Bio

Rick Aronberg has been coaching swimming since 1991 and has had swimmers competing at the National level since 1993. He started off as an assistant coach for three years under some of the best coaches in the sport and then moved into a Head Coaching position ever since and has earned an ASCA 5 coaching certification. Working as an assistant coach as well as a developmental coach in the beginning gave him the compassion to work with the youngest swimmers and helped develop his excitement for the sport.

Recently Rick was the Head Coach at Parkland Aquatic Club in Allentown, PA. His team reached USA Swimming's prestigious Bronze level status this summer in which Coach Rick helped one of his swimmers finish 64th in the World in the 400 meter IM for all 18 and under athletes.   

Coach Aronberg spent 13 years with STAR Swimming here in Buffalo, NY. Fast swimming was an understatement during his tenure at STAR. STAR won 20 short course and long course Niagara LSC Championships in his time and consistently developed many of the area's and country's top swimmers. Coach Aronberg has also coached 9 swimmers to both the USA and Canadian Olympic Trials. 

Prior to joining STAR, Coach Aronberg came from Rochester, NY where he started the Greater Rochester Racing Raiders back in the summer of 1996.   In just a few short years, that team became the top program in Niagara Swimming. In 2003, one of his swimmers finished number one in the world for all 14-year-old boys in the 100 breaststroke.

Coach Aronberg was also the Head Coach of Nazareth College from 1994-2004 where he led swimmers to National Championships and All American status.

In 1999, Coach Aronberg was selected to be the Head USA Coach for the Pan American Maccabiah Games in Mexico City. In four days of competition, his USA Team outdistanced second-place Mexico by 40 medals. In December 2010, Coach Aronberg was named the Head USA Coach that took a team to Australia for two weeks.  One of his swimmers came back winning 7 Golds. In April of 2010, Coach Rick was an Assistant Coach for TEAM USA that competed in Ireland.  Two of his own swimmers also represented TEAM USA where both dominated in the competition.

A native of Fairport, NY, Coach Aronberg is well known in Western New York. He was a seven-time high school All-American at Fairport high school. He went on to Clemson University where he was a six-time All American in the 500 and 1650 free, six-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion in both of those events and was named the swimmer of the decade (1980's) for Clemson.

In 2002, Coach Aronberg was inducted into the Clemson University Athletic Hall of Fame and was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary team. A member of the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame, Coach Aronberg participated in the United States Olympic Trials in 1988 in the 200, 400, and 1500 freestyles and was chosen to compete with the United States team in the Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1985 and 1989. He won 11 medals, including 9 gold, and was named the captain of the United States men’s team in 1989. He was also ranked first in the world that year in the 400-meter free.

In addition to his duties at SUNY Erie, Aronberg is the Head Swim Coach for the Buffalo TIDE which offers free or low-cost swim programming in Buffalo.  Coach Aronberg and his wife Laurie have two children,  Jon and Ryan.