Brad Kale
Senior Training Group Coach
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Head Coach Brad Kale hails from Nashville, Tennessee where he had
been the Senior Assistant Coach at the Nashville Aquatic Club for
the past 3 years.
Brad
brings over twenty years coaching experience including senior, age
group, and masters coaching experience. Over the twenty years he
has coached swimmers to Age Group top 16 performances, Southeastern
records, YMCA National qualifying times, Junior National qualifying
times, and National qualifying times. He has been the Head Coach of
the Jefferson City Barracudas, Age Group coach at the Pine Crest
Camp in Ft. Lauderdale, and Head Age Group Coach of the Williamson
County Aquatic Team. In 2000 Brad was named Southeastern
Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year.
Coach Kale grew up swimming in the Middle TN area with Jack Hazen
at the Middle TN Swim Club and John Morse with the Nashville
Aquatic Club. Following high school Coach Kale continued his
swimming career at the University of Kentucky. Through his four
years of eligibility he qualified for finals at the Southeastern
Conference Championships several times and was a Senior National
qualifier in multiple events.
Brad and his wife Deana, have two wonderful
children; Sydney and Carson.
Len Strom
Senior Training Group Coach
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Coach Strom is a Level 3 ASCA certified swimming
coach and has completed and passed the tests for Level 4 and Level
5 certification. He started coaching when he was 18 years old. He
has been on the coaching staff of the Morton Grove Swim Team, the
Fort Walton Beach Swim Team, the PLAY Swim Team and Emerald Coast
Swimming. He is presently the Assistant Seniors Coach of
Coast Aquatics. He along with a couple of swim parents began the
High School swim program at Niceville High School in 1981 and
consequently was its first Head Coach for 3 years. In 1984, Coach
Len parted with swimming to pursue General Contracting and returned
to coach swimming in 2003.
Since then, Coach Strom has become the Senior and Pre-Senior Coach
of Coast Aquatics and is presently assisting Coach Jamie Garea with
the Choctaw High School Swim Team. Coach Strom’s Training
program is supplemented with Yoga, Core
Synergistics,
Plyometrics and
Kenpo training (for core rotation
and power). Endurance and power are the main focus of his
program.
Coach Strom has coached swimmers at all club
levels.
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His swimmers have qualified or have been top
finishers for SES Championships, Age Group Sectionals, Senior
Sectionals, Short and Long Course YMCA Nationals, District,
Conference, State Championships, Open- Water Swimming National
Championships, and Junior Nationals.
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2007 Long Course Season: One of Coach
Strom’s senior swimmers broke a National AAU Record in the
100 m Breaststroke.
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He has had 23 of his swimmers inducted into
Southeastern Swimming’s Hall of Fame since
2004.
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In 2008, ECS placed 1st in the small team
division (Short Course Championships)
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In 2008 Short Course Season, he had 6 swimmers
log 30 SES Top Ten times.
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In 2008 Short Course Season: Two swimmers with
National Top 10 times in the 50 fly and 100 fly.
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In 2008 Long Course Season, he had 11 swimmers
log 56 SES Top Ten times.
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In 2008, Long Course Season, 1st place Team: 10
and under Girls (Long Course)
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In 2008, Long Course Season, Second place
mid-size team.
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One swimmer with "6" National Top 16 swims (Short
and Long Course).
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Coach Strom has had swimmers featured in
Sport’s Illustrated and Swimming World
Magazine.
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2008: Coach Strom, Received
Southeastern Swimming’s "2008 Age
GroupCoach of the
Year" award.
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2008: Coach Strom, Received
American Swimming Coaches Association "2008 Age Group Coach of the Year"
.
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Has coached one of his
swimmers to All-American Status two years in a row
(2008/2009).
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2010: qualified 9 athletes
to compete at YMCA National Championships in Fort Lauderdale,
FL.
Trenton N Brown
Junior Training Group Coach
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Coach Trent Brown is an
ASCA Level 2 certified coach. During his first year with the team
Trent was the coach for the Bluewater half of the 8 & under
Championship Team.
Trent is a graduate of
the University of Florida with a degree in Mathematics. While at UF
Trent played Water Polo. Trent is also a graduate of Niceville High
School where he was a State Champion on the Medley Relay and an
integral part of the 2nd place Eagles State Team.
Wendy Rudman
Junior Training Group Coach
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Coach Wendy is a Level 2 ASCA coach and has
been a USA registered coach for five years. She coordinates the
seven different levels of age group and developmental programs, as
well as writing workouts for most of these groups. The focus of
these programs is to train young athletes ranging in age from 4 to
13.
