Cody has been around the pool his entire life. He started lessons at Emmaus Aquatic Club at the age of four and then went on to train and compete for the club throughout college.  He competed for Emmaus High School where he was fortunate enough to learn how important teamwork and hard work were to being on a successful team.  He continued swimming in college at Seton Hall University where he was Co-Captain for his Junior and Senior year, leading the team to their first two Big East Championships.  Cody believes that the mental aspect of the sport is the key to a successful, happy swimmer and is excited to work with young athletes at developing the skills needed to be successful both in and out of the pool.  Cody tries to emphasize the importance of improvement and strategy in races and believes that "progress over perfection" is the way to motivate young athletes.  Outside of swimming, Cody currently works for a medical device company's data analytics department focusing on Data Visualization. He is also pursuing his MBA from Moravian College.

Coach Mike is no stranger to the pool, having been around competitive swimming for many years. Whether it be club, high school, or college level swimming, the sport has been a constant in his life and he is thrilled to continue that growth with PAAC. His experience has allowed him to acquire a unique perspective on training and approach to the sport.

As an age group athlete, Coach Mike embraced swimming and set several local records in his hometown area of Reading. After suffering a leg injury in high school, Coach Mike turned to swimming as a means of recovery and therapy both physically and mentally. After competing at the collegiate level at Albright College, he was a top performer on the men’s team, winning four consecutive Men’s MAC Conference Team Championships from 2002 thru 2006.

Most recently, Coach Mike’s resume has included Head Age Group Coach for EMAC as well as assisting the Emmaus High School Team to many District Championships. For the past two years, Coach Mike has coached in his home district of Southern Lehigh, by assisting the High School team and SOLECO team. His philosophy for age group swimming has been to, first and foremost, engage the young athlete through structured enjoyment before mastering an exponential disciplined edge. His greatest enjoyment is seeing the athletes grow, flourish and take the discipline of this sport to college, career, and life.

Coach Mike enjoys leading a life of health and fitness as well as spending time with his wife, Jackie, and their two young sons, Jack and Joey.

Tjasa Ritchey is a 1993 graduate of Denison University, where she was an NCAA 18-time Division III swimmer over her four years and a NCAC 200 backstroke champion in 1993. During college summers, Tjasa coached at ACE Aquatics in Mount Kisco, New York as well as for a country club team in Louisville, KY.  Upon graduating from Denison, Tjasa spent two years teaching elementary children (kindergarten and then first grade) at a private school outside of New York City. During this time, she started training for triathlons. She then moved with her husband, Julian, to Jacksonville, FL where she became an A.C.E. Certified personal trainer and taught gymnastics.

Tjasa moved to the Lehigh Valley in 1997. She continued to be a personal trainer and she was the assistant men’s and women’s swim coach at Lafayette College from 1998-2001, all while pursuing her triathlon career, where she eventually turned professional. Tjasa is a five-time Ironman finisher, four of which were Ironman Hawaii (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000), and one Ironman Lake Placid (2000). She then took a long break from everything to raise her four children children. Tjasa currently  serves on as secretary of the  Board of Directors for The Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley, Inc. She is happy to be back on deck coaching Instructional and Stars groups and helping out wherever she is needed.

Jackie is new to the coaching staff for the 2021-2022 season and brings plenty of knowledge and passion for swimming. She started competitive swimming at age 5 and quickly found her love for the sport. Jackie was a YMCA State Champion and National finalist in her youth. In High School, she won county titles in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyles and was a High School State finalist in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. 

Jackie continued her swimming career at Bucknell University. In her Freshman year, she set the team and pool record in the 1,000 freestyle. Throughout her college experience she earned First Team All Patriot League honors all four years and won the Patriot League title in the 200 butterfly her junior year. She assisted her team in winning their first conference titles in 2003 and 2004 then led them as a captain to victory in 2005. 

Upon graduating college, Jackie went on to earn an MBA with a concentration in Sport Management from Seton Hall University. During this time, she was an undergraduate academic advisor and coached a local swim team, helping age group swimmers reach their goals. Professionally, Jackie has been working in online higher education but she is excited to get back into coaching and spread her love for the sport. Personally, Jackie enjoys spending time with her husband, Jake, and three sons: Teddy and Scotty (PAAC swimmers), and Jay. 

