Coach Catherine has been a part of the Lakota Stingrays since her oldest son first joined the team in 2016. Shortly thereafter her two other children started swimming for the Stingrays as well. Catherine has been coaching with the team since 2021 and loves working with the grade school age level swimmers. Catherine swam in high school, coached several swim/sports teams during college and spent many years as a certified lifeguard. Now she is a wife, mother of three, active volunteer and works as a substitute teacher in the Lakota School District. Her goal for each athlete is to foster a love of swimming, develop strong technique and build confidence in and outside of the pool.

Coach Ashley is going into her second year with the Lakota YMCA Stingrays as an age group coach. Ashley coincidentally swam for the Stingrays when she was younger. Ashley has worked for the YMCA for over 6 years in their childcare and now swim team. Ashley is currently a senior, studying early childhood education at the University of Cincinnati and student teaching at Fairfield. Ashley’s goal is to help build confidence in the swimmers and help them just enjoy swimming overall!

Coach AJ is in his first year with the Lakota YMCA Stingrays coaching the Bronze Group. AJ has swam competitively throughout his entire life most recently with the Woodbine Gators in Pennsauken, NJ. AJ has previously served as an assistant coach at Cherry Hill Aquatics and Charleston Swim Club in Cherry Hill, NJ and was Charleston Swim Club’s head coach during the summer where he lead the team to their highest championship finish since 2016 in his first year as head coach. AJ is currently a student at the University of Cincinnati majoring in Sports Administration. AJ’s goal is to make sure all swimmers have fun and drop time.

Coach Korey is in his first year as a Volunteer swim coach. Korey has been around the sport of swimming for the past 5 seasons as a parent of two current stingray swimmers (Ella and Ava Ackerman). This past summer Korey became a swim Official through the YMCA and will continue to represent Lakota YMCA as an Official on an as needed basis. Korey has also coached several other sports including baseball, basketball and softball.  Korey is very passionate about sports and working with kids too. Korey graduated from Concordia University of Nebraska with a degree in Sports Management and an endorsement in coaching sports. Coach Korey brings a lot of energy and excitement to the program and will be leading the Stingray 4 group!