Ray Benecki
Ray Benecki is the founder
and head coach of the FISH. He formed
the club in 1991 for his oldest son Steven, when he was 4 years old. Ray works mostly with the Awesome Fish which
is the senior group consisting of 13 swimmers.
Kate Ziegler is one of the Awesome swimmers and Benecki has coached her since she was 12
years old. Coach Ray is an ASCA Level V
Coach and was appointed assistant women's coach for the USA National Team at
the World Championships in March 2007.
He also was appointed assistant open water coach for the USA National Team at the Pan Pacific Championships in August 2006. He served as Assistant coach for the Eastern Zone Regional Distance Camp in 2005, ran the National Distance Camp at the USOC in 2007, and was appointed by Mark Schubert as Special Consultant to the National Junior Team in Melbourne Australia.
He was nominated for the Golden Goggles Award Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007. Ray has presented seminars on distance swimming for USA Swimming and the American Swim Coaches Association. He was a collegiate swimmer at Cornell (1970-71) and Delaware (1972-75).
Ray lives with his wife Joanne and his three sons in Fairfax, Virginia.
