Our Coaches

Our passionate coaches are NCCP trained and beyond. All of our team coaches were competitive athletes and our head coach has judged at numerous international events, including two Olympic Games.

  • Dr. Teresa Alentejano is the head coach of Excel Artistic Swimming. Teresa is a certified Canada Level 3 Coach and FINA A judge, currently acting as a international Judge Evaluator. In this capacity she has participated at numerous international events such the Pan American Games, World Championships and two Olympic Games: the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Teresa holds a PhD in Physical Education and taught at the University of Alberta. She is the Head Coach of the U of A Synchro Club, which she established in 2006. She served multiple tenures as the Head Coach of the Brazilian Junior National Team. From 2002 to 2005 Teresa was the Head Coach of the Edmonton Aurora’s. During that time two club members made National teams. She was the 2011 recipient of Artistic Swimming Alberta's peer selected award to the Alberta coach who is recognized for contributing the most to the growth and development of coaches in the province. Teresa also served on the Board of Artistic Swimming Alberta in the capacity of Swimmer Development Chair.

  • Alex is the provincial stream and SOAR coordinator for Excel and has been involved in the sport of artistic swimming for over 25 years. She began coaching in 2011 and joined the Excel staff in 2013. Alex has coached many competitive teams including at the provincial, national, and university levels. Her love for the sport inspired her to complete the level one officials certification in 2022.  She has degree in elementary education, is competition development coach certified and has completed Alixa Flexibility Module 2 certification. Currently Alex is pursuing a Masters in High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership at UBC.

  • Bethany has swam competitively since 2011. She loves synchro more than anything else and wants to help young swimmers discover the amazing sport of synchro. In her free time she likes weightlifting and playing the piano.

  • Emma has been swimming for 11 years. She was selected for the Alberta Artistic Swimming’s Provincial Team in 2018, representing the province at SYNC. Emma loves working with kids and hopes to inspire them to love the sport even more than she does. She strives to have everyone feel welcome and safe in her class, and to also have fun! In her free time, Emma loves cooking and trying new things!

  • Gwen swam for 8 years, two of them were with Excel and two were on the Canadian Senior National team where she participated at 2 international competitions representing Canada: Junior Worlds 2016 and Worlds in Budapest in 2017. Gwen likes coaching to help inspire young athletes to love the sport as much as she does.

  • Asha is studying for a Bachelor of Science at MacEwan. During her 5 years of coaching she has loved watching athletes have fun and improve. Outside the pool Asha enjoys rock climbing, skiing and playing soccer.

  • Ellie Swam with Excel for 4 years, 2 of them with the National Stream and this year Ellie is coaching the advanced precomps. Ellie loves seeing the swimmers have fun and learn new skills. Currently Ellie stays active taking Contemporary and Tap dancing. In the summer Ellie does speed swimming where Ellie was awarded the the, “most dedicated swimmer” in the 2019 season. During free time Ellie enjoys reading a good book.

  • Rose swam competitively for many years and she joined the Excel coaching staff in 2017. She has a major in psychology and a minor in arts and design. In her free time she takes care of her pets: 3 ferrets and 3 dogs! She also enjoys painting, drawing and making stained glass portraits.

  • Izzy swam for 9 years with the Kelowna Dolphins. Along with swimming she also coached for 3 years in Kelowna and coached at BC Summer games in 2022. She is currently studying Sports, Rec and Tourism at the University of Alberta.

  • Mary was an artistic swimmer for 9 years and during that time she was selected for the Synchro Alberta's Provincial Team in 2018 and attended SYNC representing the province. Coaching is one of her passions. She believes that working hard can be fun.

  • Alexis swam competitively with the Red Deer Silhouettes for six years, as well as swimming with the Red Deer Marlins summer swim club for 10 years. Alexis has worked as a coach for the past two years, coaching the AquaGo program with the Silhouettes and competitive lane swimming for the Marlins. She is currently studying Nutrition and Food Sciences at the U of A and swimming for the U of A synchro team.

  • I am currently in highschool. I love coaching artistic swimming because I find it challenging and rewarding. It’s a sport that I love, and am passionate about.

    In my free time… Hahaha free time? I swim on the Jr National Team for Excel, and I coach. Between that and school, all my free time is spent at the pool.

    A goal I set for myself and achieved was to be selected to Team Alberta and represent our province at the synch competition in summer 2022. One day I would love the opportunity to compete with Team Canada.