Coaches & Staff

Coach Chris comes to FAST with fifteen years of coaching experience. Prior to joining FAST, Coach Chris was the assistant coach for four years and head coach for seven years at Gulliver Prep and Gulliver Swim Club. During this time, Chris assisted with building a club from having 35 swimmers to over 220 swimmers and earning Silver Medal Club recognition. He successfully developed athletes from age group swimming to high-performance, having guided numerous athletes who earned top-16 national age group rankings, Junior Nationals, US Open, Olympic Trials, and World Championships qualifiers. At the high school level, he led the girls’ team to six state titles and two runner-up finishes, while the boys’ team earned one state title and two runner-up finishes: the first state championship titles in the school’s history.

Coach Chris attended the University of Pittsburgh where he earned his BA in Mass Communication. While at the University of Pittsburgh, he was a four-year varsity letter winner, four-time All Big East First Team Selection, team captain his Junior and Senior years, and served on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee his Junior and Senior years. As an athlete, Coach Chris qualified for Olympic Trials in 2004 and 2008, finishing 10^th place in the 1500m Freestyle in 2004.

Emily comes to the FAST Falcons with a broad range of experience.  As a coach, parent, and former elite level athlete she brings a unique perspective on long term athlete development.She graduated from the University of Arizona in 2005 with a B.A. Journalism and a Minor in Exercise Physiology emphasis in Sport Psychology.  She was a team captain for 2 years.

On deck, she has been fortunate to work and learn alongside some coaching greats.

In Arizona she shared a deck with Bob Gillet, Roric Fink, and Frank Busch while coaching for Arizona Desert Fox and Tucson Ford.  As a head age group coach for Blue Tide Aquatics in Houston Texas she coached multiple swimmers to top three finishes at Texas Age Group Championships (TAGS), placed swimmers on the National Select Team, and was selected as the head coach for the Gulf Zones team.  Emily has coached age group, high school and masters for the past 25 years.  She is working on her level 3 coaching certification with ASCA.

She has written for Swimming World Magazine as well as Kiefer Aquatics.

As a swimmer Emily has represented the United States on the National team from 1998 to 2006.  She has competed at two World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Goodwill Games and 2 Duel in the Pools.  She is a 3 time NCAA Champion and still holds an NCAA record.  She is a US national champion and placed third in the 2000 Olympic Trials in the 200 fly.