John Bodden – Head Coach
headcoach@stingrayswimclub.ky - +1(345)323-2271
I am excited and thrilled to begin our journey together!
First, I would like to say thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share the deck space with you all as we continue to build upon what has made our club team so great! It is truly an honor and a privilege to be a part of a team that is truly special with a tight sense of community. I look forward to meeting everyone and being a part of this team!
A little about me: I've been involved with the club as a swimmer for roughly 10 years with a brief stint of coaching at the club during the 2022 summer season. Through my experiences at the club, I was able to compete at the college swimming level and then went on to coach starting as a Graduate Assistant for the 2022-2023 season before taking over as head coach for the 2023-24, 2024-25 seasons at Catholic University. I am focused on providing an environment where the swimmers can grow both as people and as athletes as they progress throughout the sport. I am truly passionate about the sport and I believe that swimming can be used in a constructive way to develop skills that can applied outside of the sport whilst also maintaining the desire to excel in the sport.
Bryce Thompson – Assistant Coach
swimcoach@stingrayswimclub.ky
Bryce Thompson born in Grand Cayman. Youngest of his mothers 6 children.
I have always had an interest in swimming but due to all the other sports in Cayman, swimming was put to the side and overruled by other sports like basketball and soccer.
In 2018 I had the opportunity to go away to Canada where I studied Automotive Mechanic and played basketball. 3 months into my first semester, we had a basketball tournament where I had an incident while playing. The first game of the tournament I collided heads with an opposing team member, where I was taken to the hospital and later got diagnosed with a mild/severe concussion.
This incident slowed me down big time. I could not read fluently, I could not think straight, I could barely stand up straight and balance myself, everything was going backwards and getting worse.
I came back to Cayman and volunteered at John Gray High School in the Physical Education department for quite some time along side of Mr. Craig Smith, Mr. Carl Morgan and Mr. Errol Grey.
Later on I got an opportunity to go back to swimming and teach/coach with Coach Chester, Coach Ryan and Coach David.
Coach Chester gave me the opportunity to start back my journey with swimming also with the help of Coach Ryan.
With the Government Learn to Swim Program, I was able to get some experience with the younger kids ranging from 3 years old to 10 years old. Teaching them everything from the basics of floating to swimming one length freestyle across the entire 25m pool.
Coach David has played a big role in my swimming career. He has taken me under his wing and taught me almost everything I know today.
He has taken the time out to teach me how to understand sets and workouts, the importance of food and nutrition. Coach David has given me the opportunity to work with kids from middle school all the way up to kids at a college level.
This has shown me the different workouts and different techniques used for each swimmer.
For me it is not about the money or the glory at the end of the day, it's about seeing kids improve and get better. Also seeing kids learn how to swim and save themselves.
Swimming is a life skill I would like to teach as many people as possible.
It feels great to be back in the pool teaching and on the pool deck coaching!
Feel free to add or remove anything. If you want me to add more, please let me know.
