Swim Coaches

MSc. Gabriela Minaříková
Head Coach

Gabriela Minaříková loves swimming and teaching others to love the water. In the pool, she feels like a fish and says that being in water is like being wrapped in a duvet.

She is a graduate of FTVS,  a first-class swimming coach, a first-class medical swimming instructor and a qualified lifeguard and WATSU instructor. She also worked as a nurse in several countries around the world.

The birth and upbringing of her daughter, Victoria, led her to establish her own swimming school Swim Smooth and later also the swimming club of the same name, where she teaches and leads children from 4 to 18 years of age with her fellow coaches. However, it is also visited by adults who want to improve their swimming skills, as well as athletes – especially juniors,- competitive swimmer sfrom clubs in the Czech Republic and abroad.

She invented her own swimming method - Swimming with Plavel and Plavlína, and she is her own  best recommendation: an energetic and purposeful woman who in 2015 reached the Masters World Swimming Championships in Kazan, where she finished in a tough international competition at an excellent 12th place. One, but effective week‘s training was enough for her to do it. As a junior swimmer, she owns a collection of medals from the Czech Republic Championships.

In the Czech Republic, Swim Smooth is the first and only licensed club of the Australian swimming method, using the unique dispositions  of each person to swim as easily, "smoothly" and efficiently as possible. In Perth, Australia, Gabriela was the only Czech to become one of the Top 50 Swim Smooth Coaches, a team representing the global coaching elite.

Would you like to know more about Gabi? To read her personal story click here.

Lenka
Swim Coach

I have always enjoyed sport and still enjoy it. The basic sports skills were given to me by my sporty family, great PE teachers and also from volleyball coaches, with whom I have played at league level for 15 years. I decided to pursue sports in my professional life, so after high school I launched my studies at FTVS UK. I learned how to "swim" as a child, but when I was studying at university, I found out that real swimming looks completely different, and since then it has become my lifetime hobby.

Qualifcations:

I have completed my Masters studies at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Charles University in Prague with specialization in PE and Sport. I am a trained lifeguard. While studying at college I took swimming classes for pre-school children.

Why did I decide to coach for Swim Smooth?

For the last 20 years I have been working in a company that focuses on sport´s rights and sports TV broadcasts. It's an interesting job, but I miss the practical sports side of what I did and what I enjoyed. And then, when I was googling on the Internet, I found the Swim Smooth website and watched the videos from the training and the summer camp, which caught my imagination right away. I contacted Swim Smooth, met Gaby and we agreed to cooperate. It is my wish that people who like this method as much as I do are able to easily access it ... because "the world needs better swimming".

Linda
Swim Coach

I did competitive swimming from the age of six to twelve when I decided to put swimming aside and take up volleyball - for eight years. Before entering university, I started training for the talent trials, which included swimming. It was at that time I realized how much I was missing it, so I started training regularly again and trying to improve my technique.

Qualifications:

I am a student at FTVS, majoring in Applied Physical Education and Sport with Special Needs Persons. During my bachelor studies, I completed Fundamentals of Swimming and Didactics of Swimming. Now in my Master's studies I have more to study! I have also been swimming with children with autism spectrum disorder for 3 years, previously as an assistant and now as an instructor.

Why did I decide to coach for Swim Smooth?

One day a friend came to me with a contact for Gabi. I checked out the Swim Smooth website and was intrigued by their different methodology. Because of my field of study, I am a proponent of an individual approach, according to each child's needs. Therefore, I am happy to educate myself in Swim Smooth and pass on the experience to our children.

Tom
Swim Coach

I’ve been swimming, with a small break, for the whole of my life. I started to learn to swimwhen I was 4 years old, which is why I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t swim. Over time, I started to feel a true connection between me and the water.It’s like being able to control one of the elements.

Qualifications:

I have a level 3 coaching licence acredited by the Czech Swimming Federation thanks to graduating from the Sports High School of Dana and Emil Zatopekin Ostrava. I have nother experience as a ski instructor, as a supervisor at a children’s camp and also a short experience as a teacher of Physical Education in an elementary school in my hometown.

Why I decided to join Swim Smooth? 

That was a true coincidence, a real destiny. I met one satisfied mother of a kid who is registrered with Swim Smooth. I confided in her that I was also swimming when I was younger and she gave my phonenumber to the head coach. So that’s why I’ve become part of this amazing crew and it makes me really curious beacuse the methods are totaly different than the ones I used to learn. To be one of a number who can teach this wordwide method makes me truly happy.

Eliška
Trainee

I started swimming by accident. When I was a kid I used to go to a cottage with a pool with my parents. Since my parents were working in the garden and it was boring for me, so I tried to play in the water. First just on the steps and later I ventured into the deep end. Swimming accompanied me into elementary school but running was more important to me. Fortunately my best friend was in a swimming team and I wanted to try it too. That was how I started swimming competitively.

