Coaches Bio

NORTHSIDE AQUATICS

Commitment - Teamwork - Success

TEAMWORK - COMMITMENT - SUCCESS

Meet the Coaches

Carlos Ceja
Currently the The Head Coach of Northside Aquatics Club, Aquatics Director / Head Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving coach and Women's Water Polo coach at Northside College Prep H.S. and is in his 9th year in that position. He holds a B.S. in Kinesiology and majored in Movement Science at University of Illinois-Chicago. He coached water polo players, swimmers & divers that went on to compete at the collegiate level at schools such as the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, University of Illinois, Grinnell University, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of California-Davis, Bowdoin College, Tuft, Pomona, and more. In May of 2011, he was inducted into Roosevelt High School Sport's Hall of Fame.

Certifications:
-American Sports Education Program
-Water Safety Instructor
-Safety Training for Swin Coaches
-Lifeguard, First Aid, CPR and AED Essentials

Member of:
-National Interscholastic Coaches Association
-United States Swimming Coach
-Level 3 Coach and life member of the American Swimming Coaches Association
-Level 2 Coach with United States Water Polo
-American Water Polo Coach
-Chicago Public School Water Polo Committee
-Illinois Swimming Association
-American College of Sports Medicine

Other Qualifications:
- Assistant Coach Roosevelt H.S for 2 years
- Assistant Coach Northside College Prep H.S. for 4 years
-US Navy Rescue Swimmer & Swim Instructor
-Chicago Park District Lifeguard Supervior & Captain (57th St. Beach) for 5 seasons.
-USA Swimming Administrative Judge

Ed Stranc Jr.
Currently the Senior Head Coach of Northside Aquatics Club and the Technical Coach at Northside College Prep, in his 6^th year in that position. He Coached at Leaning Tower YMCA for 18 years. And the last 5 years he coached the Senior/National swimmers. During those 5 years he helped 29 swimmers qualify for YMCA National Championships. Over the years he has helped produce numerous District, Regional, State & Area qualifiers and champions at all age levels. Ed has also coached 7 Illinois High School State qualifiers and 2 US Open qualifiers. Many of Coach Ed’s swimmers are successfully competing on the collegiate level at the University of Illinois, Eastern Illinois University, the Naval Academy, the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, and Stony Brook University in New York. Ed was named CPS Coach of the Year in 2008.

Certifications:
-One of a select number of coaches nationwide to hold a special ASCA 8 & Under certification.
-Safety Training for Swim Coaches
-Lifeguarding, First Aid, CPR and AED Essentials

Member of:
- Level 3 and life member of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA)
- United States Swimming Coach
- USA Swimming House of Delegates
- Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Swimming & Diving Committee
- CPS Swim Coaches Clinician

Other Qualification:
-Head Coach of the NCA Wildcats Swim Team for 9 Years
-Timothy Christian Women's High School Swim Team for 2 years
-IHSA licensed high school official
-CSOA licensed college official
-Level 3 YMCA official

Sheila Stranc

Currently the Age Group/Developmental coach at Northside Aquatics Club, Coach Sheila had been involved with the Leaning Tower YMCA Swim Team for 17 years as a Parent Board officer, official and coach. For the last 4 years at LTY, Sheila had been coaching the Developmental Group swimmers. She brings her vast wealth of knowledge as a coach and masters swimmer to each individual swimmer in her group. Coach Sheila has been instrumental in laying the foundation for numerous swimmers to qualify for District, Regional, State and National Championship Meets.

Sheila was the Assistant Head Coach and Program Coordinator of the NCA Wildcats Swim Team for 9 years. She holds coaching certifications from United States Swimming.

Jennifer Akiyama

Coach Jennifer has taught swim lessons for seven years and is a certified YMCA lifeguard instructor, American Red Cross lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor. She is currently the instructor supervisor and coordinator of Northside's year round Learn to Swim program. She also served as a supervisor, a Swim Lessons Coordinator, and briefly the Interim Aquatics Director for the Leaning Tower YMCA, as well as an assistant swim coach for the development group of the LTY Sharks.

Liz Buhler

Bio coming soon.