ST LOUIS, MO (August 4, 2016) – Raz Cuparencu will be joining FAST coaching staff. FAST is a silver-medal USA Swimming club, ranked in the top 100 swim teams in the nation. Cuparencu comes to St. Louis as a USA Swimming National Team Coach, from TAC Titans in Cary, North Carolina. As Head Coach of TAC, he led Ashley Twichell, USA Swimming National Team member, to a 2016 National Championship in the 10k Open Water event before transitioning her to the pool for a 5th place finish in the Women’s 800 Free at 2016 Olympic Trials.
In 2015, Cuparencu received the Top Ten Age Group Coach of the Year award from the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) for his 2014-2015 age group coaching performance. Under his guidance, his previous team finished in the Top 20 at the 2015 USA Swimming LCM and SCY Junior National meet and boasted five Olympic Trial Qualifiers under the age of 17. He has also produced numerous Senior and Junior National Qualifiers, individual and relay state record holders, N.C. State Champions, and Zone Team qualifiers every season. In addition, Cuparencu’s swimmers have been awarded with invitations to USAS National, Zone Select and N.C. Select Camps.
Raz’s coaching tenure within swimming spans 15 years and has demonstrated he knows how to develop a champion swimmer in the high school or club swim setting. “We want our young kids to swim fast and have great times, but the most important thing is how we help them grow as an athlete, giving the best technique instruction for long term success”, said Cuparencu. Cuparencu focuses on identifying and developing potential in young swimmers, making it fun and motivating to keep them coming back.
Prior to founding the team in Cary, N.C., Coach Raz was named the Head Age Group Coach at RSA in 2010. He coached 3 state record-holding age group swimmers and has produced numerous state champions as well as North Carolina Swimming’s Zone Team and Select Camp Qualifiers. In 2011, under the guidance of Kit Raulerson, Raz led RSA’s Age Group program to their first N.C. Age Group State SCY Championship. Cuparencu began his professional coaching career with the Terre Haute Torpedoes Swim Club (THT) under the guidance of Jeff Thompson, Brian Heaton and Donny Brush. He followed THT with Brownsburg Swim Club (BSC) as Head Age Group Coach. At THT and BSC, Coach Raz lead 2 age group programs and developed several State, Zone, National qualifiers and one Olympic Trials qualifier.
Cuparencu’s career choices were a natural outreach from his own swimming career. He left his native Romania at 15 years old on a student exchange program, after which he decided to stay and pursue his swimming career in the States. He earned a swimming scholarship and swam through college. After college, he wanted to stick with the sport he loved and make an impact on future generations like his swim team did for him.
Jim Halliburton, FAST’s Head Coach, is very excited to have such a high quality coach join the team. “Our coaches are professionals who understand swimming from the inside out. They are committed to success and are focused on helping the kids be great in and out of the water. I see the passion that Coach Raz has for the sport of swimming and he has shown us that he can prepare swimmers to compete at meets of all levels. Coach Raz’s track record developing five 17-and-under swimmers to compete at the 2016 US Olympic Trials bodes well for the future of FAST”, said Halliburton.
FAST contributed this report.