Qualifications:

Swimming later turned passive due to a shoulder injury. Before the injury I was already working as an assistant coach. I used to visit the pool almost every day of the week. I completed the III. class trainer course  in 2017 and started to fully commit to coaching children. Now I am studying at the Prague University of Economics.

Why I decided to join Swim Smooth?

Since I missed the contact with water, kids and coaches, I sought out Swim Smooth. I like the approach and method to training, especially because of the playfulness and the realization that swimming is not just hard work, but training can be playful and fun.

Niky
Trainee

As a child, I was not very involved in sports apart from athletic competitions at Elementary School. I discovered the charm of sport only after my 18th birthday. I started running, swimming and doing yoga regularly. Later, I added cycling, hiking and mountain climbing to my list of hobbies. It seems to me that every year something new appears that excites me. However, swimming is one of the sports that is on my regular weekly schedule at least 3 times, and even thoug I only learned to swim at 20, regular training got me into the University triathlon team.

Qualifications:

I studied a Master’s degree in Physical Education Teaching and Biology Teaching. I have been teaching children to swim since the second year of my studies, and since then I have been training and teaching swimming in clubs, private schools and in-school training in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and the USA. Teaching and training swimming is fun and fulfilling for me. There is nothing better than seeing the progress of my students.

Why I decided to join Swim Smooth?

I discovered the Swim Smooth website while "searching" for a club where I could go for an internship after my studies. The Internet showed me many swimming clubs in Prague, but the Swim Smooth website appealed to me in a completely different way than the others. It had a "magic" for me. I contacted Gabi and she was willing to accept me for an internship even without previous experience with interns. Today I am at Swim Smooth as an intern until March 2023 and despite my many years of experience in teaching swimming, Swim Smooth training brings me something new that I have not encountered before. I hope that even after my internship I will be a permanent swimming coach at Swim Smooth.

Zdenka
Trainee

Sport is my lifelong hobby. I started swimming sometime around 5 years old, certainly earlier if we consider swimming in the sea with a ring :). At elementary school, I attended a swimming club and have beautiful memories of regional competitions, where I enjoyed the team spirit and made a lot of friends. Besides this, I also competed in cross-country skiing, so swimming was on the sideline for a while. During summertime, I like to do mountain biking.

Qualifications

At high school, I returned to swimming as an assistant coach for 3 years and hold a swimming referee license class III. 

I also hold a ski instructor certificate which I achieved after graduation.

Why did I decided to coach for SwimSmooth?

I returned to a regular swimming team in 2019, when I started swimming with Gabi, the patron of Czech Swim Smooth. The most challenging was to adjust new techniques after 30 years of experience, however, It's never felt so easy! It works so well thanks to Swim Smooth's unique methodology.  Based on my swimming experience, I can compare the fundamental differences between the "classic" style and swim smooth, which is based on logical and systematic principles, and leads to quick improvements. I would recommend Swim smooth to anyone who wants to learn to swim smoothly.

Petra
Administrativní a PR pracovník - marketing

Sport is my hobby and it energizes me. Even though I'm not a keen swimmer, the Swim Smooth method really interests me, because I like learning new things, and I'm looking forward to improving my swimming style and discovering new ways to enjoy the water. 

Qualifications:

After high school I lived for one year in England, where I worked as an Au-Pair. Since then I gained further experience working with children at children's camp where I use to go for many years. I studied a Bachelor's degree in Marketing Communication, but I have always worked in banking. At the moment, my main role is to be a mummy of a one and a half year old girl.

Why I decided to join Swim Smooth?

While working for Swim Smooth I will always let you know what we are currently preparing for you, how to educate you, how you can improve whilst having fun! My goal is to help you feel comfortable in and under the water. 

Kateřina
Administrativa - helpdesk

I have always taken sport as a part of life, as a source of endorphins and energy. Since childhood, I have devoted myself to modern gymnastics and dance, which accompany me to the present day, even if only occasionally. Before the birth of my children, I also led dance lessons for parents with children. I always swam as a complementary sport. I have been encouraging my children (currently boys 10 and 8 and a girl 4 years) to do sports and exercise since they were little, and I consider swimming to be a basic skill that children should master

Qualifications:

During my university studies, I gained work experience in the non-profit sector in the field of European Structural Funds, from where I went to the private sector to gain experience in e-marketing and internal communication. The longest and most important work experience for me was in public administration, in the field of European educational programs.

Why did I choose to join Swim Smooth?

I discovered the Swim Smooth method when looking for a swimming school for my children and I was very impressed by the positive, respectful and individual approach to each swimmer.