NOVA News
October 16th, 2023
It’s been a whirlwind December with NOVA swimmers spread across the Mid-Atlantic—from Richmond, Stafford, and Hampton, Virginia as well as Cary, North Carolina, College Park, Maryland and Indianapolis, Indiana. Over the past two weeks, our athletes have been swimming fast and proudly representing the NOVA program. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year, filled with best times, new time standards, and shattered team records. Congratulations to everyone who has competed and contributed to these incredible seasonal traditions!
December marks the unofficial midpoint of the short-course season, making it an ideal moment to pause, reflect, and appreciate all that has happened so far—while simultaneously embracing the growing excitement of the new year ahead. What went well that you can build on? Celebrate it—do more of it! What could have gone better? Work with your coach to develop a game plan. The opportunity to reach the next level of success is right in front of you.
I’ve recently been talking with my group about becoming an Energy Phoenix—rising from adversity and bringing light, focus, and renewal. The Energy Phoenix fuels yourself and teammates with encouragement, effort, and resilience. I’ve observed many swimmers being the Energy Phoenix this December. As a team let’s protect that fire and spread that fire. The time is now!
We are just over nine weeks away from the start of our short-course championships for the 12-and-unders, with the rest of the team joining the excitement soon after. Now is not the time to rest—it’s the time to persevere, dig deeper, and take that next step forward.
Congratulations once again on a fantastic first half of the season! Keep working hard, keep learning how to become a better version of yourself, and we will continue working right alongside you to help you get there.
Coach David
NOVASTRONG!
Let’s go NOVA!
Age Group Dev. Silver- Sean Moore, Kelley Hilliker
Sean, How many swimmers are in AGDS?
Right now AGDS has 53 swimmers in the group!
Sean, What is AGDS working on this week?
We just got finished with our two championship meets, so we are doing a little bit of stroke maintenance, a little bit of fun, and a little bit of work in practice right now
Sean, What is your favorite part of working with AGDS?
I think my favorite part of working with AGDS by far is watching how much progress the swimmers make in such a short time. When you look back at where the group started and where we are now, both quantitatively and qualitatively, it’s some incredible growth!
Kelley, What is your favorite part of working with AGDS?
You never know what to expect. Every single practice brings a different vibe and a different energy. Additionally, the kids are so excited to learn new things about swimming. This week we did another 500 to get them experience with swimming that distance and counting for each other, and they were so excited for the challenge and the chance to try something new!
Sean, What is your favorite part of working with Kelley?
One of my favorite things about working with Kelley is she is incredible about being where I’m not. If I’m talking to a kid about something in practice, she’s at the other side of our lanes making sure everyone else gets the attention they need and deserve. It’s really nice as a coach to be able to have that trust in such a short amount of time working together. Kelley also brings in some wonderful views and perspectives from her different coaching stops in her career that I’m always interested in hearing. You can never have too much information or too many viewpoints!
Kelley, What is your favorite part of working with Sean?
Sean really cares about each of his swimmers, and it’s been cool to see all the ways he connects with them. I think he sets a great example for coaches when it comes to meeting athletes where they’re at and talking them through each practice. Sean’s also been such a good resource for me in my first year at NOVA as he’s always willing to provide additional insight and answer any of my questions.
Sean, you swam at NOVA and have coached here for 5.5 years. How has NOVA influenced your life?
I think the biggest influence has always been the drive to achieve excellence. We ask the kids to show up, work hard, and give their best. As a coach you want to embody what you want your athletes to be. I spend a lot of time making sure I am giving my best and being as educated as I can be for the swimmers. I read two books a month, one is usually a fun fiction read, and the other is almost always non-fiction related to coaching and swimming, hoping to improve myself as a coach and be the best coach I can be!
Kelley, what was your swimming journey and how did you end up coaching?
I started as many do in summer league, and my love of swimming only grew the more involved I got with the sport. I always knew I would coach in some capacity, but it wasn’t until I graduated from college and was working on my Master’s that I realized it could be a fulltime gig. Graduating from my college team, “retiring” from swimming, and then leaving a coaching job due to my graduate class schedule demonstrated for me how much I needed to be a part of the sport. I couldn’t live without it and I spent every day thinking about swimming and researching coaching resources. During my year of grad school, I even got into sports photography just to find some way to stay connected with swimming. I’ve been coaching full time since graduating and I’ve never looked back!
Sean, what is your favorite Christmas tradition?
By far, watching Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday movie, maybe my favorite overall soundtrack, and favorite holiday tradition! If I had to name a second, my wife and I love going to see the lights at Busch Gardens!
Kelley, what is your favorite Christmas tradition?
My favorite Christmas tradition is simply watching Christmas movies with my family. Give me a classic or a cheesy Hallmark movie, I’m there either way!
SDG Holiday Celebration 12/18
National Holiday Cheer 12/22
NOVA BB/B/C New Year Kick Off 1/9-1/11 entry deadline 12/29 HERE
Greensboro 12 and under Travel meet 1/17-1/20
NOVA LC Winter Invitational 1/17-1/19 entry deadline 1/4 HERENOVA Distance Day 1/23 entry deadline 1/12 HERE
NOVA's 2025-2026 Short Course meet schedule is posted to the NOVA website HERE!
NOVA's BB+ 12 and under swimmers headed to Hampton to DOMINATE the pool. HVAC Christmas Champs presented some challenges but the NOVA swimmers stepped up and swim FAST at the prelim/finals meet. We achieved many new Age Group Champs times, NCSA times, and many new time standards. There was dancing, singing, tacky sweaters, and so much fun! Congrats coaches and swimmers!
Novice Gold, Age Group Dev. Silver, Age Group Dev. Gold, Age Group Bronze, Age Group Silver, Age Group Gold
USA Winter Juniors lived up to its name for our 20 NOVA swimmers that traveled to Indianapolis for the 2025 Winter Junior Nationals. After 4 flight delays, 2 plane de-icings, 2 winter storms and record low temperatures in Indy, our swimmers returned home with some of their own records, fast swims and grew stronger as a team. NOVA faced some of the fastest swimmers in the country with grit and determination. Although the competition was tough, NOVA team pride and togetherness was on display with the team cheering for everyone while they were competing.
NOVA swimmers headed up to the University of Maryland to race against the fastest age group swimmers in the country at the Katie Ledecky Invitational. Swimmers got new NCSA cuts, new time standards and tons of new best times. Making finals was a huge accomplishment with the speed of the meet and NOVA was well represented. Swimmers on Sunday night finals even got to watch Katie break her American Record in the 1650 and be the first woman under 15:00, which was an great way to get inspired to swim FAST at finals.
2024-2025
Each year USA Swimming recognizes athletes as Scholastic All-American. Swimmers must have a Winter Juniors qualifying time in an individual event and have a 3.5 GPA in academic classes.
The following NOVA athletes have been recognized for their athletic and academic achievements in the 2024-2025 academic year.
4 years
Allison Bishoff
Kate Hotem
Nathan Szobota
3 years
Emory Deguenther
Cooper Dillman
Matthew Wolfle
2 years
JD Chen
Alex Gertner
Jasper Jones
Brady Julian
Oliva Wenert
1 year
Abigail Bonham
Maddie Bynum
Mia Eubank
Josh Farnsworth
Lane Francis
Edward Johnson
Owen Miklos
Katie Shaps
Joe Warnagiris**
**as a Winchester Swim Team member
Also, be sure your swimmer is ready for the cold weather. The shop is fully stocked on swim parkas, sweatshirts and flannel pants. Keep these in mind as you do your holiday shopping as they make great gifts!"
