Coaches

Ricardo Gutierrez (Head Coach)

Ricardo competed in diving nationally & internationally in amateur and professional competitions throughout the world. Ricardo's coaching career started at the age of 14. Soon after, Ricardo was working in the national programme for aquatics in government run aquatic centres and privately owned aquatic facilities, developing and teaching diving.

In 1990, Ricardo was invited to be the assistant coach for the Mexican Olympic Diving Team. Following these achievements, Ricardo enjoyed a successful career in the world of professional high diving and cliff diving.

Maeve O'Callaghan (Assistant Coach)

Maeve is a secondary school student, due to sit her Leaving Certificate this year. She has been diving for the past 4 years under the coaching of Ricardo Gutierrez. She is a Level 2 UKCC/Swim Ireland diving coach and also a FINA diving official. She is currently Irish Senior Womens Platform & Springboard Diving Champion.

Maeve has always had a keen interest in sports and began her sporting career as a gymnast at the age of 8. She has won several All Ireland medals for gymnastics and continues to be involved through coaching at Newpark Sports Centre and Trojan Gymnastics Club. She also plays hockey and basketball for her school.

David Linehan (Assistant Coach / Physiotherapist)

David holds Level 2 UKCC/Swim Ireland coaching qualifications for diving and is also a qualified coach in gymnastics. He is currently the men's senior 1m, 3m and Platform National champion. He is also a chartered physiotherapist. David is our club secretary and also the project coordinator for the club.

His background is in tumbling and sports acrobatics (disciplines of gymnastics). He was national champion and represented Ireland in both of these disciplines. In 2009, David won a silver medal in the platform event of the European Masters Diving Championships in Seville, Spain

Andrew Gaw (Assistant Coach)

Andrew is a UKCC/Swim Ireland Level 2 diving coach who now assists Ricardo in a coaching capacity. He has dived with Ricardo Gutierrez since early 2008 and trains with the Dublin Diving Club. Since then Ricardo has been his coaching mentor.

Andrew is a 3rd Level student in DIT taking a BA in International Business & Italian. He Has a background within aquatics having worked in the NAC since 2005 holding the UK/RLSS and IWS national pool lifeguard qualifications. He currently works as one of the Team Leader / Senior lifeguards within the NAC. His other sporting disciplines include cycling & rugby.

Marie Ahern (Assistant Coach)

Marie Ahern is a competitive diver and began diving in University of Limerick during her college years. She has been training with Ricardo Gutierrez for over 5 years. She is a Level 2 UKCC/Swim Ireland diving coach.

Marie began her sporting career in gymnastics and then moved to athletics where she held national titles as a junior high jumper for many years. She is also a keen surfer in her spare time.

Marie manages the National Governing Body Unit in the Irish Sports Council. Assisting National Governing Bodies to develop their organisations in a strategic and sustainable way to maximise participation and performance opportunities is a key focus of her work.

Jennifer Barry (Assistant Coach)

Jennifer is a masters diver and primary school teacher. Jennifer holds a number of Aquatics qualifications including Level 2 UKCC/Swim Ireland diving coaching, Irish Water Safety Instructor and is an IWS swimming teacher. She has also run a number of marathons and is a qualified fitness instructor.

Vladyslava Shapoval (Assistant Coach)

Vladyslava is a Level 2 UKCC/Swim Ireland diving coach and has been diving from an early age. Her work with horses brought her to Ireland in 2002 where she eventually took up diving again with Dublin Diving Club.

As a junior diver, Vladyslava won many competitions and was even part of the Ukranian reserve squad for the olympics. More recently, Vlada won gold in both the 1m & 3m springboard events at the XII European Masters Championships.