"Children who learn how to swim at a young age are reaching many developmental milestones earlier than the norm...Lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen says the study shows young children who participate in early-years swimming achieve a wide range of skills earlier than the normal population."
-Read the entire article HERE
Session 1: June 18 - June 28
Session 2: July 2 - July 12 (no class July 4)
Session 3: July 16 - July 26
Session 4: July 30 - August 9
| Location |
Time Range Available (4 classes in each 2 hour time period) |
Registration Links (choose a session - see dates above) |
| Hilltop YMCA (indoor pool) | 11:00am-1:00pm | Sess 1 Sess 2 Sess 3 Sess 4 |
| Princess Anne Family YMCA (outdoor pool) | 4:00-6:00pm | Sess 1 Sess 2 Sess 3 Sess 4 |
CLASS TIMES ARE NOT GUARANTEED FROM SESSION TO SESSION SO PLEASE REGISTER EARLY!!
Swim School Director Katherine Kardok joined TIDE Swimming in August 2015. Coach Katherine brought to our program over 25 years of experience teaching swimming. A transplant from the Boston area, Katherine ran her own swim school for over 15 years and also formed and coached a developmental swim team. As holder of several instructional and safety certifications as well as being an ASCA Level 2 swim coach, Coach Katherine brings invaluable knowledge and experience to our program. As Swim School Director, she designs our program, mentors staff, instructs swimmers, and personally places each student. Coach Katherine believes swimmers learn best with others of similar ability, so her small group classes are designed with the specific needs of the individual students in mind. Parents should be flexible in time ranges offered for optimal placement of swimmers.
Bryn DePaul
Coach Bryn began her competitive swimming career at four years old. She was the youngest member of her swim team. Since then, she has competed on several USA Swimming and high school teams and joined TIDE in 2015. She has qualified and competed in the Virginia Senior Championship Meet multiple times. Bryn is a recent graduate of Hickory High School where she exceeded a 4.0 GPA throughout all four years of school and graduated in the top 5% of her class. She was inducted into the National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, and was a member of the Friends of Rachel Anti-Bullying initiative. Bryn will be studying in the International Honors Joint Degree Programme at the College of William and Mary and the University of Saint Andrews in Fife, Scotland, majoring in Classical Studies and will be swimming on both universities’ club teams. Coach Bryn loves working with TIDE’s young swimmers sharing her passion and love for the sport of swimming!
Jennie Leigh DePaul
Coach Jennie began swimming competitively at age 6. During the course of her competitive journey, she obtained and still holds several records on USA Swimming teams. Jennie qualified for the Eastern Zone Competition many times and represented Virginia Swimming twice on the Virginia Zone Team. During her swimming career, Jennie placed 3rd and 4th in breaststroke and individual medley in the state of Virginia, and as a fifteen-year-old placed 3rd, 9th, and 10th in breaststroke and individual medley at NASA Junior Nationals.
Academic achievement is also very important to Jennie. She holds the rare distinction of having achieved straight A’s throughout all seven years of Middle School and High School. She was one of the first graduates of the Virtual Virginia full-time pilot program in High School. She is currently a student in the International Honors Joint Degree Programme at The College of William and Mary and the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, majoring in Classical Studies with a concentration in Latin and Greek. Jennie joined Tide Swim School as an instructor in March 2017 after swimming for two years in Tide Swimming’s senior groups and loves her job! She will be in Scotland during the 2018-2019 academic year.
Abbey Hunter
Coach Abbey joined TIDE in August 2016. Abbey was born and raised in southern California and spent as much time as she could in the water! She started swimming for a community club when she was five years old and continued on to swim for her high school varsity team and for Saddleback College. In high school, she began teaching swim lessons and fell in love with the sport in a whole new way. Before coming to TIDE, Abbey worked as a lead age group coach for the Mission Viejo Nadadores from 2010-2015. During her time with the Nadadores Abbey realized that a coach’s job isn’t simply to build an athlete, but to help mold a full person. Abbey’s favorite thing about coaching is seeing the development of each individual.
Allison Mickunas
Coach Allison joined TIDE in January 2017 as a Swim School and Stroke Academy coach. She also subs for the developmental practice groups. She is a Virginia Beach local who has been swimming competitively since age 5: swimming at TIDE, Cox HS, and Club Brittany. Coach Allison earned a Bachelor’s of Science in International Affairs from Florida State University and a Master of Arts in Chinese from Valparaiso. She spent a year teaching English in Shanghai, China before returning to the US to work on her teaching license for English as a Second Language at Old Dominiion University. She has been coaching and teaching lessons since high school. Coach Allison just completed her 4th season as co-head coach at Salem HS and is the head coach of Club Brittany’s summer league team. Coach Allison loves working with TIDE’s swimmers and sharing her love of the sport of swimming while helping athletes develop into great global citizens.
Chrystal Ritson
Coach Chrystal, a Virginia Beach native and graduate of Tallwood High School, joined the TIDE Swim School staff when the program began in February 2016. Chrystal had come from the YMCA swim lesson program, where she had been a group and private lesson instructor for 8 years. Prior to her years with the YMCA, Coach Chrystal had 9 years of early childhood experience, making her very good with our littlest swimmers.
Jason Rodriguez
Coach Jason joined TIDE swimming in January 2017. Beautiful Virginia Beach has been his home for the last eighteen years after graduating from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to coaching, Jason is also an active US Masters competitive swimmer for TIDE, where he primarily specializes in middle and long distance freestyle events, as well as long distance open-water races. When not swimming, he loves to surf and spend time out on the water.
Matt Smith
Coach Matt joined Tide Swimming in August 2017. A Virginia Beach native, he began swimming competitively at an early age for numerous teams in the Virginia Beach Summer League and Winter Leagues. Matt also swam all four years while attending Kempsville High School. Following graduation, Matt discovered his passion for coaching. He volunteered as an assistant coach for his high school and coached at Carolanne Farms Swim & Raquet Club in the summertime. After three seasons, Matt took over as Head Coach of the Simon Family JCC's summer swim team. Most recently, Matt served as Head Coach of the Little Neck Swim & Raquet Club's summer swim team. Coach Matt brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the pool deck and enjoys being a positive role model for our swimmers!!
Brianna Sullivan
Coach Brianna is a Virginia Beach native and joined TIDE in 2017. She began swimming competitively at the age of six, swimming for TIDE through middle school and high school. She swam for First Colonial High School before attending the University of Notre Dame. She earned her BA in Spanish and Premed, and a Masters of Education. Coach Brianna taught 2nd grade and kindergarten for five years in Tampa and Chicago before recently moving back home to Virginia. She has been teaching swim lessons for over 12 years, and spent several summers in college as the head coach for the Alanton Baycliff Bolts swim team. Coach Brianna is currently pursuing her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at ODU.
Cat Ware
Coach Cat joined Tide Swimming in 2013 as an assistant coach and dryland trainer in the Age Group program. After 4 years coaching across several practice groups, in 2017 Coach Cat was named director of TIDE's Developmental Program at Hilltop. Born and raised in Virginia Beach, she has been involved in the local swimming community for 12 years and coaching for 6 years. Coach Cat has worked as the Head Coach of Little Neck Swim and Racquet Club, as well as an assistant coach at Norfolk Academy. She is a graduate of Old Dominion University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science. Cat enjoys living an active lifestyle and in the future she hopes to use her education and experience to help others reach their fitness goals.
Questions about lessons?
Call Coach Katherine
(757) 963-2939
