About MAC
Madison Aquatic Club Information
Our goal is to help nurture athletes to develop confidence, respect, discipline and dedication that will help them be successful in life. We provide swimmers of all ages and abilities the opportunity to participate in the sport and to provide a lifelong enjoyment of swimming.
The Madison Aquatic Club is a coach-directed team with a nationally recognized professional coaching staff committed to swimming excellence. We have swimmers that compete at every level of the sport and produce state, regional and national champions.
If you have any questions about MAC please reach out to us at info@trainmac.com
MAC History
In 2015, Shane Ryan and Janis Katz founded the Madison Aquatic Club. Their vision was to create a swimming program for the Madison community where everyone would feel welcome and to provide an opportunity to excel so that everyone can reach their potential. Being coach-directed, we offer a consistent, professional program year-round.
MAC has been recognized as a top 100 swim team in the country, earned Club Excellence Bronze Medals in 2016, 2017, and 2025 and recognized by the American Swimming Coaches Association as a top 100 Age Group programs. In 2018 MAC won their first State Championship and since has accumulated many Wisconsin State titles and Runner-ups Finishes.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Madison Aquatic Club is to provide swimmers of all ages and abilities the opportunity to participate in the sport of competitive swimming in a safe, healthy and positive environment. We are committed to safe-guarding the well being of all of our members.
Our goal is to offer a program for swimmers to reach their potential and achieve greatness through an organized and professional program from the beginner swimmer to the National qualifier.
MAC Sponsorship Program
It is our mission to pay it forward to as many people as possible to make a difference.
Giving back to the community and giving children the opportunity to participate in swim is a priority of the Madison Aquatic Club. Our Program Director grew up receiving assistance from his local swim team towards team fees and travel costs to national competitions that he qualified for. Without that opportunity, he would not be where he is today. Being involved in swimming and participating in meets, opened doors for him to attend college and swim. As he says, "It changed my life, gave me a purpose, became my passion and is now my profession."
We encourage you to become a MAC sponsor. These scholarships directly help swimmers reach their potential.
Coaches and Directors
Shane Ryan has coached for 25 years in the State of Wisconsin. In his career Shane has coached 100's of Wisconsin State Champions and has had swimmers hold over 70 Wisconsin State Records. Shane won Wisconsin Swimming Age Group and Senior Coach of the Year in 2017 and Senior Coach of the Year in 2019. He has coached numerous Junior National and National Finalists, Olympic Trial qualifiers, National Age Group Top Ten Rankings and National Age Group Record Holders and helped develop an American Record Holder.
In 2015 Shane and Janis Katz founded the Madison Aquatic Club. MAC has been recognized as a top 100 swim team in the country and earned Club Excellence Bronze Medals in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 MAC won their first State Championship and since has accumulated 12 State Wisconsin State Titles and 9 State Runner-ups Finishes.
Prior to founding MAC, Shane found his love for coaching when he started coaching summer league in 1999 where he coached for the Mt. Horeb Gators. He then went on to become the Head Coach of the Cross Plains Stingrays for 10 years. In 2005 he was the Middleton High School Boy’s Head Coach and decided he wanted to become a full-time professional coach.
In 2006 was named the Program Director at the YMCA of Dane County (MWY- Madison West YMCA from 2006-2010 and YDC - YMCA of Dane County 2010-2012) for six years. While at the YMCA, they won five consecutive YMCA State Championships (2008-2012), won USA 12 & Under State D2 in 2008, were runner-ups at the USA 12&Under State in 2012, and produced State Champions, State Record Holders, Top 16 swimmers, YMCA National Finalists, YMCA National Record Holders and National Age Group Record Holders.
Shane was the Program Director for the Southwest Aquatic Team from 2012-2015, which is a Milwaukee Area based team and started a Madison Branch in 2013. As Program Director Shane helped lead SWAT to a Wisconsin 12&U State Championship and 13 & Over Runner-ups. While at SWAT he also produced numerous State Champions, State Record Holders, National Qualifiers, National Finalists, Olympic Trial Qualifiers and a National Record Holder.
Janis has been involved in club sports for many years. She has volunteered in numerous roles including Volunteer Coordinator, Fundraising Chair, Meet Director, Official and Treasurer. She enjoys working with families to help make their involvement in the sport the best experience she can and works on inclusiveness for all. She was the WI Swimming 2018 Disability Achievement Award recipient , elected to the WI Swimming Board of Directors for two terms and nominated for Lifetime Official. She has two sons who were both club swimmers. When she's not at her computer, she enjoys reading, cooking, kayaking and hanging out with her dog Max.
I am originally from Madison and moved back with my husband and 4 children. I was a competitive swimmer and turned my love of the sport into coaching. I have coached a variety of levels from beginner 8 and Unders to State and National Champions.
Jake Shackelford, a native of Wauwatosa, WI, comes to MAC from the Jersey Wahoos where he spent 3 years as the Associate Head Coach. He assisted the National Team and Age Group program focusing on overall team development from novice to elite athletes. During his time in New Jersey, the Wahoos developed into one of the premiere swim teams in the country, ranking 52nd (2020), 35th (2021), 27th (2022) in USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program, as well as being named the #6 age group team in the country for 2022. At Wahoos, Jake has coached numerous athletes to Top 10 National Rankings, Olympic Trials, Junior Nationals, including an 11-12 National Age Group Record (100 Fly), National Junior Team selection (1500 Free), and a Junior World Record (4 x 100 FR-Relay) at the recent Junior Pan Pacs.
Prior to his stop in New Jersey, Jake also spent time at the Northern Kentucky Clippers as a lead age group and senior coach where they achieved Gold Medal Status in Club excellence twice in 2017 & 2020. Jake focused on overall team development as well as recruitment from local Country Club and Summer League teams.
Jake swam 4 years at UW-Whitewater specializing in IM, Backstroke and Distance Freestyle being named captain twice. During this time, he began his coaching career at the J-Hawk with the age group and senior program. Following his college career, he coached age group with Southwest Aquatic Team (SWAT) as the lead Junior (13-14) coach until 2017.
Joseph was born in Milwaukee, WI and raised in Brookfield, WI. Just recently rounding off his bachelor's degree as a double major in Psychology and Spanish at the University of Iowa, he now attends graduate school at UW pursuing a Master of Science in education and an EdS in School Psychology. Graduating from Brookfield East High School in 2019, he also swam competitively for 11 years, 8 of those being for Waukesha Express Swim Team (2008-2016) and the latter for Elmbrook Swim Club (2017-2019). Throughout his swimming career, he hasqualified for state, speedo sectionals, and NCSAs.
After leaving the sport competitively in 2019, he was offered a temporary coaching job at Elmbrook Swim Club for 3 months during the summer before leaving for college that upcoming fall, this sparked his passion for coaching competitive swimming. Beginning in the fall of 2020, he began coaching at the Iowa Flyers Swim Club as the lead Junior/Senior coach until 2023. There he led multiple swimmers to many lifetime firsts, such as state qualifying times and many personal bests. At IFLY, he was mentored by Nathan Mundt, who is now the University of Iowa women's swimming and diving head coach. There he learned many of his coaching skills through Coach Mundt and by watching how he connected with his swimmers.
Unlocking each swimmers full potential is very important to him; Joseph believes that swimming is a gateway to success, as the discipline taught implicitly and explicitly to swimmers garner positive outcomes in and out of the water.