DIVERSIFIED AQUATICS/NEW ENGLAND BARRACUDAS COACHING STAFF

Reid Christen: Head Coach, CEO:

A lifetime of involvement in swimming brought Reid to found MVP-West Swimming in 1988 with encouragement from Rick Battistini and the Merrimack Valley Pirates, at t he Middle School pool in Weston. Having coached various high school and summer teams, Reid focused on development of young swimmers and slowly built up the number of swimmers on the team. In 1990 the team moved to Fessenden School Pool in Newton where the program continued to expand and began to thrive with the addition of the SwimAmerica learn-to-swim Program of which Reid is the program director. 1993 signaled a name change to the Diversified Aquatics Renegades and a separate USS charter. At the Fessend en School Pool, Reid was able to expand the program to include water polo, synchronized swimming and aquatic therapy as well as competitive swimming and learn-to-swim. The loss of the Fessenden School Pool led to a move to the Watertown Boys and Girls Clu b pool where Reid had become the aquatics director. The new millennium brought the purchase of the New England Barracudas and the subsequent merger with Diversified Aquatics. This ended many years of struggling for pool time as the program had strong facility relationships with both Regis College and Brandeis University. In 2001, Diversified Aquatics began a long-term relationship with the Raynham Athletic Club to implement and develop swimming programs in the Raynham/Taunton/Bridgewater area. Management and implementation of new aquatic programs is ongoing as Reid strives to expand Diversified Aquatics in the areas of teaching, training and research.

Charles “Chuck” Batchelor: Travel Team Coach:

Chuck Batchelor had a very successful age group swimm ing career in Connecticut, New England and nationally. As a 12 year old, Chuck held the fastest time in the United States in the 200 yard IM. An impressive high school and club career including time with the Peddy School, Pioneer Valley Aquatic Club, Team Foxcatcher among other teams led to a swimming scholarship to Division One College: UNC-Chapel Hill. Before concluding his swimming career, Chuck qualified for United States National Swimming Championships. Chuck began his age group coaching career i n1995 in Western Massachusetts when he founded the swim team in Turner’s Falls, Massachusetts. His next coaching job brought him to in high school Alma Mater: The Peddy School. At Peddie, the floundering swim team was transformed under Batchelor’s tutel age into team that made a dramatic impact on the national swimming scene. After his tenure at the Peddie School was over, Batchelor returned to New England to become the head coach of the New England Barracudas Travel Team. In the two years that he has coached with the Barracudas, Batchelor has built the team into a top three New England Senior level team that is on the verge National success. In his coaching career, Batchelor has trained 12 National Qualifiers and 5 Olympic Trials Qualifiers.

Christina C. “Christie” Close:
Raynham Barracudas Coach and SwimAmerica Site Supervisor.

Christie had a successful age group swimming career in Connecticut that culminated in a College swimming career at perennial Division 3 swimming powerhouse Kenyon College. Christie began her coaching career at the Texas Longhorn Swimming Camp where she worked with former Olympic coach Eddie Reese and Olympians Jill Sterkel and Josh Davis. Christie was the New England Barracudas senior prep coach for one year before she t ook on the responsibility of building the newest Barracuda program at the Athletic Club in Raynham, MA. After two years of building the SwimAmerica learn-to-swim program and the DART pre-competitive program in Raynham, Christie created the New England Ba rracudas-Raynham.

Donald W. "Jerry" Moss: Waterpolo Coach and COMP Team Coach:

Jerry has had a long relationship with Diversified Aquatics and Owner, Reid Christen. In his first two years with Concord-Carlisle High School Swimming, Jerry was the assistant coach of the tea ms which Reid captained. When Reid founded the MVP-Weston Swim Team in 1989, Jerry Moss became the assistant coach. Through many years of teaching and coaching at Concord-Carlisle High school and coaching waterpolo at Boston College, Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jerry has supported Diversified Aquatics by coaching developmental swimming, coaching water polo and representing New England within United States Water Polo.