Her swimmers have been among those on the
2006 and 2008 SES Championship 8 and Under Girls Team. She coaches
the group of top Age Group swimmers, many of whom achieve
Southeastern Championship cut times and compete against the other
top swimmers in three states. Because of her hard work and
dedication, Coast Aquatics has produced more proficient 10 and
under swimmers than any other program in the area. Her three
children swim on the team.
Kathy Ritacco
H.S. - M.S. Training Group Coach
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Coach Kathy has 20
years Coaching experience. She coached the SEALS Swim Team in
Panama City and year round and summer league teams in Maryland
before joining the Barracudas in 2005. In 2008 Coach Kathy began as
the Head Coach of Niceville High School. Coach Kathy is also the
Ruckel Middle School Coach ( 2 years - Girls County Champions 2006
& 2007 and Boys Champions 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011). Coach
Kathy’s swimmers set numerous team records and she was
the primary coach for the 8 & Under Southeastern Boys Champion
who was also nominated to the SES Hall of Fame.
Coach Kathy is a Spanish Teacher at Niceville High School and the
mother of 2 swimmers.
Susan Versteeg
H.S. - M.S. Training Group Coach
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Coach Susan began
coaching in 2004 with the Barracudas Swim Team. She is now
coaching the MS/HS Coast Aquatics group and has brought over 10
years of coaching experience with her. She began her swimming
career at the age of 7 on a summer age group swim team. She went on
to swim at Burlington County Community College for two years and
specialized in the 1650. Teaching swimming and life guarding around
the world while her husband was Active Duty Air Force, Coach Susan
received her Masters in Education.
Coach Susan is a guidence counselor at Bruner Middle School and
the mother of one swimmer.
Emily Voigt
Age Group Training Group Coach
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Coach Emily has been a part of the Bluewater Swim Team/Coast
Aquatics team for 18 years, as she was a competitive swimmer on the
team and now an Age Group coach for Coast Aquatics. Emily is
pursuing a degree in Elementary Education and will graduate from
Florida State University in December 2012, even though she also
attended the University of Florida and is a huge gator fan! While
at UF, Emily was a member of the Club Alligator swim team and was
very involved with athletics. Emily is also a graduate of Niceville
High School, where she attended the state meet all 4 years of high
school and placed within the top 16. Although Emily has grown up
since her time swimming with the team, she still holds team records
and middle school records as well. Emily continues to pass down the
dedication and enthusiasm for the sport of swimming to her
swimmers.
Kristine Matthews
Age Group Training Group Coach
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Coach Kris has been coaching in the Age Group division for
four years. She's the mother of swimmers and also
helps coach for her older son's high school
team, Choctawhatchee HIgh School.
Kim Wood
Age Group/Novice Training Group Coach
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Coach Kim is a
master at running kids through hard workouts, while still
recognizing the unique needs of their age group. She gets
excited about all of her swimmer’s accomplishments and is one
of their biggest fans. Her son swims on the team.
Kathi Heapy
H.S. - M.S. Training Group Coach
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Coach Heapy is an Air Force “Brat” who grew up on
bases in Germany, Upstate New York, Okinawa and the
Philippines. She swam on youth teams in Okinawa and the P.I.
and competed in Junior Olympics meets in Tokyo and Iwakuni,
Japan. After high school, she went to Indiana University in
Bloomington, Indiana where she was a member of the swim team for 3
years. She graduated from I.U. in 1987 and moved to Ft.
Walton Beach, where she became an assistant coach for the
YMCA’s “PLAY” Swim Team and the Choctaw High
School team for a couple of years. Kathi returned to coaching
in 2005 as a volunteer coach for Meigs Middle School. Since
2006, Kathi and her husband of 24 years, Gary have been the head
coaches for Meigs. Kathi has also volunteered with the
Choctaw High School swim team.
Coach Heapy came to our team when her daughter, Mary, began
swimming in 2003. She has served as a board member,
Treasurer, Meet Director, meet Clerk of Course, Registration
Chairperson and part-time coach over the past 9 years. She
certified as a coach by USA Swimming and the Florida Department of
Education. Kathi enjoys working with young swimmers to
develop their technique and love of the sport of swimming.
Kathi and Gary have three children, Nick, Mary and Erin.
Erin also swims for Coast Aquatics.
Marion Taylor
Novice Training Group Coach
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Coach Marion has been
coaching for the Coast Aquatics for 3 years. She
graduated from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. She
started swimming at a young age and could not figure out why people
swam up and down the lanes- one reason why she tries to make
swimming fun for her swimmers! She is married to Ron and has
a daughter Mimi, a son Campbell, a Golden Retriever Garnet, a
turtle Luigi and 2 Beta Fish.
Michael K Braseth
Age Group/Novice Training Group Coach
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