coaching staff

Coach Phil founded The Swim Farm in 2016 and has been coaching swimmers for more than 20 years. He still coaches at almost every Swim Farm practice and works with swimmers throughout the program, from kids learning to swim for the first time to experienced competitive swimmers working on advanced technique.

Over the course of his coaching career, Phil has worked at nearly every level of developmental swimming, which is where his true passion has always been. He spent 12 years as a Head Coach in the Northern Virginia Swim League and seven years as a Head Coach in the Colonial Swim League. He has also coached at the club level and throughout Northern Virginia high school swimming, including as Head Coach at Robinson Secondary School and as an assistant at Chantilly and Oakton. Today, in addition to The Swim Farm, he serves as Head Coach at McLean High School and Dorothy Hamm Middle School.

Before making coaching his full-time focus, Phil spent 12 years in the classroom teaching 8th Grade Civics, US Government, and AP Comparative Government. He also served in the United States Marine Corps. Between teaching and coaching, he has spent most of his adult life working with young people, and those experiences have shaped much of what The Swim Farm has become.

Phil believes great coaching starts with getting to know the kid in front of you. Every swimmer is different. Some need to be challenged, some need a little more patience, and some need a coach who can make them laugh, help them relax, and build their confidence one small win at a time. Learning proper technique matters, but so does making sure kids feel safe, successful, and excited to come back to the pool.

His philosophy extends beyond developing swimmers. During his years in the classroom, Phil saw how valuable it was for young people to have meaningful opportunities to take responsibility, mentor younger kids, communicate with adults, and discover their own potential as leaders. Creating those opportunities has become an important part of The Swim Farm. Young coaches aren't just given a whistle and a lane. They're taught how to coach, communicate, solve problems, lead their peers, and become someone younger swimmers can look up to.

For Phil, that's one of the best parts of what The Swim Farm has become. A seven-year-old learning to swim and a teenager learning how to coach may be doing very different things, but both are building confidence, taking on new challenges, and discovering what they're capable of.

Outside the pool, Phil and his wife, Patti, are raising three kids, Lucia, Valentina, and Felipe, who can often be found at Swim Farm practices working on their own skills in the pool. Being a dad has only reinforced the way Phil approaches coaching: he wants every swimmer at The Swim Farm to receive the same patience, encouragement, and genuine care he'd want a coach to give his own kids.