Nick is a certified Level 5 member of the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) and was named a member of the Coaching Staff for the USA Swimming National Junior Team 2014-2017. Coach Nick was named the New England Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year for the 2014-15 seasons as well as being a recipient of the 2014 and 2016 Certificate of Excellence Award from the American Swimming Coaches Association. 

Nick brings experience from over 25 years of involvement in competitive swimming. He was previously the head coach of the Greater Holyoke YMCA Vikings and the North Oakland Waves at the North Oakland Family YMCA in Auburn Hills, MI.   Prior to that, he served as an Assistant Coach for Cheyenne Mountain Aquatics in Colorado Springs, CO. As a head coach, Nick led swimmers to compete at YMCA and USA States, YMCA and USA Zones, and YMCA Nationals including a 5^th Place overall Women’s Team Finish at the 2013 YMCA Long Course National Championship.  He has coached multiple overall champions at the State and Zone Levels, along with 12 YMCA National A-Finalists and 2 YMCA National Champions.  He was selected to serve as a member of the USA Zone Championship Coaching Staff in 2012 for Michigan LSC overseeing the 13-14 age group for that event. Nick swam for 4 years in college at Wayne State & Metro State Universities where he specialized in backstroke.   

Nick lives in Chicopee, MA with his wife Kim, and daughter Evelyn.

Nick believes in developing well-rounded swimmers through vast technique focused drills and ample yardage to ensure a highly developed base for success across all disciplines and distances.

Ryan Yucka is the Head Coach at the Attleboro location.  Ryan comes to the Bluefish with 10+ years of coaching experience at YMCA's in Western Mass. He has coached every level of the sport and loves to work with all age groups. Recently, Ryan spent 7 years as head senior coach for the Greater Holyoke YMCA, who finished in 3rd place at the 2011 Y nationals, as well as Head coach at Holyoke Catholic High School. During his time in Holyoke, Ryan coached mostly sectional level swimmers, a few Jr. national and Senior national qualifiers as well as the teams first female Olympic Trial qualifier. Ryan graduated from Westfield State University and is a ASCA level 4 coach.

Amy began swimming at the age of 5 and brings her experience as a competitive swimmer at the high school, US swimming and collegiate levels as well as years of coaching experience.    Amy grew up competing as part of New England Swimming and went on to swim at the University of Connecticut specializing in distance events, where she was a BIG EAST and ECAC top 3 finisher.  She graduated from UCONN with a business degree in Information Management Services and her MBA from Western New England University.   Amy lives in Wilbraham, MA with her husband Chris and their children; Josh, Alex, Zach and Olivia.  Amy is very excited to be part of the coaching staff and share her passion, excitement and commitment to the sport of swimming.

Maria grew up swimming in western Massachusetts with The Amberjacks Swim Club. She continued to swim in western mass until high school when she went in to The Peddie School in Hightstown NJ earning All American honors and making the Olympic Trials. After graduating high school she continued to swim at The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill graduating with a BA in English and Comparative Literature. She has been a member of the Bluefish coaching staff since 2016. It brings her joy to watch her athletes achieve their goals and feel proud of their accomplishments. She lives and works in Northampton Massachusetts with her husband Claudio and their three children Amalia, Luca and Dante.

Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Ron has fifteen years of competitive swimming experience and six years of coaching experience with swim teams in Florida, Texas, and California. After graduating from The Bolles School, he swam for Rice University for four years, specializing in distance events. He was also a professional triathlete for three years, before moving on to graduate school where he earned a PhD in Sociology at UCLA. He is currently a Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Albany, and co-founder of the  American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Ron lives in Amherst, MA. 

Coach Emily joined the Bluefish-Williston in the fall of 2016 and brings 15 years of competitive swimming and 5 years of coaching experience.

Growing up in Western Massachusetts, Emily spent the majority of her competitive years on the Greater Holyoke YMCA Vikings and later coached their pre-team, developmental, and senior groups. She has experience coaching a wide range of skill levels, but most enjoys working with the developmental levels. In 2013, she led the 8 and under girls team to a second place finish in overall standings at the YMCA New England Swimming Championships. A firm believer that greater successes are achieved by teams, she is very proud that every 8 and under girl who attended this meet contributed to overall points.

Emily attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA on a Division 1 swimming scholarship and specialized in distance freestyle events and still holds 2 school records (1,000 & 1,650 yd freestyles). She graduated cum laude in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and went on to attend the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and obtained a Master’s degree in Epidemiology.

Emily currently works full-time as an analytics consultant for a health insurance company and lives in West Springfield with her husband, Steve, and 2 Labrador retrievers, Buster and Charlee. A self-proclaimed foodie, she loves to try new restaurants and recipes. She also enjoys spending time with her dogs, doing crosswords, and traveling.

Her personal coaching philosophy is to encourage individual and team growth through the sport of competitive swimming. She puts emphasis on both skill development and progression while having fun and generating a passion for the sport. She is looking forward to getting to know the Bluefish and having a successful season!