Via their Twitter account, Orange Regional Competitive Aquatics – a member of Southern California Swimming – has announced the addition of Jerry Olszewski to their coaching staff:
#ORCAswim club is excited to announce Coach Jerry Olszewski will be joining the club as our new Head Coach! ????♀️ Welcome to the #swim club, Coach Jerry! pic.twitter.com/myjQm7g78A
— ORCA Swim Club (@orcaswim) January 10, 2018
Amid a few years of restructuring, Olszewski was named National Head Coach of Swimming New Zealand in 2016 after the Rio Olympics. One year later, Olszweski resigned from the position.
“There are personal and family reasons, [Jerry] has informed us. His whole family is back in the States, so it is going back to them really,” Swimming New Zealand CEO Steve Johns said at the time of Olszweski’s departure. “It certainly caught us by surprise. We are busy now looking at what the short-to-medium term is going to hold for us, but we have to respect his decision.”
Prior to the move and back, Olszewski had spent over 25 years coaching in USA Swimming. He worked with King Aquatics from 1994-2002, Scottsdale Aquatics from 2002-2007, and played a monumental role in the merger between Arizona Gold and Swim Neptune during his time in Arizona from 2007-2016.
According to the tweet, Olszewski’s teams have won U.S. Junior National, State and Sectional Champsionships and have been ranked in the top 25 of all USA Swim Clubs most of these years. He has coached a world ranked swimmer every year since 1996 including one bronze medal performance in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Olszewski will take over the head coaching role from current ORCA President and CEO Mark Tierney. Under his leadership, ORCA swimmers have become Junior Olympic Champions, High School All-Americans, CIF Champions and more. Tierney has led the team since 1998 and will maintain his other leadership roles.
@ORCASwim contributed to this report.
CONGRATULATIONS Jerry!!!
You should check your facts – Arizona Gold and Neptune Aquatics never completed the merger, even though they made a public announcement and notified the team parents.