John T Burke, Jr
Head Coach
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John Burke joined the
Pearland Aquatics staff in March of 2008. An ASCA level 4 USA
Swimming and Age Group coach, John is the primary coach of the
Gold group, but helps out with most aspects of the
program. Previously, John was an age group coach in Maryland
with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club and age group coach and
founder of the Annapolis Swim Club. In Maryland, he coached
swimmers who placed in the top eight and won events at the Maryland
All Star and the Eastern Zone meets. His swimmers have also
been ranked in the USA Swimming top 16, and top 10 lists. He also
served on the Maryland Swimming Board of Directors as the Age
Group Chair.
John moved to Texas in
August 2006 to be the Head Assistant Coach with Aquastar where he
also helped out in most aspects of the club. Since being in
Texas, John has coached swimmers who have qualified for Sectionals,
NCSA Junior Nationals, Winter Juniors, Long Course Juniors,
Olympic Trials, won TAGS, have been finalists at the Southern
Zone Age Group and Senior meets, and have been ranked in
the USA Swimming top 16, and top 10 lists. John coached Adriel
Sanes who represented the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 2015 FINA
World Championships in Kazan, Russia, and the 2017 FINA World
Championships in Budapest, Hungry.
John is a at large member
on the Gulf Swimming board of directors, and is on the Club
Development committee.
John met his wife Ann
while they were coaching at the North Baltimore Aquatic
Club. The Burkes reside in Pearland with their
children Emma, Klara, Anna and Jack.
Ann Burke
Head Age Group Coach
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Coach Ann brings a lifetime of experience and
education to the pool deck. She has been passionate about the
sport since she was a young girl and has experienced it as an
athlete, coach, and parent. She originally started coaching with a
summer league team during her college swimming days and has
continued working with swimmers ever since. In addition
to her time in the swimming world, Coach Ann has also served as a
junior high educator. Coach Ann draws upon her
experience in education to provide focused,
objective-based instruction daily to PEAK's swimmers.
Natalie Melenric
Assistant Coach
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Coach Natalie began her
swimming journey with Alvin Aquatic Club at the age of seven.
She later joined Angleton Aquatic Club's USA Swimming year round
program and swam for honors such as Sectionals finalist,
Junior Nationals qualifier and Texas Age Group
(TAGS) Champion. She swam for Alvin High School for four years
and continued her swimming career at Texas Christian
University where she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science
degree in Psychology and a minor in Communications. She worked for
Pearland Swim Academy while in college and was the head coach of
Alvin Aquatic Club for three summers prior to joining PEAK. Now in
her 10th year at PEAK, Coach Natalie continues to enjoy working
with athletes to reach their potential and learn valuable life
lessons through the sport of swimming. She is currently the Lead
Site Coach at the Pearland Natatorium.
Caitlin Cunningham
Assistant Coach
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Coach Caitlin began swimming with the Alvin Aquatic
Club summer league team at the age of nine. In high school she swam
for both the Alvin High School swim team and the Angleton Aquatic
Club USA Swimming team. She continued her swimming career at
Centenary College of Louisiana where she graduated with a
Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English and a minor in Spanish;
while on breaks from college, she returned home to swim with
Pearland Aquatics (known at that time as Synergy Aquatics). Coach
Caitlin has been coaching for Pearland Aquatics since 2009 and has
experience teaching swim lessons as well with both the Pearland
Swim Academy and The Aquatic Academy. When she is not at the pool, she is an RLA
Instructional Coach and 7th grade teacher in Alvin
ISD.
Charyl Teal
Assistant Coach
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Coach Charyl has been swimming since the age of 3, and along
with 4 siblings, swam competitively. At 16, Charyl
started her professional career in aquatics as a
lifeguard, summer league swim coach and Water Safety
Instructor. For the next 10 years, Charyl worked for the City of
Columbus, Easter Seals of Ohio, The Ohio State University, and the
YWCA of Columbus. She coached several Swimming and Diving teams,
certified numerous lifeguards, and has taught over 1000 people how
to swim.
After getting a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering
Technology, working at NASA and Apple Computer, Charyl started a
family. Once her neighbors realized she taught her children
to swim as toddlers, they asked her to teach their children
as well. Through word of mouth, Charyl was able to build The
Aquatic Academy, LLC, her home-based swim school.
Charyl continues to bring her passion for swimming as a coach with
PEAK. Her daughter, Leia, is a current team member.
Thuc Nguyen
Assistant Coach
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Coach Thuc started swimming at the age of 4
when he lived in Vietnam. He swam through high school at high
levels of competition. At the age of 20 he moved to the United
States with his family. He began his college career at San Jacinto
College and is continuing his studies at Texas Southern University.
Prior to coaching with PEAK, he was employed as a head lifeguard at
Pearland Natatorium. While working as a lifeguard during PEAK
practices, Thuc realized he wanted to share his passion for
swimming with PEAK swimmers. Coach Thuc joined PEAK in summer
2016 and works with year-round team, tech-fit, and summer team
programs.
Esther Namutebi Kizito
Assistant Coach
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Coach Esther began
competitive swimming at age 12 with PEAK for four years and
continued on her swimming career at Dawson High school. She began
coaching swimmers as a junior coach at age 15 for one summer with
the Pearland Pirates and then continued onto coaching with PEAK.
She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at Houston
Baptist University with a major in Psychology and a minor in
Biblical Studies. Coach Esther loves to coach swimming because she
wants to share her passion and knowledge of the sport as well as
help kids to believe in themselves and be the best they can be
overall. She would love to continue coaching as she grows and even
have a coaching experience in Uganda.
