Kelsey Slater, Head Assistant Coach

Kelsey is the newest full-time addition to the Water Rat Staff. Kelsey graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a B.S. in Research Psychology in May 2007. She swam all four years, and was a member of the NE-10 Championship Team all four years as well. In her Senior Year she was a captain for the Owls.

After graduation Kelsey began to coach for OMNI Swim Club in New Haven and has assisted in all facets of the club for the past 1.5 years. She has worked full-time with a Data Management firm in Milford, but is excited to be making the switch to full-time coaching. Currently she resides in West Haven. Her enthusiasm will be a huge asset as she will be working with all of the Water Rat 8/Under Groups, as well as aspects of the Age Group Program.

Marta Taddeo, Assistant Coach

Marta Taddeo has been with the Water Rats since fall of 2003, and since that time she has worked with every practice group on the team at some point. She currently works primarily with the intermediates I + II and the seniors I + II. Her qualifications include about 15 years of lesson experience and about 7 years of coaching experience in addition to her 15 years of competitive swim experience. As an age grouper / senior she swam with Badger Swim Club in Westchester, NY. She also swam for four years at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio, where she attained a BS degree in Biochemistry and an MS degree in Pathology.

Since completing her work at CWRU, Marta has been teaching undergraduate Biology courses at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, NY. She has also taught science courses at the Continuing Education campus of the College of New Rochelle in the Bronx, NY. Presently, in addition to teaching and coaching Marta is also working toward finishing a second MS degree in Clinical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. She plans on graduating in May of 2009.

Other interests include ballroom dancing, video games, and working on her car. Marta proudly knows how to change the brakes and rotors, spark plugs, fuel filter, and air filter on her car. In fact, she is happy to take apart (and maybe try to fix) anything electronic that she can get her hands on.

Another interesting factoid: Marta ended up at the Westport Weston Family Y with the Water Rats completely by accident. After graduating from CWRU, she was looking for some temporary work teaching swim lessons. She was going to call the Wilton Y but instead called the Westport Weston Family Y by mistake. A couple of months later, after a chance encounter and conversation with Bill Krumm, she decided to work with the Water Rats as an assistant coach. She insists that calling the wrong Y was one of her best mistakes ever.

Jeff Burt, Assistant Coach

Jeff Burt has been an assistant coach with the WRAT senior team on and off for about 10 years. He has coached swimming for over 20 years and has worked with all level of swimmers and various teams around Fairfield County, including high school teams, USA Swimming teams, and summer club teams. To support his coaching habit Jeff works full time in public education. When not working he enjoys spending time with his family and fixing up his fixer-upper.

Peter Mesavage, Assistant Coach

Peter was born and raised in Stratford, Connecticut. He began his swimming career at age five, swimming for the Stratford YMCA swim team. He attended Fairfield Prep and earned All-American status as a swimmer during his Junior and Senior years. He was also named MVP of the 2000 Class LL State Championship Swim Meet.

Peter graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s degree in History. He was a member of the swim team at UCSC and competed at the NCAA Division 3 Championship meet in Houston, Texas where he, again, earned All-American status.

Peter enjoys traveling and has visited many countries in Europe, Central and South America. After graduating, he headed south to Patagonia, Argentina, for a hiking/camping trip. He later lived in Santiago, Chile, where he taught English as a second language.

Peter works with the Red/Blue and Intermediate Ι & ΙΙ groups. He also helps out with some of the senior groups. In addition to coaching swimming, Peter is a professional house painter and currently training for an Ironman 70.3 triathlon he hopes to compete in this coming summer.

Albert Palatiello, Assistant Coach

Albert graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in May 2008 with degrees in Sociology and Criminal Justice. He was a four-year swimmer for the Owls. He resides in Trumbull where he is also the Head Coach for the Trumbull HS Boys Swim Team. Albert joined the Water Rats in November of 2008 and currently works with all 8/Under groups (Red, Blue and Bluefish) as well as the Intermediate I and Advanced Groups.

Stacey Mann, Assistant Coach

Stacey has been involved in swimming most of her life. She came up through the YMCA lessons program and swam through her Freshman Year at Western Connecticut State University. She graduated from WCSU in 2000 and began a career with News 12 Connecticut in their production department. She received an M.A. in Public Relations in 2006 from Iona College, and has moved up to Director in the production department at News 12.

She is excited to be involved with swimming once again as she “gets joy out of teaching others to swim.” Stacey joined the Water Rat Program in August 2008 and has been a wonderful addition. She currently works with the Advanced Group, Bluefish and Stripers.