SSC – Coaching Staff
Charlie Kennedy
(Head Coach)
During Charlie’s 27 years as Head Coach, the program has grown from 25 swimmers to over 200 swimmers. He was voted “Age Group Coach of the Year” by the American Swim Coaches Association and also “Age Group Coach of the Year” by Speedo.
A nationally ranked swimmer at Suburban Swim Center and the University of Iowa, Charlie uses his first-hand experience to help swimmers meet the challenges of this demanding sport. His emphasis on proper technique permeates the entire program.
During the last 27 years, many of his swimmers have achieved numerous rankings and championships: High School Champions, Jr. National’s qualifiers and champions, Sr. National qualifiers and champions, U.S. Open champions, World Rankings, World Champions, Olympic Trials qualifiers, World record holders, and Olympics Champions.
Danielle Mackey
Danielle Mackey has coached at the club level and high school level for the past 24 years including a stint as Head Coach at Marple-Newtown High School where her team won the Central League Championships. For the last 7 years she has coached all age group levels at Suburban.
As a swimmer, Danielle had a distinguished career qualifying for Olympic Trials as well as numerous senior national competitions. In high school, she was a two-time PIAA state champion and both an All-American and Academic All-American all four years. Danielle attended Villanova University where she was a six-time Big East Conference Champion as well as Eastern Collegiate Champion. She was also named, both All-American and Academic All-American while at Villanova.
Danielle developed her swimming talent while at Suburban under the guidance of Charlie Kennedy. Danielle is a certified public accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
Svetlana Panayotov
Svetlana has coached at the club level and high school level for the past 21 years. For the last 10 years she has coached at Suburban with a focus on the mini teams and younger swimmers.
As a swimmer, Svetlana swam competitively for 14 years. She was a national-level swimmer in Bulgaria, participating in numerous international competitions including the 1982 World Championships (monofin) in Moscow, USSR.
Svetlana is also an Assistant Swim Coach at the St. Albans Swim Club and the Healthplex Sports Club. She holds a Master of Science in Physical Education.
Sue Shank
Coach Sue joined the SCC coaching staff 5 years ago and currently coaches the Dev. Blue level thru Sr Blue +. She is Level 3 Edu ASCA certified and continues to broaden her technical coaching skills thru US swimming clinics and independent study. Sue has successfully guided several SSC swimmers to Zone appearances and individual championships by focusing on the individual swimmers needs to insure solid fundamentals consistent with the latest techniques and proven training methods. Coach Sue’s background includes team management [GRA Parents Club President], officiating [US and PIAA] and pool management [Greenwood Swim Club]. A Suburban alumnus, Sue also competed with Vesper and was MVP Cardinal O’Hara HS swimming.