John Clay Parnell
Head Coach
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Head
Coach Clay Parnell coaches Senior 1 & 2 and one of the Age
Group training groups and oversees all aspects of Patriot Aquatics.
With over 28 years of coaching experience and over 15
more of competitive experience as a swimmer, Clay is able to draw
from a wealth of background in relation to swimmers of all
ages.
Over the years Coach Parnell has kept
this program going under circumstances that would have ended the
career of most coaches. Under the most limiting of circumstances he
was able to continue to produce outstanding performances from the
state record holders to nationally ranked
competitors.
Coach Parnell is originally
from
Ft.
Myers
,
FL
and attended the
Bolles
School
in
Jacksonville
for six years before earning a
scholarship to
Auburn
University
. Coach Parnell graduated from
the
University
of
Central
Florida
with a B.S. in Business
Management.
Coach Parnell draws from his experience
as a swimmer under many prestigious coaches including Randy and
Eddie Reese of the
University
of
Florida
&
Texas
, both Olympic
Coaches.
Over the years Coach Parnell has
received the Florida Swimming Senior Coach of the Year, Florida
High School Coach of the year, Southeast coach of the year and 1990
was nominated with 7 others for the National High School Coach of
the year. Coach Parnell has served as the President of the Florida
Swim Coaches Association and on the Florida Swimming Board of
Directors.
Scott Caron
Head Coach
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Scott, a native of
Largo
,
Florida
, comes to us from the North Central Florida YMCA, where he was the
Aquatic’s Director and head swim coach. With his 12 years
coaching experience he has gained an American Swim Coach
Association (ASCA) Level 4 certification and is a past president of
the Florida Swim Coaches Association (FSCA). In 2001 Scott was USA
Swimming select distance camp assistant coach and in 2002 received
the ASCA Award of Excellence. In 2003 he was as speaker at the
Eastern Coaches Clinic.
Some of the achievements of Scott’s swimmers
include: 4th place girls finish at the YMCA national
championships, 7 USA Swimming Academic All-Americans, over 20
college swimmers, 7 high school All-Americans, 2 Florida Swimmers
of the Year, 12 Junior National Qualifiers, State Record Holders,
YMCA National Record Holder in 5 events, and 2004 Olympic Trial
Qualifier.
Scott coaches our Blue and Gold groups with an
emphasis on creating a competitive training environment with a keen
eye on stroke technique. He is married to Thuy with 1 child, Grace.
Shea Davis
Coach
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Shea works with the Stars and Stripes
swimmers teaching strokes, starts and turns. He will introduce
training procedures and racing to our newest team
members. Shea swam competitively for 8 years and is
part of our Swim America Lesson program.
Mike Hermes
Coach
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Mike
comes to us from
Illinois
where
he competed for many years. Mike graduated from
Valparaiso
in
Indiana
,
where he swam, with a teaching degree. He is a long time Swim
America Instructor with 3 years of competitive coaching experience.
Mike and his wife Cara have a toddler named Dream. Mike works with the White and Blue swimmers with
an emphasis on stroke and turn technique and moving his swimmers
toward a more challenging training environment.