Coach Steve returned to PAAC in February 2015, to coach both the Bronze group and the STARS group. He immediately re-established goals for both groups, and expectations were far exceeded by season’s end.

His first tenure at PAAC lasted from April, 2005 to June, 2010. During that time, he coached many Middle Atlantic Junior Olympic and Elite Meet qualifiers, including some champions. Steve had one swimmer attain TOP 16 status. Steve has also coached adults over the years as he guided the Westend Racquet Club Masters swimmers from November, 1994 until September, 2013. He competed in Masters swim meets as well, starting in 1992 until he retired in 2007.

As a child, Steve competed in club swimming while growing up in Springfield (Delaware County) PA, starting at age 7 until he graduated high school. He swam first for the Community YMCA in Upper Darby, PA then for the Suburban Swim Club in Marple-Newtown, PA. Steve’s passion for swimming goes beyond the pool as he served as Committee Chairman for the Delaware Valley Masters Swim Committee from September, 2002 until September 2006. He also served as Westend Masters Swim Meet Director from 1993 to 1997.

Professionally, Steve has been is sales and sales management since graduating Lehigh University in 1980. He is married, with 2 children (twin daughters) and 2 grandchildren.

Claire has been around the pool her whole life. She started at the age of six in the Tamaqua area then moved down to the Emmaus school district going into ninth grade where she swam for the high school and EMAC. Graduating in 2015, she then went on to swim for Kutztown University where she specialized in backstroke, IM, and sprint freestyle and was a three time MVP on the team, multiple PSAC qualifier and placer, and holds 5 All-Time top 10 times.

Claire has been teaching swim lessons since she was 14 starting with EMAC then for Kutztown University. She also started coaching after high school for a few summer leagues in the area. After a few years and graduating college, she became the assistant coach for Freedom High School for two seasons where she coached a few swimmers to District XI top three finishes. This is when she really fell in love with coaching and helping young swimmers find their passion for the sport and to help them improve to their best abilities. She then left Freedom to become the assistant coach at Kutztown University where she has helped coached a swimmer to record breaking performances and top three finishes within the D2 PSAC conference while also running their social media pages. She is currently starting her second season with the team. She has also helped coach Stones Crossing Swim Club in the summer in Palmer Township for the last 2 years.

Outside of coaching,  Claire has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from Kutztown University and works in Graphic Designer and Marketing/Social Media. She also loves cats.

This is coach Katie’s third year with PAAC. Katie currently serves as the head coach on the Southern Lehigh Varsity Swim Team. She is a 2010 Southern Lehigh High School Graduate and Southern Lehigh High School Varsity Swim Team Alumni. She has also coached at EMAC, taught swim lessons at Swim-in Zone, and is currently the head summer swim coach for SOLECO Stingrays. Katie has her Bachelor’s degree from Penn State and Master's degree from Lehigh University. She is currently an Elementary School Teacher in the Southern Lehigh School district.

Coach Alex has been with PAAC for several years. Alex started with PAAC as a Learn-to-Swim instructor while swimming for Parkland High School. After graduating from Bloomsburg University in 2016, Alex returned to PAAC and was Head Coach of the Silver group for 3 years until he took a break to focus on his career in health care specializing in Cardiac Electrophysiology. Alex brings many years of experience in competitive swimming to PAAC including superior strategy in the all four strokes, the 200 yard events, and the distance events. While coaching the Silver group, he coached many JO qualifiers, JO champions, MA Zone qualifiers, and coached at the 2017 Easter Zones Team.

Alex holds a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science from Bloomsburg University, where he was a 4-year student-athlete, NCAA qualifier, 800 Freestyle Relay record holder, and to this day holds 8 All-Time Top 10 times. He likes to use that knowledge to strengthen and improve each athlete to the best of their abilities. Outside of the pool, Alex works for Medtronic, a leading medical device company where he is a clinical specialist in pacemaker and defibrillator technology including implantation of these devices and field troubleshooting. In his spare time, Alex likes to spend time with his soon-to-be wife, Kate, swim, play golf, and play with his two dogs.