Coach Chris has been involved in swimming since age seven swimming at the club level for Bob Mattson and Syd Cassidy at Wilmington (DE) Aquatic Club. A decorated swimmer, he continued swimming during High School and swam collegiately for the University of Delaware. Coach Chris began coaching at age 16 and has worked with kids from developmental levels up through college, National and professional levels. Chris’ coaching stops include: Delaware Swim Team, North Baltimore Aquatic Club, The University of Wisconsin, The University of Alabama, and The Woodlands Swim Team. ​ – Directly developed over 20 NCAA All-Americans.  – Coached five athletes who represented their country in international competition, including one Gold medalist.  – Directly developed multiple USA swimming National Team members, Junior National team members, World University Games qualifiers, and FINA World Championship qualifiers.  Coach Chris believes that swimming teaches kids important lessons about setting and working hard to achieve goals, through dedication and focus, failure and triumph. He strongly believes that the development of young people outside of the pool is just as important as the lessons learned in the pool and seeks to build strong relationships with his swimmers.

Coach Matt is currently an ASCA level 5:4 certified coach and a member of the International Swim Coach Association, who brings over 14 years of experience from several of the best clubs in the country to Blue Tide Aquatics. Coach Matt has sat on the Board of Directors for Gulf Swimming and has served as Head Coach for two All-Star teams for Gulf Swimming. He comes to Blue Tide Aquatics from The Woodlands Swim Team (TWST), where he served as Head Age Group Coach. Before his time at TWST, Coach Matt served as Head Coach at ESA since 2018. He has worked with swimmers who have achieved many levels of successes, including US Open, Juniors, Futures, Sectionals, Tags, and Age Group Champs cuts. He has also helped swimmers achieve their goal of swimming at all college levels, Divisions I, II, and III. Before his position at ESA, he was the Head Site Director / High-Performance Coach for Santa Clara Swim Club (SCSC) in California. As site director, Coach Matt handled the day-to-day operational tasks needed to run a large club effectively. While at SCSC, he coached every level, from learning to swim to Junior National swimmers and Olympic Trial Qualifiers. Coach Matt has helped numerous swimmers who have competed at NCAA Division 1 Championships, Olympic Trials, Nationals, and Junior Nationals; he was also a Lead Coach to a National Age Group Relay Record. Apprenticing under great coaches helped lead to a nomination for ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year. Before Santa Clara, Coach Matt served as an Age Group Coach with Dynamo Swim Club for three years; he was on staff for two Junior National titles as an Assistant Coach. While at Dynamo, he joined a Gold Medal Club that eventually put three athletes on the US Olympic Team in 2016. Coach Matt’s coaching philosophy is simple. He believes setting a high standard is the best way to help teach student-athletes. He thinks positive reinforcement about swimming technique, hard work, dedication, and dealing with success and failures is the best way to help athletes succeed. Coach Matt was born near Gulf Shores, Alabama, and then moved to Carroll County, Georgia. After graduating from Villa Rica High School, he played soccer at Atlanta Christian College. In addition to his time on deck, Coach Matt loves to spend time with his three Great Danes (Barkley, Sully, and Dee) and three cats (Aubie, Bo and Suni), all named after his favorite football team, Auburn University.

Coach Tara Bailey has been involved in swimming since an early age of 9 at the club level. A decorated swimmer, she continued swimming during High School and swam collegiately for all four years, where she accomplished NCAA’s, conference championships, and Who’s Who in American College. As a coach, Tara Bailey has worked with kids from developmental levels up through senior and National levels. Her coaching experiences include: Summer League, High School, and Club for a collective total of 20 years. Coach Bailey believes that life's most memorable and teachable moments can be experienced through swimming. – Coached several top ten Nationally ranked athletes at various ages. – Coached numerous swimmers to achieve TAGS, Sectional, Winters, and Junior National qualifications. – Being named High School District Coach of the year. – Qualifying for top 50 Coaches for Age Group Swimming. – Achieved top ten teams at TAGS – Nominated Gulf Age Group Coach of the year 3 times. In my opinion my number one accomplishment is the long lasting relationships I have developed with athletes over time. Some of these are 20 years long and still going strong. The memories will last a lifetime.

