Mark Hesse returns to USA Swimming after 3 years as Director of Education and Swimming Performance with Fitter & Faster Swim Camps. Mark is a career swim coach with 44 years of success at the club and high school level. He previously served USA Swimming as a Team Services Performance Development Manager 2012-2020.

His coaching career began with the formation of Burke Barracudas in the Washington DC area. Hesse’s other stops include: the Mission Bay Makos, Team Orlando and the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team in Florida; Fort Worth Area Swim Team in Texas; Carmel, Washington Township and Sugar Creek Swim Clubs in Indiana and the two stints as the Head Coach of the Rocky Mountain Rapids in Colorado Springs. His coaching experience runs the gamut from summer league to college to Olympic Trials semi-finalists. Mark’s teams have won LSC, State and Sectional titles and his athletes have won multiple Junior national Championships, finaled at Phillips66 Nationals and been a part of the National Junior Team.

Mark is a passionate lifelong learner who studies and teaches trends in leadership, youth sports, stroke technique, training, nutrition, seasonal planning, video and race stats technology, goal setting, psychology and much more! He is a master of developing healthy, highly successful athletes and teams with an emphasis on coach mentorship, relationship building, team dynamics and communications. He is certified by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) as both a Coach Developer and Evaluator.

A member of the Indiana High School Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame, Mark is also a Level 5 (of 5) Certified Coach  and former member of the Board of Directors of the American Swimming Coaches Association. Hesse has held multiple Local Swim Committee (LSC) volunteer leadership roles as well as serving on several USA Swimming National Committees and Task Forces.