Open Water Source - The Global Home of Open Water Swimming
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About Us
The Open Water Source is a compilation of open water swimming information and multimedia content for the open water swimming community. Its staff has developed unique databases, proprietary informational resources and entertaining mobile apps that educate, motivate and stimulate swimmers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Its staff travels the world participating in, advising for, observing or reporting on open water swims and trends and open water swimmers, both amateur and professional, which enables them to present its content and vision.
The Open Water Source partners with collaborators, enthusiasts, correspondents, coaches, athletes, service providers and race directors on each continent who similarly share a deep passion and thirst for knowledge of the sport.
Steven Munatones, Founder and Chief Information Officer
Steven has spent his life in the open water as an athlete, coach, administrator, writer, race director, kayaker, paddler, official, observer and adviser in the the sport of open water swimming.
He was the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Team coach at the 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 World Swimming Championships and 2006, 2007 and 2009 national team camps.
He has written several cover stories and dozens of articles for Swimming World Magazine, U.S. Masters Swimming SWIMMER Magazine and Competitor Magazine. He is an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee and director - and manages the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame website. He is a member of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming & USA Swimming Open Water Swimming Committees.
He won two national open water swimming championships in 1982 and 1991 and was the World Long Distance Swimming Champion (25K in Lake Windermere, England) in 1982. He did several unprecedented solo swims over 30K in Asia and professional marathon swims in Canada, Mexico and Atlantic City before serving as the NBC Olympics' Commentator for the 2008 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Beijing.
He created the Open Water Swimming Dictionary, World's Top 100 Open Water Swims, America's Top 50 Open Water Swims, the World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, the World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year, the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, Open Water Wednesday, the Half Century Club, the World Record list, the Pyramid of Open Water Success, Ocean's Seven and the Open Water Almanac.
He has prepared open water swimming materials used by NBC, USA Swimming, Beijing Olympic Committee, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio and National Geographic Magazine. He serves as the Technical Delegate for the Special Olympics and 2011 World Games and as an adviser to race directors in the USA, from California to New York, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Greece, Mexico and Japan. He is a member of the board of directors of Swim Free and was the race director for the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships, the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 10K and the Distance Swim Challenge.
He wrote the script for Out of the Box, USA Swimming's 90-minute educational DVD on open water swimming and The Tactics and Techniques of Open Water Swimmers. He has kayaked, paddled, escorted and coached several swimmers in numerous channels and lakes around the world including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Japan, South Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands.
He created The Daily News of Open Water Swimming, the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame website, 10Kswim, Virtual Swim, Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, Water Polo Hair and SwiMetrics. He created and hosted the first Global Open Water Swimming Conference and the Waikiki Roughwater Swim Clinics and conducted numerous other clinics for swimmers and triathletes as well as created Certification Programs for coaches, administrators and referees.
He is a contributing writer to The Science of Swimming and is an advisor to the American Swimming Coaches Association's Journal of Swimming Research. He wrote Open Water Swimming, a comprehensive tome on open water swimming that will be published in 2011 by Human Kinetics. He advises U.S. Masters Swimming on open water swimming and jointly developed the Open Water Swimming Safety Conference together with U.S. Masters Swimming. He created the first Global Open Water Swimming Conference and has plans for Global Conferences in New York, London, Sydney and San Francisco.
He received the 2010 Irving Davids / Captain Roger Wheeler Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Glen S. Hummer Award and two Open Water Swimming Committee awards from USA Swimming.
He was born and raised in Southern California, is a graduate of Harvard University, can speak, read and write Japanese, and currently resides in Huntington Beach, California with his wife and four children where he coaches, researches, writes and promotes open water swimming and water polo.
Mike Lewis, Strategic Relationships & Program Development
Mike has competed in open water swims for nearly three decades. Rough water, cold water, salt water ... it's all a challenge and sincere enjoyment for the United States Lifesaving Association national champion. A member of the University of California, San Diego swim team, he helped capture several national NCAA top 3 performances. He is a diverse waterman who was an ocean lifeguard on San Diego beaches for over 10 years and an entrepreneurial manager with the United States Olympic movement. He was the High Performance Director for the 2000 USA Olympic team (USA Canoe and Kayak) where was responsible for national team development and performance at World Cup events, World Championships and Pan American Games.
Mike also served as the Public Relations chairman of the Pan American Canoe Federation and was a U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Partnership Manager responsible for numerous sports. Later, he was the Director of Sport Development for USA Water Polo where he developed a comprehensive national coaching certification program and managed membership services. His tireless work ethic and focus on the athlete were reasons why he served on the U.S. Olympic Committee Coaching Education Task Force.
Administratively, Mike co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. He promoted the sport at the college and university level which led to unprecedented growth. Most recently, he served as the General Manager for the world-renowned Mission Viejo Nadadores swim team where he provided management oversight for all aspects of one of the world's largest swim clubs. A graduate of University of California San Diego with post-graduate research at Cornell University and a Masters in Sport Psychology from San Diego State University, Mike's passion and commitment to open water swimming is evident in his continuing efforts to promote and build the sport at all levels.