Coach Sara started swimming at the age of 9 in Buffalo, New York. She competed for Kenmore West High School and was a 12 time Niagara Frontier League Champion and helped her team to be NFL Team Champions her Junior and Senior years. Sara was an 8 time Sectional All Star and Sectional Champion in the 200 Freestyle. In 2005, she was inducted into her high school's Hall of Fame. After high school, she went on to compete for Ashland University in Ohio. There she was a member of the Penn-Ohio Conference team and an 11 time All American. Sara left the corporate world when she had her first son, and decided to come back to swimming in 2006 when she joined the coaching staff at NEHA. She coached for 3 years, and left after her 3rd son was born. Sara came back to coaching in 2012 when she joined the Blue Tide coaching staff, and has been coaching for 13 years now. Sara believes in developing swimmers both in the water and out. Preparing swimmers for life after their time in the pool is important to coach Sara. She loves to watch the swimmers achieve everything they set out to do. Sara is a firm believer that hard work will pay off! Sara lives in Kingwood with her husband, Mike, and homeschools her 3 sons; Jack(17) Evan (15), and Bret (13). When she’s not at a baseball field, you can find her helping the BTA staff.

Coach Earl joined BTA in late 2021 and has been working with the team’s Tidal wave and Orange groups. Swimming has been a part of his life since he started as an age grouper back in Manila (Philippines) at the age of 10 years old. Aside from being a bemedaled varsity member during his high school and collegiate days, he was also selected to be the Team Captain during his senior years both in high school and college. After graduating college, he pursued his love for the sport by making the training team of Philippine National Water Polo team and participating in age-group triathlon events which he continues to do at present. He is a USA Swimming certified coach and was the Stroke Development Program coach at the YMCA Lake Houston for all groups (i.e. Beginner, Intermediate and Advance) prior to the center’s closure due to Harvey and then again, prior to the start of the pandemic. In between, he took a coaching position with ESA where he worked with various age group levels. Coach Earl believes that it is important for swimmers at a young age to learn how to be more efficient in the water by teaching proper stroke technique and developing good habits while ensuring kids have fun at the same time.

Coach Alona comes to BTA from Lifetime Fitness where she coached competitive swim and taught swim lessons. Alona also has an incredible amount of collegiate, national, and international swimming experience under her belt. She was an elite youth swimmer in Ukraine who competed on an international stage. She was a conference champion and school record holder at the University of Incarnate Word.

Coach Anna has been involved in swimming since the early age of 5. She started swimming for TMAC (Taylor Made Aquatic Club) and then later DAD's Club. She qualified for TAGS many seasons as an age group swimmer. She then swam for Mayde Creek High School and competed at State several times. Her favorite stroke is Butterfly and her favorite events are the 500 Free and the 100 Butterfly. She attended SMU for college and then graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Biology from UT Arlington. She taught private lessons and coached summer league while in college. After graduation, she Commissioned as an Officer in the US Army and served for over 12 years. She currently coaches the Bronze group and works in Elementary Special Education. She encourages young athletes to enjoy the sport and make swimming part of a life long healthy life style. She believes that swimming is not only good for youth fitness and fun, but that it teaches kids many other skills such as math, time management, self confidence, and perseverance.

Coach Emily has been coaching for Blue Tide Aquatics since 2022 and has spent the majority of her life at the pool. Coach Emily started swimming competitively at the age of five with the Kleinwood Dolphins. She went on to so swim for Klein Aquatics, Schindewolf Intermediate School, and Klein Collins High School. Coach Emily made the choice to start a family instead of swimming in college. She started coaching at age 16 for the Kleinwood Dolphins. She has since been the Head Coach for The Shadowbend Tsunami’s, and held assistant coaching positions for the Duncan Dragons, Premier Aquatics Club of Klein, and Sharks Swim Club where she has coached all levels of athletes. Coach Emily was working on a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language and Speech and Language Pathology at the University of Houston where she maintained a 4.0 GPA pre covid. After covid shutdowns Coach Emily decided it would be best for her family to work from home. She is now studying UX/UI design. Coach Emily has two children named Tinsley and Sebastian. They have both grown up at the pool. Tinsley swims with BTA and Sebastian plays soccer. Coach Emily takes pride in developing swimmers in and out of the pool. She believes swimmers can apply the lessons they learn in swimming to be successful in everyday life.

