Head Coach | Scot Budde

Scot Budde joined our team as Head Coach in August of 2020 with 20 years of diverse coaching experience ranging from 7 years as the Head Swim Coach at Greensboro College to time spent with board-directed and for-profit USA Swimming clubs in North Carolina and Delaware.  He has coached all levels of swimmers from beginners who were afraid of the pool to Senior National and NCAA qualifiers. 

Scot’s coaching philosophy is a perfect match for our team.  A comment offered about Scot sums up what we have experienced in our time with him as head coach: “Scot makes all swimmers feel important by challenging them at their own level to maximize personal goals in the pool."

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Head Age Group Coach | Chad Gusler

Chad Gusler is a professor in EMU’s Language and Literature Department and in the past was an assistant coach for the Gators as well as a coach for the Westover Waves. Chad swam competitively in high school and has continued swimming through the Master's Swim Club. He will be working primarily with the Age Group, JDP, and Pre-Senior swimmers alongside Coach Scot. 

Chad and his wife, Cindy, live in Harrisonburg, and their children were both Gator swimmers.

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Assistant Coach | Aiden Brinkley

Aiden is a senior at James Madison University majoring in Sports and Recreation Management. He grew up swimming for the Virginia Gators in Roanoke, where he spent 10 years in the program. Aiden has coached at various summer league pools within the RVAA and worked with the Gators developmental groups in his final years before heading to JMU. He’s super excited to be back with the Gators where it all began and can’t wait for a great year!

 

 

 

Strength and Conditioning Coach | MJ Saunders

MJ is a certified functional strength coach and personal trainer. For the last seven years she has  worked with a variety of athletes ranging from middle school, high school, college, to adults on developing their strength and conditioning.  MJ’s strength programs focus on the movement, strength, speed, and power necessary to  improve sport performance and reduce injury.
She is also currently an instructor in the department of Kinesiology at JMU  where she teaches Lifetime Fitness and Wellness and swim conditioning to college students. She is looking forward to working  with the swimmers on developing their dryland training!
 
 

 

Clinic Coach | Carla Regginello

Carla has led the Gator stroke development clinics for years and has worked with the Gators for eight years. She began  swimming as young girl, and it has been her favorite sport since! In her teens and 20s she was a lifeguard and taught swim lessons, and has continued group lessons for the last seventeen years at the Broadway Pool. In addition to coaching with the Gators, she also helped with the Broadway Sharks during summer league. She loves teaching and coaching young swimmers. Swimmers rule!  
 

 

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Assistant Coach | Zoey Lusk

 

If you would like to contact a member of our coaching staff, please feel free to reach out to our head coach, Scot Budde at scotalan@yahoo.com. For immediate concerns or questions related to fees, policy issues, or safety, please contact Jolanthe Erb, the Director of Operations, at hburggators@gmail.com.