Chris Lear Takes Post As Assistant Swim Coach At The Episcopal Academy

Photo Courtesy: Episcopal Academy

The swim team at The Episcopal Academy, located just north of Philadelphia, now has two alumni of nearby Germantown Academy on its coaching staff, as Chris Lear is now an assistant coach for the high school team and its USA Swimming club.

Lear comes to the team after 21 years working next to his former coach Dick Shoulberg at Germantown Academy and the Germantown Academy Aquatic Club. He helped guide athletes of all ages and abilities there achieve success at the local, national and international level, including working with the famed Crippen family. For about nine months, Lear was acting head coach for Germantown Academy during the transition between Shoulberg stepping down as head coach and Jeff Thompson being hired as the permanent head coach.

At Episcopal Academy, Lear will be working with head coach Brian Kline, who also swam at Germantown Academy and has been building the Episcopal Academy Aquatic Club into a strong regional club with a goal of producing many junior national qualifiers and Olympic Trials competitors in the near future. Quincy Hyson continues to serve as co-director with Kline.

“What I would really love to do is help take it (EAAC) forward to the next level,” Lear told the online blog nxtsports.com. “Brian and Quincy have an idea of where they want it to be and that’s kind of my vision, too. I want to get kids to look beyond local swimming and think outside the box. I want them to think more of the regional, national and international levels. I want to get kids to understand that swimming is all over the world and eventually, they could compete against each other on the bigger stages.”

The Episcopal Academy has finished in the top three at the Eastern Interscholastic swimming and diving championships for the past five years, including runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2013.

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Barbara

9 years ago

GA’s loss is our (Episcopal’s) gain. Well done Coach Jeff.