For Dave Tontini, Oakville holds a special place in his heart; having grown up in Montreal, he would often travel down the 401 to visit his Aunt here in town, “I would be so excited to get off on that Ford Drive exit.”
Now things have come full circle as he will be returning to town, as the newly appointed Head Coach of the Oakville Aquatic Club, after having spent several years as the Head Coach at the Island Swimming in Victoria, BC.
Before Dave officially makes his move, he will be at the Canada Summer Games in Niagara, which runs from Saturday, August 6 to Sunday, August 21, as part of the Team BC coaching staff.
The McGill grad brings a lifetime of experiences within the sport and hopes to help elevate the Oakville Aquatic Club to new heights.
Dave started coaching as a volunteer, teaching swimming lessons as a 12-year-old. That passion saw him return to the sport after playing rugby at university, where he saw great success, but he was drawn back to the water.
“I had some really good mentors early on,” Dave exclaims. With that mentorship, Dave was able to climb the ranks at Pointe-Claire for over 10 years, where he coached at every level and worked with every age group.
After a decade at home, an opportunity arose at the Island Club in 2017 to become a head coach.
Tontini reminisces affectionately about his time in Victoria, “I knew that it was good for my career. I wanted to take a step, and it would be a challenge.”
He said, “I wasn’t necessarily looking to leave, but this opportunity with Oakville was too good to pass up, so I jumped on it.”
Dave’s time out on the island gave him incredible insights into the future of the sport.
His enthusiasm is infectious, “What’s really exciting about swimming is that we haven’t reached the end yet,”
After a few moments of thoughtful reflection, Dave follows up, “In swimming, we continue to break world records, year after year.”
From Tontini’s perspective, a lot of that has to do with science.
“We’re at a place now within our sports culture, where typically in Canada, we’re doing an excellent job of sharing resources and knowledge.”
He points out that there’s more to it than simply going out and swimming your hardest; it is “making sure you’re recovering properly, making sure you’ve got good nutrition, and you work on your mental aspect of it.”
While in Victoria, his home base with the Island Swimming Club was conveniently located next to the Swimming Canada - High-Performance Centre. There he was exposed to one of the top biomechanists in the World, Ryan Mallette. On July 22, Mallette was appointed as Swimming Canada’s new full-time Head Coach at the High-Performance Centre in Ontario.
It wasn’t just Mallette that Tontini could bounce information and ideas off of, there were numerous professionals specializing in the Sports Science end of things. Dave was able to call upon these experts to build his knowledge.
“Personally, it was great for me, for my growth as a coach. What it did was, you realize as coaches you can’t do it all.”
This high-level comprehension of the importance of mental performance, nutrition, and the other niche aspects of athlete development are some things that Dave will bring to Oakville.
He wants to surround his athletes and staff with “experts in those areas”.
While the science will boost his young charges, there’s still an element of grit and determination he wants to instill in his members.
“Combining an old school mentality of you gotta work hard, you gotta train hard, but with the sports science to back it up.”
You can hear the hopefulness in Dave’s voice as he talks about the strength of the Oakville Aquatic Club’s board. You get the sense he feels confident about how great things can be achieved as he steps into this new role. He has nothing but high praise for the current athletes and staff.
This ultra-competitive coach wakes up in the morning wanting to see his charges succeed. Not just in swimming but in all aspects of their lives, “through swimming, you become a better person.”
He doubles down on the philosophy, “Swimming is such a high demand, it requires so much, so many life skills and so much commitment.”
Stopping to collect his thoughts, he insists, “It’s kind of hard not to come through high school or a university career as a swimmer and not be a well-rounded, hard-working, good person.”
Building well rounded young people is always a secondary side effect of high-performance training, according to Tontini.
“I take as much pride in my swimmers who go on to become national champions as I do with swimmers who go on to be lawyers, doctors, teachers, and coaches, making a difference in their communities.”
Dave Tontini will begin his duties with the Oakville Aquatic Club in September, after a well deserved rest following the Canada Summer Games.