Meet The Coaches
Grace Pyne, Founder
Assistant Coach, Maple (Grace’s dog/best friend)
A 2018 graduate of Northeastern University with a BS in Business Management, Grace has always loved being in and around the water. Her love of swimming started at an early age and she began swimming competitively at seven years old. She continued to swim competitively through high school at Choate Rosemary Hall, where she was the recipient of the Bob Burns Award for Excellence in Swimming her junior year.
Grace has extensive experience teaching lessons to children and adults of all ability levels. She has been teaching on Nantucket for the last six years with Swim with Grace, conducting thousands of cumulative lessons. Her past experience includes years of group and private lessons taught at the Middlebury, VT Town Pool where she was also a lifeguard. Grace also has a year of experience as a Nantucket Lifeguard where she patrolled all the town beaches. Grace desires to share her love of the water with others and help them feel safe, comfortable, and confident no matter the aquatic environment.
Swim with Grace was started in 2018 from Grace’s love of swimming and desire to have fun in the sun!
Grace holds the following American red cross certificationS:
Water Safety Instructor
Lifeguard
CPR/AED
First Aid
Sophie Phelps, Senior Coach
Sophie joins us for her third summer on the Swim with Grace team. She is a rising junior at Phillips Exeter Academy. Sophie grew up on Nantucket Island surrounded by all things aquatic. Her love and passion for the sport only expanded as she began participating in frequent swimming competitions. When she swam for the Nantucket Dolphin Swim Team, she was named “Swimmer of the Year” and an “Outstanding Swimmer” multiple times.
Sophie spends most of her time in the water, whether for swim practice or coaching the younger swimmers. Now she travels around the island as part of the Swim with Grace coaching team! Her love for teaching kids how to become confident and safe in the water has enabled happiness for people of all ages. Sophie is happiest in the water!
Cate Boulter, Coach
Cate is back on the SWG team for her second summer! Cate grew up summering on Nantucket and first learned to swim at Monomoy Beach. A really special feeling for her because she teaches so many lessons there now. Kate spent every summer competing on a summer swim team and started teaching swim lessons in high school. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 2021 with degrees in Human Development and Psychology, she moved to Nantucket and now lives here year-round teaching preschool. Cate’s top priority is water safety and she enjoys coaching swimmers of all ages how to be composure, self-assured, and happy in the water!
Rebecca Ansell, Coach
Rebecca is joining the Swim with Grace team for her first year! She will be graduating in the spring from Long Island University. After a summer with SWG, she heads to Georgetown University to begin her Master's in computer science. Rebecca plays division one water polo at LIU and loves all aquatic sports! She grew up on the beach in South Africa where her passion for the outdoors was born. In her spare time, she enjoys adventuring and board games. Rebecca has a lot of experience working with children through water polo and swim coaching as well as teaching programming lessons. She is looking forward to sharing her aquatic passion with all swimmers this summer on Nantucket!
Courtney Bottenhorn, Coach
This is Courtney’s first year on the SWG team! She is a junior at UMass Amherst, majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology with a concentration in social work and disability awareness. She has been working as a lifeguard and swim instructor for summer camp One Stop Fun in Westford, MA for the past 5 years. Courtney grew up in Myrtle Beach and is excited to be back living on the beach in Nantucket! Her top priority as an instructor is to make sure everyone has fun in the water while also learning safe ways to do so and strengthening swimmer’s abilities. Courtney cannot wait to meet many new swimmers this summer!
Jack Vargas, Coach
Jack joins the team this year as a rising junior at Summit High School in New Jersey. He started swimming at the age of 6 and has never stopped since. He loves being in the water getting stronger and swims year round. Jack is on the team in Nantucket during the Summer, and in New Jersey during the rest of the year. He is a perennial swimmer in state championships. Jack also enjoys being the water while he’s catching waves on his surfboard. Jack loves anything outside really especially camping and biking. Our newest member is looking forward to helping new swimmers grow their confidence in and out of the water!
Christian Najera, Coach
Christian joins us for the second year this Summer to help out before and after stock market hours. Christian was born in Whittier, California where he grew up swimming competitively for local swim clubs from the age of 8. He swam and played varsity water polo all 4 years at California high school. As an kid, his family moved to Pasadena, CA where he went on to teach swim lessons and lifeguard at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, while double majoring in Finance & Economics at Cal State University of Los Angeles. Shortly after graduation, he went on to start his career at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management where is a Senior Vice President. He is accustomed to and fascinated with the Nantucket lifestyle and looks forward to helping all types of swimmers feel comfortable and strong in the water!
Travis Nichols, Coach
Travis grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and joined us on the island after working as a director for the YMCA for 5 years. This is his second summer on the SWG team. He has always loved being on the water, whether ocean fishing off Monomoy or teaching kids to swim at summer camp. Having been a certified lifeguard for the last six years, Travis loves to see progress in new swimmers. When he is not in the water, you will find Travis at the pickleball courts or enjoying the beaches. Travis loves sharing his passion for swimming and safety, and nothing is better than seeing someone go from being nervous around the pool deck to diving in!