Coach Caleb has been involved in the world of swimming since the age of 5, he started swimming with his local summer league team (FMKP Waves) and continued with swimming on the High School team and soon after started swimming club with BTA. In High School he received All-American. He continued with his swimming career in college. After he continued being apart of the world of swimming by coaching summer league then onto BTA. Coach Caleb believes swimming teaches kids important values and skills like time management, the ability to swim, the value of hard work and that an swimmers are not defined solely by what they do in the pool.

Coach Kelly recently joined Blue Tide Aquatics (BTA) and brings over 4 years of club coaching experience and approximately 20 years of competitive swimming experience to BTA. She has participated in USA, YMCA, high school, Division 1 college and Masters swimming. As an age group swimmer, Kelly won numerous Illinois State Championships, broke countless team, pool, meet and state records, many of which still stand over 30+ years later. In addition, Kelly earned high point at Zones and made it onto the USA Swimming Top 10 list nine times. Furthermore, Kelly was awarded a full athletic scholarship to attend the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was named the Female Student Athlete of the Year in 1994. Kelly was a two-time conference champion in 1993 & 1994 and the conference record holder in the 200 Back. She also broke several university records during her tenure at UIC. When Kelly was not training and competing, she worked as a lifeguard and learn-to-swim instructor for young children in the Chicago area. Coach Kelly is a proud mother of four children who are BTA team members and also works as a hospital pharmacist. As a coach of the Bronze group, Coach Kelly believes that it is imperative to focus on proper stroke technique and mindfulness during swim practices in an effort to help the kids forge great habits and set them up for future success and longevity in the sport.

Wesley Foltz is currently an assistant coach at Blue Tide Aquatics and has spent a lifetime at the pool. Wesley has been a part of competitive swimming since the age of five. He competed on the club level and on the varsity swim team at Kingwood Park High School where he was a part of the District, Region, and State team. After graduating from Kingwood Park, Wesley began his career by coaching for his alma mater and club team. Now, with 4 years of experience guiding, mentoring, and developing athletes, he has developed his own skills as an effective and passionate swim coach. For Wesley, swimming is a family affair. He currently has 2 siblings who swim for BTA and an older brother, Mario, who swam at Southwestern University. Wesley currently attends the University of Houston and is working to receive a B.A. in Teacher and Learning. He also currently works as a Pre-K teacher at Good Shepherd School. He plans on bringing his love of the sport to the team and sharing his knowledge of swimming. He is very enthusiastic about the future of his swimmers and the team.

Hi! My name is Brynn Willis and I am looking forward to coaching the TNT group with Coach Wes! I have two boys that swim for Bluetide; Hudson in 6th grade at Riverwood Middle school and Spencer in 5th grade at Deerwood Elementary. On the weekends, my family and I love to take our boat out on Lake Houston. I have two dogs, Charlie and Astro, and a sweet kitty cat, Eleanor Rigby. I love to cook, and LOVE to get outside for a nice run. My background: I grew up swimming competitively starting at age 8 through high school. My dad was in the Navy, so I moved all around and have had the opportunity to swim in Illinois, Washington State, Edmonton, Canada, Monterey, California, and Slidell, Louisiana. I taught swim lessons for several years while in high school and coached the summer swim team in Slidell, Louisiana as well. I graduated in 2005 with a Masters in Elementary Education from Louisiana State University. GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!! I have been in and out of a classroom since January 2006. I currently guest teach at Deerwood Elementary School quite often. As an educator I enjoy teaching students and watching their love for learning grow. As a swim coach, I am hoping to inspire and encourage the love for swimming with the swimmers in the TNT group. Roll “Blue” tide! This is going to be a great season!