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 30 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 Age Group 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.
Ken Cobb
Coach
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Ken is in his fourth year coaching with
Patriot Aquatics and leads the White Group. In
his former life, Ken's swim instruction background included several
years serving both the American Red Cross and YMCA organizations in
such capacities as Head Swim Instructor and Aquatics
Director. During his college years at the
University of Kentucky, Ken served as a Head Swim Coach for two
different club teams and served 2 years as President of the Central
Kentucky Swim Conference. Ken then went on to
help form and serve as Head Age Group Coach to a prominent
Lexington, KY based USA Swimming sanctioned team of nearly 200
swimmers. During this time, Ken coached numerous
state champions and record holders, and junior national qualifiers
and finalists. Ken has been a Coach Member of USA Swimming
since 1985 and is a certified coach with the American Swim Coaches
Association (ASCA).
Kenýs day job is President and Managing
Partner of Next Level Enterprises, LLC. He lives
in Longwood with his wife Abbey, and sons Jackson and
Bradley.
Meredith McNiece
Coach
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Meredith started swimming at an early
age. Her parent threw her into the lake
with a lifejacket and said “start swimming!” After that fateful first lesson, age group
and high school swimming wasn’t far behind. Growing up in Missouri, swim programs were the
place to create life-long friendships and learn lessons in
teamwork. During her high school years,
she found a wonderful high school coach who said “If I
can’t swim the set, I won’t make you do it.” A
great lesson to learn.
After graduating from Missouri State
University with a degree in PR and a minor in journalism, Meredith
came to Florida to work for Walt Disney World. Once in Florida, she also go involved in the
Masters Swimming Program, Team Orlando at I-Drive YMCA. She’s also worked for may high profile
sporting events and as a Producer/Director for various
infomercials. Since moving to the
Longwood area, Meredith has been swimming at Lake Brantley since
August 2010. Meredith is currently
working with a local advertising firm and enjoys coaching in her
free time.
