Christian Rhoten, Head Coach
cpr@ezl.com

Hello Splash Nation!
My name is Christian Rhoten, I am taking over as the head coach of the Highland Splash this summer.  Words cannot describe how excited I am for this opportunity.  We are going to have a ton of fun and learn a lot about swimming in the process. 

Let me tell you a little about myself; I was first introduced to the water at 18 months in the Aqua-tot program at the Edwardsville YMCA. After numerous lessons, at age 5, I found myself on the Edwardsville YMCA swim team.  During the summer when I was 7 years old, I decided to come and try out the Highland Splash summer league team.  I fell in love with the atmosphere of the team and all of the fun that I had.  Every school season, I continued to swim for the YMCA and every summer I came to the Splash.  Even though there were teams much closer to my home that I could swim for, this team was the one I wanted to swim on.  In the summer of 2008, Coach Stacey asked me to be an assistant coach to the team.  I jumped at this opportunity because I love the sport, I love teaching, and I love the team.  In 2009, I graduated from high school and that summer, I swam my last season for the Splash.

I am currently attending Eastern Illinois University (GO PANTHERS!) and I am majoring in history with a teacher’s certification and a minor in Spanish.  When I graduate I hope to teach high school social studies somewhere in the Metro-East area.  Along with working hard on my academics, I am fortunate enough to be a part of the EIU swim team.  I have learned so much from swimming in college and I am excited to share that information with the team.  Other jobs I have had include lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons at the YMCA and also private swim lessons. For this season, I want to make the kids feel how I felt on the Splash growing up.  I want us to be a huge family who has a lot of fun, but we can still learn and progress in the sport every day.  I love this sport with all that I have.  Unlike sports such as football or basketball, one can swim for a long time after their prime.  I want to convey my love for the sport to the swimmers so that they may have a lifelong love of the sport too.  I am VERY excited for this season and I hope everyone else is too.

Maryssa Beckman, Assistant Coach
msbeckm@ilstu.edu

I started competitive swimming when I was seven years old on the Highland Splash swim team. When I was eleven, I began swimming year round at the Edwardsville Breakers swim team. In swimming I had great success first at YMCA state championships where I made finals in many events, then in the YMCA national meet in Fort Lauderdale Florida where I competed in the 100 backstroke for two years. Because of my accomplishments, I was offered a scholarship to swim at the collegiate level. This year I swam for the division one all girls swim team at Illinois State University. I am very excited to pass on what I have learned about swimming from my personal experiences, and honored to finally coach the team I have always been a part of. I am very positive about the outlook of this season. This team has come a long way since I started swimming and I hope I can continue that since I believe that the Midwest Conference Title is within our reach. I cannot express my passion for the sport and my excitement for you to be a part of it. I wish everyone the best of luck this season! Let’s go Splash!