Coaches
Your experienced team of swim coaches are here to support your needs. We are committed to offering a fun competitive environment for all swimmers, of all ages. If your questions are related to workouts, meets, events, goal setting and other swimming related needs please contact one of the coaches. We would be more than happy to assist you. On behalf of all the Hyack Swim Coaches, we look forward to serving your swim needs.
Andrew Lennstrom 
Head Coach, Director of Swimming
Andrew Lennstrom or " Lenny", as everyone knows him, is returning to Hyack for his 23rd season and first as Director of Swimming.
His swimming career started in Thunder Bay with the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts before heading out west to Swim for Simon Fraser University.
After a few seasons of coaching with summer clubs and other local swim teams after University, he finally joined Hyack in the 1999/2000 season.
He has been the assistant Head Coach since 2001 and has enjoyed tremendous success at the Age group level He has coached swimmers to Hundreds of Provincial medals and numerous National titles.
Over the last 10 years his swimmers have broken nearly 60 Provincial Records along with 22 national Age Group Records. He was selected as a coach for the Canada Games Team in 2022 as well as awarded BC Male Coach of the Year for the 2021/22 season. He has always found himself fortunate to work with a great group of swimmers and is looking forward to the challenge of performing on the National and International Stage.
Although we are still going through the challenges created by Covid and a pool closure, he feels we have a lot of great swimming to look forward to as we look to build on the successes of last season.
"It is great to look back on the positives of last year but honestly I think we have so much more to look forward to and am excited to see, not just how this season develops, but the next several years".
Frici Laszlo 
CCAC Head Coach
Frici has been a professional swim coach since 1984. During his coaching career he has produced numerous Age Group and Provincial Champions and trained provincial record holder swimmers. He was born in Budapest, Hungary where he attended the Hungarian University for Physical Education and graduated with a Master's Degree. As a young athlete, Frici was a four-time Hungarian Senior Nationals Champion, Hungarian Age Group Nationals Champion, and member of the Hungarian National Team from 1974-1980. From 1989-2005 he was the head coach of Sopron Swim Club in Hungary. After coming to Canada, he completed his NCCP's Level 3 Certificate.
Frici started his Canadian career in Manitoba with the Selkirk Dolphins as Head Coach and later with the Manitoba Marlins as Assistant Head Coach. Since 2008 Frici has been the CCAC Head Coach for Hyack. He believes that with the habit of regular and passionate work, improvement and success will not stay long behind. He is motivating, compassionate, and demanding, bringing his extensive background to Hyack.
Over the years, Frici has received multiple awards:
- 2014: Age Group Coach of the Year 13 & Under Award from the British Columbia Swim Coaches Association (BCSCA)
- 2016, 2017: Age Group Coach of the Year 11 & Under Award from BCSCA
- 2017, 2020: Development Staff of the Year for all Hyack coaches. This recognition was based on Hyack's outstanding performance at the BC AA Championships.
- 2019: Junior & Youth Development Staff of the Year (with all Hyack coaches) at the 2019 BC Swimming Awards
- 2019: Frici's swimmers (current and former) were part of the Hyack 12 & Under boys relay team that set the new Canadian and Provincial Age Group Record
- 2020: Member of Hyack coaching staff BC 2020 Winter Age Group Champions Team, and Development Staff of the Year (with Hyack coaches) at the 2020 BC Swimming Awards
Nick Flint 
Coquitlam Tri-Fit
Email: nickflint.hyack@gmail.com
Nick is a diverse coach who seeks to draw the best out of those he interacts with.
Going on his 5th season as a coach with 20 years of experience in the swimming scene, he strives to create a fun environment which challenges athletes to push their potential to the maximum. Nick swam for the University of Toronto Varsity team where he earned his Bachlors in Kinesiology. Using all avenues of knowledge, Nick seeks to develop the sport of swimming towards each individual athlete. He values an interactive environment where athletes and coaches work together to achieve success.
Nikita Slivinski 
OW Black, HS & LMR
Email: nikita.slivinski@gmail.com
Heading into his fourth season of coaching, Nikita has had the opportunity to coach athletes of all different age ranges and skill sets. Nikita started as a swimmer with Hyack Swim Club and developed into a coaching role during the 2021-2022 season. Since then, Nikita has made it his goal to encourage a passion for the sport of swimming with every athlete he interacts with, whether he’s coached them for three years or a few months. As the bridge between development and competitive groups, Nikita strives to aid all swimmers in their transition into competitive swimming and equip them with skill sets that they can carry throughout their swimming careers. Nikita is NCCP 101 certified.
Marissa Parado 
Grassroots, OW White, STI
Marissa has been a member of hyack for about 8 years, swimming competitively for 6 years and now coaching for a little over 2 years. Still passionate about the sport but unwanting to compete is when her coaching journey had started. Marissa is continuing to learn as much as possibly can to develop her coaching skills so she can do her absolute best to help each and every swimmer achieve their goals.
She is now working with Hyack coaches with a variety of groups and has helped at stroke camps. Marissa is currently in her grade 12 year and is looking forward to spending another year with her hyack family. Marissa is certified in WSI and NCCP 101.
Avery Tamagi 
Grassroots, OW White
Avery has been a member of Hyack since she was 7 years old, starting in Grassroots 1, all the
way up to HP. Unfortunately, she had to stop swimming competitively due to a health issue, but now wants to pass down her passion for the sport to younger swimmers. She aspires to mentor and support swimmers to excel in the sport, allowing them to achieve their goals. Avery is currently a first year, going into second year student at SFU and is studying biomedical physiology. Avery is certified in Standard First Aid & CPR/AED level C, NL and is a certified swimming fundamental coach.
Bryan Iliscupidez 
Coquitlam Masters
Email: bryani.hyack@gmail.com
Bryan grew up in Alberta where he did most of his swimming from age group to university. An interest in viewing the sport from another perspective led to the beginning of his coaching career. Originally coaching at Red Deer Catalina with the youth groups for 2 years, this sparked an interest in returning to the sport by joining the local Masters Swim club. Eventually, life led Bryan to Vancouver where he would join English Bay Swim Club as swimmer and eventually a coach.
Bryan has a Fundamentals Coach certification, previously coaching age group in Alberta for 2 years, masters swimming for 6 years with English Bay Swim Club, and 2 years with Canadian Dolphins Masters. Also, within the sport Bryan had served 4 years on the board of Masters Swimming BC as Registrar, and 4 years as Co-Director of the English Bay Executive board.
Bryan believes in the benefits of Masters swimming for both mental and physical health. Endurance, intensity & hard work are key factors to improving efficiency and speed in the water, but prioritizing technical growth will create overall longevity in the sport. Focusing on a goal, whether it be completing more metres than previous seasons, reaching a goal time for a competition or even learning the enjoyment of the sport, let us work together and have fun doing it.
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Firas Saidi 
Burnaby Masters
Email: firas2002.saidi@gmail.com
"My name is Firas Saidi, a student-athlete at Simon Fraser University. I am majoring in Kinesiology. I was born and raised in Qatar and moved to Canada 5 years ago. My hobbies are playing soccer and watching it."