John Muenzer, Vice President of Advertising & Sponsorship Development
John is the Vice President of Advertising and Sponsorship Development for Open Water Source. As a world record holder in the open water, the established English Channel swimmer brings as much energy, passion and experience to the board room as he has in the open water world. With nearly three decades of success developing small and medium-sized companies and leading sales organizations throughout North America, he understands how product lines can satisfy a growing market and a global clientele. John package together innovative programs for advertisers and sponsors that are appreciated by the open water swimming community. His proven experience in resource allocation, account management and investor relations will serve Open Water Source well as it navigates a market that is expanding daily in 84 countries around the world.
John was inducted as a member of The University of Toledo Hall of Fame in 1992 for his stellar pool swimming career. As a distance freestyler, he established five individual and three relay records while competing in The Mid-American Conference. But, it was in the summer of 1980 when the legendary coach Doc Councilman steered him towards the open water. Doc saw that John excelled in the freedom and challenge of the open water. Since his shift to the open water, John successfully completed the 24-mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, the 21-mile English Channel
and set a new world record by eclipsing the 1957 record when he crossed the frigidly cold and rough 36 miles across Lake Erie between Canada and Ohio. The determination, focus and knowledge that John used in the oceans and lakes of the world will serve Open Water Source well in the future.
John graduated from The University of Toledo with a Major in Marketing and Minor in International Business and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with his wife Mary and seven children.
John graduated from The University of Toledo with a Major in Marketing and Minor in International Business and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with his wife Mary and seven children.
Damien Jordan, Internet & Social Marketing Officer
Damien graduated from Dartmouth College, majoring in Visual Studies, where his silky smooth voice and dramatic delivery led him to become an FCC licensed radio broadcaster after hanging up his swimsuit. Consistently viewed as an inspirational leader, he focused on education with a specialty in technology education and has taught as the lead teacher at a selective business academy within the Los Angeles Unified School District. With a focus on business management, digital graphics and Internet publishing, he has served youth and small companies with quiet flair and dramatic results.
His successes range from online marketing solutions to e-commerce strategies. The former lifeguard is fluidly adept in the use of online social marketing technologies and very cost-effectively generates both free and low-cost content-related traffic to online properties. He develops well-prepared and highly-targeted PPC (pay-per-click) advertising campaigns and leverages the power of highly effective web-development technologies and web-based presentation technologies for clients across different industries. His masterful eye for layout and presentation graphics enables him to create outstanding web-based multimedia presentations, including podcasts, screencasts and live broadcasts.
His articulate narrations, suave voice-overs and click-by-click demonstrations are extremely effective at quickly empowering individuals and teams. His persuasive oratory skills will enable unique content creation on Open Water Source. His inspirational yet interactive presentation style quickly establishes intimacy with an audience and can transform simple messages into a inspired calls to action. Damien currently lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife Audrienne and their five children.
Lexie Kelly, Statistician and Assistant Information Officer
A former NCAA pool swimmer and a current world record holder in the open water, Lexie profoundly understands the DNA of the aquatic world. She organizes the richest open water swimming event in the world – the Flowers Sea Swim in the Cayman Islands – as well as a number of solo marathon swims.
Lexie's personable ambassadorial style and organizational skills help bring together hundreds of athletes together where she hosts numerous Olympians, world champions and VIPs. Her skills extend to safely organizing marathon swims where athletes must overcome currents, waves, jellyfish and sharks in the open ocean.
Lexie coordinates the unprecedented 68-mile Bridging The Cayman Islands event to the more mortal 5-mile Cayman Brac Channel Challenge. She has helped athletes make successful Catalina Channel crossings and lifeguarded on beaches throughout Southern California throughout her young career. A graduate of California State University at Bakersfield, she brings energy, ocean knowledge, organizational skills and a mathematical mind to the team where she manages and markets huge databases of open water swimming information.
Avon Shamash, Chief Financial Officer
Avon brings a wealth of business experience as well as balance and focus to the Open Water Source Team. She is a consummate professional with a proven, consistent track record of streamlining operations, managing costs, and increasing profitability. Her experience, from the wood industry, to micro finance in Asia is diverse, and her exceptional leadership, communications and team building skills make her a valuable addition to the team.
She has lived in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, providing consulting services to the renewable energy sector, various NGO’s and entrepreneurship institutes. She has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Toronto, and a Master in Business Administration specializing Finance from Athabathsca University.
She is an avid runner, boxer and touch rugby player and lives in British Columbia with her husband and three children. Although she is not an open water swimmer, she easily identifies with the drive, focus and commitment that open water swimmers demonstrate to succeed at their sport.
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www.openwatersource.com is a web property of Pan Pacific Partners.
© 2010 Pan Pacific Partners, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
www.openwatersource.com is a web property of Pan Pacific Partners.
© 2010 Pan Pacific Partners, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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