Sid Cassidy started his swimming career in North Carolina before his family moved to Delaware in the late 60’s.  Here he met and flourished under his mentor, Bob Mattson, at the Wilmington Aquatic Club.  After graduating from Salesianum School he matriculated to North Carolina State where he earned several ACC Conference titles and was named an NCAA All-American.  

 

Sid got hooked on open-water swimming in the mid-1970s as a member of the Ocean City (NJ) Beach Patrol.  He went on to swam marathon races in the USA, Canada, and Egypt and was ranked as the #4 professional marathon swimmer in the world in 1979. 

 

Cassidy began his coaching career at WAC before moving to Florida in 1983 after being hired as an assistant coach at the University of Tampa and head coach of the Greater Tampa Swimming Association.  He also became involved with USA Swimming and eventually served as the National Team Head Coach of Open Water Swimming.  This led to a position as Chairman of FINA’s Technical Open Water Swimming Committee which was instrumental in bringing this into the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

 

Sid also served as an assistant coach at Florida State University, head coach at James Madison University, and head coach at the University of Miami.  In 1994 Cassidy made his way back to the Jersey shore as the Aquatics Director for Atlantic City where he also founded the Atlantic City Aquatic Club.  

 

Coach Cassidy has spent nearly 2 decades as the Aquatics Director and Head Coach at the prestigious St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida.  Here he’s been named Florida High School Coach of the year 5 times and continues to coach many athletes at the National and Olympic levels.  He is also the head coach of St. Andrew’s Aquatics and co-owner, with his wife Kara, of Florida Swim School.  They have 2 children…Quinn and Kate.

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