Our Coaches

Head Coach Hillary Hong

RED & GREEN GROUP COACH

This is Hillary’s 13th year as an Elk Grove Aquatics Club assistant coach. She is also the head coach of the Monterey Trail High School water polo and swim teams since 2010. Through coaching, she hopes to help young swimmers develop into better athletes and better people, while promoting a love for the sport.

Hillary joined the EGAC family at of the age of 7, continuing to swim year-round with the team for 10 years. She swam for Sheldon High School. Her favorite events include 100 Back, 100/200 Free, and 200 IM.

Hillary studied Civil Engineering and Mathematics at CSU Sacramento. Outside of the pool, she enjoys being with family and spending time outdoors.

Coach Troy Nissen

BLACK & WHITE GROUP COACH

Coach Troy Has been coaching for 20 years after a long and successful career as a swimmer. The youngest of 3 in a family of swimmers, Coach Troy began as a summer league extraordinaire before joining a USA Swimming team at age 10, Arden Hills. While competing Troy made it onto the 2006 USA Swimming National Junior Team and earned a Bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke while competing for Team USA in Australia. Coach Troy finished his competitive career for Cal Men’s Swimming at UC Berkeley, sharing lanes with swimmers like Nathan Adrian (Olympic Gold Medalist) and being coached by legends like Nort Thornton, David Durden, and Greg Meehan.

Coach Troy began coaching while competing for Cal. He has coached for summer league teams, big and small year around USA teams, pro swim groups and college groups in his 20 years as a coach. While a head coach of CSTE in San Diego, Coach Troy was mentored and led by International Swim Coaches Hall of Fame Coach David Marsh and helped build the team to a multi-site, multi-level USA team with beginner all the way up to professional swim groups.

Coach Troy’s philosophy is that individual swimmers can come together as a team with the unifying goal of improvement. Swimming is a long-term sport that requires commitment and faith in the process. Coach Troy tries to teach the appropriate steps for each swimmer where they are in their individual journey, while encouraging the group to work together and support each other. He believes swimming should be fun, and swimming fast is fun! Swimming can offer a lot of cool and interesting opportunities, and we can be swimmers for life. Coach Troy hopes to help foster a love for the water, team spirit, and a sportsmanship-minded competitive drive in the Gators.

Coach Troy coaches our Black Group, White Group, and our Later Gators Masters Group.

Coach Kurtis Gillespie

BLUE GROUP COACH

Kurtis began his swimming career as an athlete, swimming competitively for fifteen years. He went on to qualify for the Junior Nationals as well as the National Open Water Swimming.

In his coaching career he has helped coach recreational swim, a total of 4 years as Head Coach for local High Schools, and is entering his second year as a coach for EGAC.

His coaching style is focusing on fundamentals, strength training and technique. “Practice is more than just saying, ‘GO!’” He believes “Hard work can still be fun.”

Coach Tam Vo

GREEN GROUP COACH

Bio coming soon!

COACH’S CODE OF ETHICS

As Coaches – We will:

  • Make the best interests of the children in the program the priority in my heart and mind. Maintain the delicate state of balance between what is best for the individual (the swimmer) and the needs of the group (the team).

  • Communicate honestly, openly, and in a mature manner and to be approachable and receptive to parents’ and swimmers’ reasonable concerns.

  • Acknowledge my frailties, imperfections, and my humanity, and within those constraints, pledge to strive to be consistent and fair in my dealings with team members and to treat each swimmer according to his/her needs.