Coaches and Staff

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  Rich Sims

  Head Coach Emeritus

  Rich began his rowing career in New York during the 1950's, rowing with such legendary greats as Jim Dietz. Rich has brought his extensive experience to ICC since the fall of 2001.

  Email	richsims@wowway.com
  Cell	(630) 864-1419

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  Tony Brooks

  Administrative Head Coach/Women's Varsity Head Coach

  Tony Brooks has been involved in competitive rowing for over 40 years (first as a Lightweight Rower at Harvard and later on the US Olympic Rowing Team) and continue to race in the Head of the Charles every October with his Harvard Lightweight teammates. Tony states: “My goal is to build the same love of rowing and racing in the athletes – to give them the skills to exceed their expectations and have the opportunity one day to strive to be the best in world at the Olympic Games. For most of the girls, this is their first experience with this ancient sport. I want it to be a good one. My coaching style focuses on technique – take no bad strokes. I emphasize excellent form matched by effective application of power on a base of efficient cardiovascular conditioning to increase boat speed. This is the ultimate team sport where matching your movement to the crew is essential to being successful. Equally important is development of character among the crew – you never want to let them down by your actions either on or off the water. I continue a rowing tradition from Harvard and yell, “Eat their livers!” as the crews shove off the dock to race.

  In addition to coaching, Tony also repair shells and other equipment. When not coaching, Tony does executive searches for corporations as Managing Director – Chicago for The Ansley Consulting Group, Inc. He is a member of the Chicago 2016 Committee seeking to bring the Olympics and Paralympics Games to Chicago.

  Email	tdbrooks1976@gmail.com

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  Jack Vitanovec

  Men's Varsity Head Coach

  Coach Jack joined the ICC coaching staff in the fall of 2009.  Before being named the Men's Varsity Head Coach early in 2011, Jack served as both a Novice Assistant Coach and the Men's JV Coach. Under his guidance, the Men's Varsity 4+ took 2nd place in the petite final at the 2011 Scholastic Nationals.  This was the first time in ICC's history that a men's heavyweight varsity boat had made a final at Scholastic Nationals.  Jack started rowing at ICC his junior year.  As a senior, he sat 5 seat in the 2005 Men's Varsity 8+ that took 3rd at Midwest Scholastics, and beat Loyola Academy in a dual race at Judge Dunne.  After graduating from SICP, he went on to row for 4 years at Loyola University Maryland, where he was named captain his senior year.

  In addition to coaching for ICC, Jack is currently a 3L at DePaul University College of Law.  At DePaul, he is a member of the Law Review's editorial board. At law schools across the country, the law review editorial board is thought to be made up of the elite students on campus.

  Email	jjvitanovec@loyola.edu

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  Len Richards

  Women's JV Coach

  Email	leonard.richards5@gmail.com

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  Bryan Cheung

  Men's JV/Varsity Coach

  Bryan started rowing in high school, and continued at the University of British Columbia (Canada) with the varsity men's team. During his 4 years with UBC, he coxed the varsity men's 4+ and 8+ to notable finishes at the San Diego Crew Classic, the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and the Canadian University Rowing Championships. In 2001, he coxed the varsity men's 8+ to a silver medal at the 2001 Canadian University Rowing Championships and in 2002, was invited to Rowing Canada Aviron's U23 selection camp. Since then, Bryan has coached in Seattle at Lake Union Crew and in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University.

  In addition to coaching, Bryan is currently a senior user interaction designer at Motorola Mobility, Inc. He relocated to Chicago this summer after graduating with a Master of Design in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University. Previously, he graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering, and worked as a software design engineer at Microsoft Corp.

  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

   

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  Miguel Casadas

  Men's Novice Coach

  Mike Casadas is proof that rowing is, indeed, a lifelong sport. He began his rowing career in 1960 as a freshman at Lane Tech High School. After graduation, he helped coach incoming freshmen for two years, before joining the Lincoln Park Boat Club. In 1966, he moved with his family back to Argentina, where he rowed for the University of La Plata for three years. In 1973, Mike married and returned to the U.S., where his pastimes became tennis and golf. In 2006, he joined a group of his Lane Tech High School rowing teammates and began training and competing as a Senior Master at the Lincoln Park Boat Club. Today, he trains and rows regularly at the Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie. 

     

  Email	casadas.miguel@gmail.com

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  Peder Teigen

  Women's Novice Coach

  Peder Teigen started rowing at Green Lake Crew his junior year in high school.  After competing in USRowing nationals his varsity season, he attended the University of Washington, where he rowed his freshman year.  Following this, he worked as both a masters and junior coach at Green Lake Crew for three years, before graduating from the UW with degrees in history, Latin, and classical studies.  After he graduated in 2010, Peder relocated to Chicago in order to pursue a masters in secondary education at Loyola University Chicago.  

  Email:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)