.
Developmental Instructors
Armi Mack, Director of the Developmental Program, has over forty years experience as a swimming instructor and coach. She has Masters Degrees in German and Education and retired from Alexandria City schools with over 20 of service teaching high school and middle school. After retirement, she returned for 7 years to help train, mentor, and evaluate teachers. She has also taught at the community college level. Armi was a developmental instructor for Competition Swim Clinic from 1983-1996 and returned in her current position of Developmental Director in 2001. She has been involved in swimming from many aspects. She has coached both NVSL and Colonial League summer teams, and with Competition Swim Clinic colleague Tinker Hawthorne, she co-founded the TC Williams Swim and Dive Team where she coached for 7 years. As a parent, she served as Team Rep, referee, stroke-and-judge, and in other positions for both NVSL and CSL teams and is now involved with her grandson’s swim team. Before coming to the metropolitan area, she coached and taught swimming in southern Virginia from 1964-1968 and swam for the Mary Baldwin College Swim Team. Her grandson swims at Competition Swim Clinic, as did her daughters.
Nitza Vivoni was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico where she had 3 brothers who were already competitive swimmers. By default, she was a competitive swimmer by the age of 5. During her years of competitive swimming, she held several Puerto Rican records in freestyle, backstroke, and IM. The most important to her is the one she set at age 5 for the 6 and under 50 meter freestyle. This record was unbeaten for over 10 years. At age 9, she took a break from the pool to try other sports, but by age 10 was back in the pool as a synchronized swimmer. Two years later, she became the youngest member of the Puerto Rican Senior National Team and remained a member for 11 years. During this time, she participated in several international competitions, including the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games, the 1982 Swimming World Championships, the 1982 and 1986 Senior Centro American and Caribbean Games, and several Age Group level competitions held in the Caribbean and South America. During her last four years as a synchronized swimmer, she also had a full scholarship to the University of Puerto Rico as a competitive swimmer competing in long distance freestyle, backstroke, and relays. She swam all 4 years while completing her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In addition to coaching at Competition Swim Clinic, has also served as head coach for a Synchronized Swim Team, head coach for Parklawn Swim Team and head winter coach for Brandywine and Parklawn teams. She is married with 2 children.
John Fry has served for over five years as a developmental instructor at the Competition Swim Clinic, where his children also receive instruction. He was a swimmer for Lou Sharp’s Northern Virginia Swim Team for six years and the Fort Myer Swim Team for 10 years. During his years on Ft. Myer, John contributed to several League championships, and he still holds two Colonial Swim League records as well as various Ft. Myer records. He has fond memories of both teams, always remembering that having fun and swimming fast are compatible goals. John currently serves as a referee for the Colonial Swim League and is a lead instructor for Ft. Myer meet officials. In his other life, John is an economist for the Federal Government and a certified public accountant with his own tax business. He holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MSc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics.
Rob McGuckin is also a seasoned developmental instructor for Competition Swim Clinic. He is also an Executive Vice-President for Apex Systems Inc., an IT staffing firm, and has a BA in Speech Communications from Syracuse University. He was head coach for Lincolnia Park and Tuckahoe NVSL teams and also coached 2 years for York Swim Club. Rob has been involved in swimming from many different angles. As a parent, he serves as referee and stroke-and-turn judge for the NVSL. As a youngster, he swam for Northern Virginia Swim Team and at Competition Swim Clinic. As a member of the Auburn University Swim Team from 1989 to 1991, he was an SEC Finalist in backstroke and IM. As a member of the Syracuse University from 1991 to 1993, he was a Big East Finalist in backstroke and IM. Rob is married and has 3 children who all swim at Competition Swim Clinic.
Trina Wood has over 20 years experience in aquatics. In addition to being a clinic instructor, she is head coach for Parklawn Swim Team as well as for the Parklawn winter program and teaches swim lessons at the Arlington YMCA. Prior to becoming head coach at Parklawn, she was Team Rep for the Chinquapin Wahoos. She is a substitute teacher in Alexandria City Schools and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Education at George Mason University where she already received a BA in sociology. As a young swimmer, Trina swam for Brookville Swim Team and at Competition Swim Clinic. As a student at George Mason, she began working for a pool management company and worked her way up from lifeguard to Director of Training. She left this position to start her own aquatic training company. After taking time off to have 3 children, she became more interested in the teaching aspect and started teaching lessons at the Alexandria YMCA, eventually becoming their full-time Aquatics Director. She is also a soccer coach and referee. Two of her children swim at Competition Swim Clinic and her daughter is a clinic helper.
Dina Johnston is a former Alexandria City Public schools Physical Education teacher and currently a stay-at-home mom . Her first coaching job was with Curl-Burke Sunday Night Stroke Clinic in 2003. She then coached the Chinquapin Wahoos, Alexandria City's Swim Team from 2003-2008. She also coached the TC Williams High School swim team from 2003-2007. She spent a year substitute coaching with the Competition Swim Clinic before joining the coaching staff in a more permanent position in 2009. She is married and enjoys teaching her own two young children to swim in her spare time.
SUBSTITUTE INSTRUCTORS
Patrick Fry, was a developmental instructor for Competition Swim Clinic for five years before switching to substitute status to accommodate his business travel. He began swimming for Ft. Meyer Swim Team at age 5 and joined Competition Swim Clinic and Northern Virginia Swim Team at age 6. He swam for AAC from age 11 to age 16, for Bishop Ireton High School for 4 years, and played water polo for Notre Dame University. He went to Zones at age 10 and again at age 12 where he swam 100 backstroke as well as backstroke in the 200 medley relay. At age 12, he was ranked 15th in the nation in the 100 backstroke, and his 200 medley relay ranked 9th in the nation. Between the ages of 7 and 18, he was Colonial League all-star champion 29 times in free, back, and fly. He held multiple Colonial League and Ft. Myer records. His mixed age relay with his brother John Fry continues to hold the Colonial League record they set in 1986. As a teen-ager, he was a developmental instructor for AAC for one year and taught lessons at Ft. Myer for 3 summers. Patrick is an engineering manager at Lockheed Martin with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Notre Dame and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University. He is the father of 2 sons who both swim at Competition Swim Clinic and of a baby daughter.
Samantha Batko
INSTRUCTIONAL HELPERS
Becca Wood has been an instructional aide for Competition Swim Clinic since 2007. She has been swimming summer league since 2003 and with Competition Swim Clinic since 2006. She also swims for TC Williams High School, Parklawn Swim Team, and swam for AAC before coming to clinic. She has grown up helping her mom teach swim lessons at the Alexandria and Arlington Y’s. She loves the water and working with children. She also plays soccer for TC Williams High School and on a travel team. She also enjoys biking, roller blading, and scouts.
