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A true Maverick in coaching is stepping away from the pool.
After 13 years steering the ship Todd Melton has stepped down as head coach of the Okotoks Mavericks Swim Club with longtime assistant head coach Emma Hesterman stepping into the position.
“To be honest, (the pandemic) made me realize how much time I was missing out on family time,” said Melton. “I’ve gone snowboarding and skiing with my kids more this last season than probably ever, going camping and fishing, just doing more stuff with the kids made me realize that swimming is great, but it’s a hectic schedule and a long season.”
Melton’s next step is launching an online coaching platform, Global Swim Coach, which will allow him to continue to be involved in training while allowing for more flexibility to have family time.
“Guiltily I enjoyed my time,” he said of the past 16 months. “You don’t realize how much you’re on a treadmill until you get off.
“COVID allowed us to spend more time together and see more of each other and do the things that we like to do.”
Softening the blow of leaving the club is knowing it’s in good hands with a longtime colleague taking over the reins.
“It was a very hard decision, I’ve been doing this for 13 years and really enjoyed it,” Melton said. “We’ve been working together for 13 years and we work very well so it’s nice to know leaving that someone capable is going to come in and not change the program.”
Hesterman, a fixture with the swim club for 15 seasons, has served as assistant head coach under Melton and been recognized provincially as Swim Alberta’s Development Coach of the Year in 2011-12 and coached at the Alberta Summer Games in 2012 and 2014.
“It’s been an amazing 13 years working with him, 15 years with the club. I can’t believe where the time has gone,” Hesterman said. “This is my second or third career, I’ve been very fortunate and had a very diverse working background and being able to continue with coaching, I see myself ending my career coaching.
“And I don’t think I’ll be moving anywhere, this is it for me. It gives me everything I love in a job, being able to travel and working with children, working on the deck, working in the sport I grew up doing and absolutely love.”
On top of her role with the Mavericks, Hesterman has been heavily involved with the Okotoks Masters Swim Club as a swimmer, club president and head coach for 14 years.
Hesterman, a competitive swimmer in the UK, evolved from a career in marketing into her true passion of coaching.
She credited Melton for empowering her with head coach opportunities through the years, allowing her to sharpen more of the ins-and-outs and tools of the trade.
“Todd took our club to heights that it never was at before and that made me very happy because I’m always up for a challenge,” she said. “At that point I was looking at finishing up my full-time job and taking on coaching full time because I loved it so much.
“Todd and I have been working together for 13 years and, honestly, working with him has been absolutely amazing. He has been a fantastic mentor, an amazing inspiration.
“I’ve got some shoes to fill, for sure, but I’m hoping I can fill those shoes as we go along and I navigate my way through the process.”
Under Melton’s direction, the Mavericks (formerly the Foothills Stingrays) were perennial Swim Alberta banner winners as top performing medium level club at provincial meets and helped advance a number of graduates to university swimming.
The latter is a particular point of pride for the coach and former teacher.
“As far as legacy, I think the thing I’m most proud of is how many kids I sent off to university,” he said. “I think it was something like 95 per cent that graduated ended up at university and out of that most kids ended up on a university swim team.
“Developing those relationships, seeing the kids on and also watching their success beyond us.”
Melton, the Swim Alberta Outlying Coach of the Year in 2018-19, led the club to its first national medals with swimmers such as Layne Guidinger, Justin Lisoway, Megan Deering, Alycia Weber, Kennedy Loewen and Finlay Knox making the breakthrough for the club.
Knox, who qualified for the 2020 Olympic Summer Games last week at the Canadian Swimming Trials, credited Melton as a driving force in his career.
“He’s been the biggest reason I am where I am today,” Knox said. “Just first of all, believing in my goals and abilities. When I first started swimming with him I think I was about 11 years old, right from there he knew I had goals and him fully believing in my swimming, keeping me honest in practice every day and pushing me not to just get to my goals but to get higher and achieve more than my base goals.”
Melton said interacting with his swimmers and going to big travel meets and training camps is what he’ll miss most while the early morning practices will be among the factors he’s more than okay to leave behind.
“He’s going to be extremely missed,” Hesterman said. “Not only by parents, by swimmers and the coaching staff. He came in with a big gust of fire and kept that fire going the whole time he was with the club, excitement, trying new things, challenging the swimmers, always looking outside the box, trying different styles of training.
“He’s funny, he jokes around with the kids, he works them hard and tough, but is an all-around great person.
“He’s had a huge impact and I’m not quite sure there will ever be another Todd Melton, he’s pretty unique.”
