Coaches

Director of Swimming/High Performance Coach

Kevin Thorburn

krthorburn@gmail.com

Kevin Thorburn is the High Performance and Head Coach of the Etobicoke Swim Club. He brings many years of experience and wisdom to the helm of the club.

Coach Thorburn is one of the top coaches in Canada. His experience in competitive swimming as a swimmer and a coach spans five decades, beginning in the late 1960s. Coach Thorburn has been a national team coach on numerous occasions and prides himself on being one of Canada's best developers of international level swimmers.

Coach Thorburn believes swimming at the Etobicoke Swim Club should be a nurturing and challenging experience. "Swimming should be an adventure, not an ordeal." He states that the objective of the Etobicoke staff is 3-fold: Read more...

Head Age Group Coach and Junior National/JuniorB Coach

Endi Babi

ebabi.eswim@gmail.com

Born in Tirana, Albania to George and Silva Babi.

Swam for East York Swim Club and Etobicoke Swimming.

Represented Canada at the 2005 Youth Olympics in Sydney, Australia and won a bronze medal as part of the 4x200 Free relay. Represented Ontario at 2005 Canada Games and won gold (200 Butterfly) and silver (4x200 Free relay).

English and Philosophy double major at Western Kentucky University. 4 year letter winner at WKU. WKU Men's Swimming & Diving Team captain 2008-2010. Helped the team to 2 conference championships (2007, 2010).

Represented Albania in 2009 FINA World Aquatic Championships in Rome and 2009 Mediterranean Games. Albanian national record holder.

Coached for 2 years at South Florida Aquatic Club. Coached for 1 year at Markham Aquatic Club.

High Performance 1 and TOP A Group Coach

Tristan Vowles

tristan.eswim@gmail.com

Tristan Vowles entered the swimming community at age 9 with the Hamilton Aquatic Club, where he swam until the summer of 2013. While competing, Tristan developed an interest in coaching, and began teaching private lessons and learn-to-swim programs with HAC.

Tristan made the transition from the pool to the deck in the fall of 2013, and coached a novice program in Hamilton for that season. He learned a great deal about working with young athletes, and enjoyed watching their progress.

Now coaching for ESWIM, Tristan has had success at the Provincial and National level. This includes top 16 performances at Canadian Junior Championships and Ontario Junior International, individual champions and medalists at Provincials, and club and provincial relay records.

Tristan is excited to be working with the High Performance 1 and TOP A groups again this season.

Elite Group Coach

Brett D'Souza

brett.dsouza@outlook.com

Brett D'Souza started his swimming career at Etobicoke Swimming and continued to swim with Etobicoke for the following 8 years. He went on to swim the next 4 years with the York University Varsity Swim team.

Brett graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Science while majoring in Kinesiology. More Recently Brett has completed his Master of Education in Coaching Studies from the University of Victoria.

Brett's interest in coaching was started at a Camp Chikopi, a swim camp in northern Ontario where he has been the swim coach for 10 years. Brett has been working at ESWIM for the past 7 seasons and has coached athletes up to the Eastern and Canadian Junior Championships level while setting club, provincial and National age group records along the way.

Brett is looking forward to coaching the Elite Group this season.

Provincial and Junior A Group Coach

Greg Kozell

greg.kozell@gmail.com

Greg is joining us from Alberta, where he was coaching successfully as the Head Coach of the Triton Swim Club and Silver Tide Swim Club.

During his time coaching in Edmonton he produced many provincial champions, and most notably, Avery Wiseman, who became a Junior Pan Pacific medalist for Canada in Fiji 2018.

Greg will be an integral part of the ESWIM staff, bringing knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to his new roles with Etobicoke Swim Club.

Advanced Group

Amanda Reason

amanda.eswim@gmail.com

Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Amanda started swimming at the age of 10 with the Windsor Essex Swim Team. Joining the Etobicoke Swim Club at 15, her age group swimming career flourished. In July 2009, Amanda become the WORLD RECORD holder in the 50 meter breaststroke long course.

She represented Canada in multiple international events, including the 2012 Olympic Games, where she was part of the 4x200 freestyle relay that finished 4th. She represented the University of Calgary Dino's for her varsity career. After retiring from the sport, Amanda is excited to come back to Etobicoke with the opportunity to share her experience with the Advanced group for the upcoming season.

Top B Coach

Matthew Whiteside

mwhiteside.eswim@gmail.com