Coaches
My name is Erica Parker. I have been with the Wildcat Swim Club for 3 seasons. I have been coaching swimming in some capacity for 25 years. I was the head swim coach for Berkmar High School from 2012-2016 until my son, Declan was born, then I took a step back to take care of him. I am also currently an adult swim instructor at Gwinnett Swim in Buford, GA.
As a swimmer, I was primarily a butterfly/backstroker. I LOVED the IM. I am a strong believer in technique over speed. If you can do the strokes correctly, the speed will come.
I have a dual degree in Elementary and Deaf Education from Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. I have been in Gwinnett County Public Schools since 2008. I am currently a 4th grade teacher at Chattahoochee Elementary. I started teaching in 2006 at Briarlake Elementary in Dekalb County. I transferred to Norcross Elementary in 2008 and was a 4th grade teacher there until 2012 when I was asked to move to Berkmar High School to teach their Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. This was when I took over the Berkmar Swim Team until 2016. I took a year off of teaching to spend with Declan and I have been with Chattahoochee since 2017.
My goal for the Wildcat Swim Club is to teach them to be efficient in the water. Efficiency leads to skill, skill leads to speed.
Hi! I am Kailyn James, the head swim and dive coach for the Wildcat Swim Club, Duluth High School, and Berkeley Hills Barracudas! As a former Duluth swimmer, I have been part of the program since 2007 as both a middle and high school swimmer and as a coach for both Duluth programs. As a swimmer, I was primarily a backstroker, but I did a little bit of everything and have a love for all strokes! I began my coaching career with Spalding Corners Swim Club, a summer league team in Peachtree Corners, in 2008 and continued coaching with them for 15 years. Since 2009, I have been a volunteer coach, assistant coach, and currently the head coach of the Wildcat Swim Club. I graduated from Duluth High School in 2013 and attended Georgia State University, so I could earn my bachelor’s degree in Middle Level Education while continuing to coach with Duluth. My junior and senior years of college, I began community coaching for Duluth High School, until I graduated in 2016 and became an assistant coach while beginning my teaching career at Duluth Middle School as a sixth grade social studies teacher. In 2022, I was promoted to co-head coach of the high school team and began as the head coach in 2023. I also moved from teaching middle to high school in the fall of 2023 to teach social studies in high school. As the co-head coach of Wildcat Swim Club, I plan to equip our athletes with the skills they need to be competitive athletes by the time they reach the high school level! GO WILDCATS!
