Coaches and Directors
Erin Jeffers first started coaching swimming in 1995. Since then, Erin has coached for many recognized swim clubs throughout the country, including Sun Devil Aquatics (now known as Pitchfork Aquatics), Scottsdale Aquatic Club, Foxjet Swimming, Team Neptune, and Edge Swim Team. She has worked under great coaching mentors, including Swimming Hall of Fame/Former World Record Holder Melissa (Belote) Ripley, Kevin Zacher, and Anne Urschel. Erin was excited to join the Storm coaching staff in 2008 and has brought a wealth of technical knowledge and experience from her tenures coaching around the country. Erin centers her coaching philosophy around solid technical foundation, strong character development, patience, hard work and of course a dash of fun!
As a collegiate swimmer, Erin specialized as a sprint freestyler/backstroker. She was a four year All-Conference Swimmer, NCAA Leadership Conference selected participant, NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee and Conference and University Student Athlete Advisory Committee President. Erin worked as a Graduate Assistant in Athletics at Arizona State University. There, she taught a Life Skills Class for Freshmen Student-Athletes as well as mentored their Student Athlete run governing board. Erin holds her Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Education in Higher and Postsecondary Education.
Erin has two children that are also Storm swimmers. When not on the pool deck or in the classroom, Erin loves to be active, cook, read, and spend time with family.
Coach Russell began his coaching career 9 years ago at the age of 16, coaching a summer league team in his hometown of Cold Spring Harbor, New York and hasn't stopped coaching since. He began swimming at the age of 11 on a YMCA team from Huntington, New York (we race them at Winterfest!), swam through high school on the Long Island Aquatic Club (LIAC) and even briefly at Providence College in Rhode Island. As a swimmer, coach Russell swam Backstroke, Distance Freestyle, and 400 IM but always loved to swim and improve all of his strokes. Recently, coach Russell has become the Lead coch for the Junior Group, after working primarily with Lightning and Thunder for 3 years.
Prior to joining Storm, coach Russell worked as both an assistant and head coach of a boys and girls club in North Providence, RI for three years. Coaching the North Providence Barracudas, coach Russell discovered his passion and love for working with swimmers of all ages. His favorite part about working with age group level athletes is watching the swimmers progress and develop a love for the sport over time.
Coach Russell graduated from Providence College in 2019 and holds his Bachelors Degree in Elementary/Special Education. Currently, he is pursuing a Masters in Sports Management at Southern New Hampshire University. Coach Russell also works as a Case Manager/Math Teacher at Nashua High School South. When not at the pool or in school, Russell can be found spending time wth his cats (Mocha and Daisy), gardening, working out, swimming, and playing video games
Josh Peterson first started coaching swimming in 1995, at a USA Swimming club in Michigan, and later as the assistant coach at Wellesley College. Coach Josh started his swim career long ago with the Waltham Boys and Girls Club; later joining the New England Barracudas, and captained the Waltham High School and Brandeis University teams. He specialized in middle distance and backstroke, and once held several records at his alma mater.
Coach Josh's oldest daughter, Danielle, recently graduated from Wellesley College, capping a great swimming career by adding her name to the record board there. His youngest daughter, Lydia, currently swims for Storm. He loves working with beginning swimmers, and encouraging the development of fundamental skills. When not on the pool deck, Coach Josh writes communications and informatics software, gardens, and enjoys making things.
Evelyn started coaching this season and primarily coaches the Thunder group. Evelyn’s been swimming since she was about 2 and she swam on storm under coach Erin from the ages of 4-10. She later on quit swimming, but has recently returned to the sport. Evelyn currently attends Umass Lowell majoring in biomedical engineering and entrepreneurship and also enjoys swimming and figure skating as her hobbies. Before coaching at storm, she coached at the Greater Lowell YMCA Barracudas for two seasons. When not coaching, she loves to spend time with her family and kitten as well and searches for new ramen restaurants in New England.
Coach Kayla was introduced to the pool as a baby and was swimming competitively by the time she was seven years old. Over the course of ten years, Kayla swam for several teams in Connecticut, Ohio, and Massachusetts. She was captain of the swim team at Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, MA and went on to swim for two years at WPI. Her specialty was butterfly, but she also enjoyed backstroke, distance freestyle, and the 200 IM.
Kayla started coaching young swimmers on the Worcester Wahoos swim team in 2011. She continued to coach, lifeguard, and teach swimming lessons until 2014 when she decided to focus her attention on her studies and her passion for triathlon. After a long hiatus, she returned to coaching in 2023 as an assistant swim coach for The Bromfield School in Harvard, MA. She joined the STORM coaching staff in April of 2024 and is looking forward to helping swimmers of all ages and abilities achieve their goals and find joy in the sport.
Kayla holds a BS in Biology & Biotechnology from WPI. She worked in the biopharmaceutical industry for seven years before transitioning into education and coaching. During the day, you can find her working with students in a middle school special education classroom. Outside of swimming and work, Kayla enjoys spending time with her husband, snuggling with her two cats, jamming out to many different genres of music, and finding new ways to explore the outdoors.
