BILL EICKELBERG
Bill has been a
member of our team since 2019 when he and his wife, Tricia, moved
back
to Long Island. He started swimming at the age of six at the Unqua Yacht Club,
and
has continued ever since. He swam and played soccer at St. John the Baptist high
school,
and at Adelphi University, where he was member of the NCAA Championship Soccer
Team.
Bill’s first
coaching experience was as a graduate assistant swim coach at Penn State. He
then
coached swimming at Xavier High School in New York City. He and Adelphi teammate
and current
Excel team member, Michael O’Donoghue, founded the Adelphi University Institute
of Sports Medicine
Swim Clinic. Later, along with the college head swim coach, Dave Thompson, Bill
co-founded the Hamilton
College Competitive Swim Camp. For 25 summers he worked with Olympians and
college coaches,
and the Camp was nationally recognized as one of the top stroke technique camps
in the country.
A teacher for 43
years in New Jersey, Bill taught health/physical education/adapted physical
education
at the Leonia elementary and high schools, where he coached the boys soccer and
girls basketball, and
boys and girls swim teams. The girls swim team was undefeated from 2015-2020,
and both teams won
multiple league and county titles. Both were considered among the best high
school swim teams in Bergen
County. Bill is currently the assistant coach for both the girls & boys
Massapequa
high school swim teams.
In his free time
Bill participates in triathlons, an activity he shares with his children, Tom
and Betsy,
who are accomplished athletes, and with arch enemy and good friend, Michael
O’Donoghue. Bill beat
O’D in their last head-to-head competition. His daughter, Betsy, also swam for
Excel while earning her
master’s degree at Adelphi.
Bill and
Tricia both retired in June 2019, and currently reside in Amityville.