Erik Scalise
Head Coach - Swim Teams
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Head Coach Erik Scalise is a native Nevadan. He began competing in swimming at 12 years old and has been a staple in Nevada aquatics programs ever since. He attended Reed High School and went on to compete at UNLV for 4 years. During his time at UNLV Erik was captain of the team both his junior and senior years. Erik won UNLV Athlete of the Year in the 1996-1997 school year and is an NCAA All American athlete.
Erik returned to Reno to continue both his schooling and swimming careers. He attended UNR and received his MBA with a focus in Finance. He swam for Reno Aquatic Club and qualified for 4 Olympic Trials, competed in 27 USA Swimming Nationals, and became a 19 time United States Masters Swimming National Champion and Record Holder.
Erik coached first began his coaching career in 1999 with local high school and club teams. In 2009 Erik decided to take his swimming and coaching careers to the next level by focusing on coaching aspiring athletes and thus began Northern Nevada Aquatics. Erik not only coaches all ages and ability levels of the swimmers on the team, but also runs the program. In the short time that NNA has been around it has produced two Olympic Trials qualifiers and has successfully recruited to several NCAA division 1 schools. Currently NNA is the largest aquatics program in the Northern Nevada. NNA added a water polo program in 2010, The Lyon county swim team (F.A.S.T.) joined NNA in 2011, the Incline Aquatic Club joined NNA in 2014, and the Ely Swim Team Joined in 2015.
Erik continues to train daily for swimming and hopes to impress upon his swimmers his passion for the sport and representation for all Northern Nevada Aquatics programs.
Michael Freeman
Coach
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Coach Mike Freeman grew up in Gardnerville, Nevada, spent a year living in Hawaii, and then moved back to Reno, to attend the University of Nevada, Reno. He graduated from UNR in 2009 with a degree in Geography. Mike has always been an avid athlete and has been a competitive swimmer, runner, cyclist, and triathlete. He has competed in events all over the country. The highlight of his competitive career was in 2005 where he finished 5th at X-terra Off Road Triathlon Nationals in the twenty and under age group. Mike started coaching swimming for Damonte Ranch High School in 2010 and Northern Nevada Aquatics shortly thereafter. He enjoys sharing his experiences and knowledge in athletics with up and coming athletes. He loves seeing new swimmers fall in love with swimming and make it their lifelong sport as well. Mike's belief is that anyone can find life lessons in the water. Swimming can make people healthier, happier, more focused and lead a more fulfilling life. He strives to help athletes of all ages and abilities meet their goals and create a lifelong obsession with the water.
Morgan McCord
Coach
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Coach Morgan McCord has been a part of NNA as a swimmer, coach, or both since its beginning. She is passionate about coaching and sharing her love for swimming with others, especially swimmers that are new to the sport. Morgan currently studies Spanish and secondary education at UNR with hopes to become a teacher soon. When she is not coaching or with her studies, you might find her traveling the world pursuing other aquatic adventures such as SCUBA diving and boating.
Hannah E Nystrom
Coach
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Coach Hannah Nystrom grew up swimming competitively in Northern Nevada. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Nevada, Reno. She has been teaching swimming for over ten years now and began coaching with NNA in 2014. She is thrilled to be able to share her love of the sport with her young swimmers, and enjoys watching their excitement as they reach their goals and grow as athletes. Her favorite part of her job is getting to jump in the water and swim and have fun with her kids.
Jared Scalise
Head Coach - Water Polo
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Coach Jared Scalise is a Reno native. He has been a competitive Water Polo Player and Swimmer for over 25 years. He attended Reed High School and went on to win the 1997 Nevada State AAAA Swim Championships in the 50 and 100 Freestyle during his senior year. He also won MVP in both Water Polo and Swimming during the 1996-97 Season. Jared attended University of the Pacific on a full scholarship as a dual NCAA Division 1A athlete. He competed in both Water Polo and Swimming for the Tigers. He helped the UOP Water Polo Team to a 4th place NCAA National finish during the 1998 Season. Jared Coached the Manogue High School Swim Team for 8 years from 2001-08 with his brother Erik Scalise. Manogue finished 4th place in 2002 and 2nd place in 2003 at the AAAA State Swim Championships. Jared started coaching for NNA from the beginning in 2009. In 2012 he started the NNA Water Polo team for all ages. The program has grown to include age group, high school and masters water polo players for boys and girls. He has continued to train, compete and coach for NNA and believes in a lifelong commitment to exercise and health.
Jorie Turner
Coach - Computers
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Coach Jorie Turner grew up in South Lake Tahoe, California. She started swimming at 8 years old for the Tahoe Swim Club. Although Coach Jorie does not compete any longer, she loves being on the coaching and administration side of the sport and watching swimming evolve and being creative with drills and sets. Coach Jorie swam varsity for 4 years at South Tahoe High School and swam 4 years NCAA as a Pirate at Whitworth University. Being a part of a college team was the best part of her entire swimming career. During her senior year they defeated the University of Puget Sound who had held the women’s conference title for 20 consecutive years. Coach Jorie graduated in 2008 with a degree in Elementary Education.
Coaching allows her to share her passion for swimming with athletes of all ages. Jorie has been coaching 10 years and has been with NNA for 4 years. She believes in what Head Coach Erik has done with the program at Northern Nevada Aquatics. Jorie loves watching the NNA coaches share their passion for swimming, and helping the athletes achieve their goals. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing the athletes you work with succeed and reach their goals.
Joann Porter
Coach
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Coach Jo Ann Porter was born in Chicago, IL, and grew up in Reno, Southern California and Oklahoma. It was in Los Angeles that she learned to swim through the Red Cross lesson program. She swam for two years for the LA County Summer League and then switched to baseball, softball and volleyball. Jo Ann set her destiny in motion by returning to swimming during her junior year in high school. She returned to Reno as a walk-on swimmer with the University of Nevada and parlayed that into a full ride in her sophomore season as the team’s Most Improved Swimmer both years. During her senior year with the Nevada swim team, she was Team Captain and helped lead the Wolf Pack in the Big West Conference, holding the top in-season conference times in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles. During her career, she established school records in the 100 and 200 yard freestyles and finished her career with the 100-yard backstroke record as well as numerous relay records. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a BS in Health Sciences. Coach Jo Ann began coaching for Swim Nevada and Reno Aquatic Club from 1993-1995 and then again with Northern Nevada Aquatics in 2012. Jo Ann loves to share her love for swimming and passion for learning with age group swimmers. Her greatest joy is watching a young swimmer achieve their goal and recognize that they accomplished that goal through their own hard work and perseverance. Coach Jo Ann chose to coach for Northern Nevada Aquatics because of Head Coach Erik, whom she has known for over two decades. His commitment, discipline, and ethical approach to fulfilling the needs of each swimmer is above reproach and his philosophy of teaching children that swimming is a fun, enjoyable and lifelong activity ensures that NNA families develop a healthy perspective on swimming, competition and fitness. It’s because of this that she wanted her own kids involved in his program and is honored to help fulfill the NNA mission of serving the aquatic community. In her non-coaching time, she loves to swim! She competes as part of US Masters Swimming in the pool and open water events. Her other favorite hobbies are snowboarding and skiing, wakeboarding and hiking the Sierra Nevada.
