McMaster hires former captain of Canadian men’s swim team

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[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Ken-Fitzpatrick.jpg” caption=”Ken Fitzpatrick”]McMaster University has hired Ken Fitzpatrick, the former captain of
the Canadian men's swim team (1984, Los Angeles Olympics) as head coach of the McMaster swim team.

Fitzpatrick comes to McMaster with 12 years of coaching knowledge and
19 years of marketing experience.

He was the assistant swim coach and marketing manager at the
Cascade Swim Club (240 members) in Calgary from 2000-2004 where he
coached multiple individual and team relay provincial record setters
while securing over $50,000 in sponsorship and grants.

Fitzpatrick also held the position of director of swimming at the
University of Lethbridge and the LA Swim Club (Lethbridge, AB) from
1995-2000. At the University of Lethbridge his student-athletes
captured three provincial records, 117 team records, 14 Academic
All-Canadians, three presidential awards and multiple Canadian
Interuniversity Sport (CIS) individual medals. In a marketing role
he increased summer camp participation by 150 per cent and co-developed a partnership agreement between the club and University programs.

He also held both president and director of education positions with
the CIS Swim Coaches Association while at the University of Lethbridge.

He was also the head coach of the Long Beach Swim Club in California
from 1992-1995 where he coached eight Junior National Swimmers. He also negotiated a partnership agreement with the local master team, and applied and received funding through the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.

In the corporate world, Fitzpatrick held the position of vice-president, sales and marketing at Vitex Foods Inc. (California),
a private label manufacturer to the Foodservice, Diet and Nutritional
Markets from 1988-1993. At Vitex Foods Inc., he helped develop and
managed sales growth from $7.4 million to $22.8 million.

Fitzpatrick held senior marketing roles at The Hardin Group Inc.,
a master frachiser for Frozen Yogurt in California from 1985-1988. At
the Hardin Group Inc., he was instrumental in growing the number of
franchises from four outlets to 118 outlets.

He is a graduate of the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurship (1985). He captained the USC swim team from 1983-85 while earning the Marks Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award for his academic achievement.

Therese Quigley, director of athletics & recreation at McMaster
University commented that “Ken brings 12 years of coaching and 19 years of marketing experience to McMaster University. We are confident that he will be able to carry on the tradition of excellence in swimming, established by Gaye Stratten at McMaster University.”

Fitzpatrick is National Coaching Certification Program, Level 3
Certified (Theory and Technical) and holds the same Level 3
certification in the American Swim Coaches Association.

Photo credit: CP/COA(Ted Grant)