Rick Burton is the new Head Coach of Swim Ottawa. The nationally recognized coach has a long swimming history in Western Canada and will move to the nation’s capital to begin his new position starting August 15, 2023.
Burton succeeds Pierre Lafontaine after he left Swim Ottawa earlier this spring to lead China’s swim team to the next Olympic Games in 2024.
“One of the main reasons we chose Rick as our next Head Coach is because his coaching philosophy aligns so well with our Club’s values,” says Leanne Clare, Swim Ottawa’s President of the Board. “Rick is committed to our Club’s vision of creating strong swimmer performance through a positive team culture. Again and again, we heard that Rick believes his job is not just to coach swimmers in the pool, but to help set our kids up for success in life outside the pool.”
Until now, Burton’s coaching career has been in Alberta where he became best known as the Head Coach who built a national reputation for the Fort McMurray Swim Club - growing from 18 to 250 swimmers during his 16 years at the helm. While in Fort McMurray Burton coached a number of athletes who progressed to become some of Canada’s best international swim stars. He stepped back from swimming for almost a decade when he transferred his coaching skills to the oil patch as a Quality Assurance Manager. But the smell of chlorine eventually lured him back and he most recently was the Head Coach at the Calgary Winter Club.
“I am so excited to be coming to Ottawa to be the Head Coach of Swim Ottawa,” says Rick Burton. “I’ve been a national level swimmer, a coach, a swim parent, a spectator and now a grandfather to a swimmer, so I know how important family support is to an athlete’s success. When I learned that Swim Ottawa believes one of its greatest strengths is the families of its swimmers, I was all in.”
Swim Ottawa (SWOTT) is a thriving not-for-profit swim club focused on swimming excellence in the heart of Ottawa for over 20 years. SWOTT has over 130 competitive age-group swimmers and a thriving pre-competitive programme. The Club has a proud history of attracting experienced coaching staff with national and international aquatics experience to deliver high quality coaching to its swimmers.
For more information contact:
Leanne Clare
President, Swim Ottawa
Swott.president@gmail.com
swimottawa.com