Coach Cindy Passalacqua (Head Coach)
Coach Cindy is back for her second year as Water Rat coach!
Cindy grew up lakeside, swimming in the seaweed with the snapping turtles, and couldn’t wait to swim in beautiful blue chlorinated pools!! She is a swim mom turned coach and started the BCC Barons USA Swim team in 2002 with 12 kids. The team grew to 125 swimmers and, in 2009, Coach Cindy took ownership of the team and changed the name to Jersey Devilrays Swimming. Her teams produced numerous JO qualifiers and several of her swimmers were ranked top 10 in the country. Coach Cindy was also the owner and co-head coach of the Deerwood Tritons summer team since 2016. Cindy has been coaching for MLY Phoenix since 2019 and is the head coach of the Minis and Junior 2. She is the assistant coach of Senior II. She is super excited about coaching for the Charleston Water Rats and can’t wait for the new season to start!
Coach Xander Kausch (Assistant Coach)
Xander grew up swimming, first at BCC Pemberton Campus and then competitively at a swim club in Medford. From there, Xander has gone on to multiple jobs teaching swim, at varying levels. Currently at the YMCA, Xander teaches all stages of swimmers, from those just learning, to seasoned and competitive swimmers. Outside of the pool, Xander is an honors philosophy graduate and will be pursuing graduate degrees in mathematics and philosophy with a goal of becoming a University Professor. As the new Assistant Coach, Xander looks to bringing a fresh approach and “go-getter” attitude to Charleston Swim Club in the hopes of propelling the Water Rats to yet another successful season!
Coach Evie Billet (Volunteer Assistant Coach)
Coach Evie will be providing weekend support to the coaching staff this year. Evie served as the Assistant Coach for the Water Rats in 2024, the Junior Coach in 2023, and the Rats in Training Coordinator in 2022. Evie was a member of the Charleston swim team for twelve years and swam at Cherry Hill Aquatics for nine winters. She has been a Rats in Training instructor since she was thirteen years old and has been an in water resource for the coaches during the younger kid practice since she was eleven. Evie has also taught private lessons for younger kids ranging in skill from not being able to swim to tri-county champion. In 2019, she won the Della Marsden Award for unselfish dedication to the Charleston Swim Club. Evie is a rising Junior at Carnegie Mellon University studying mathematics.