Head Coach

Lead National Group Coach

 

Now in his 5th year at Bolles, Coach Peter Verhoef served as the head coach of the 2022 Women’s Select Camp in Colorado Springs, falling on the heels of a successful venture with 6 Bolles athletes at the 2022 International Team Trials. His leadership has brought the school program on the men’s side to a 2021 National High School Championship and continuing the defense of the FHSSA titles on both the men’s & women’s program. Bolles School Sharks Club program also earned the two-time defending men’s team champion for Junior Nationals-East in 2021 & 2022. His coaching philosophy includes working with student-athletes to nurture the entire person to tap into their maximum potential, in and out of the pool. 

Prior to Bolles, Coach Peter spent time at SwimMac after working with David Marsh at TeamElite, where their athletes won 8 medals at the 2016 Olympics. He concurrently served as an assistant coach at Division II Queens University, including during their 2015 NCAA Championship season.

Coach Peter’s personal competitive background helps him guide athletes to unlock their potential. He had a stellar college career at the  University of Georgia, where he earned a double degree in Management and MIS in 2007. He was a finalist at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Trials and swam as a team captain at the 2007 World Championships. His biggest international success was a silver at the 2005 World University Games.

He lives in Jacksonville with his wife Kristin & his two sons and enjoys the active lifestyle that only Florida can provide!

Associate Head Coach

Coach Dale is a familiar face in competitive swimming on the Florida coast.  He came across the river to the Bolles Sharks in 2010 from the Spartan Aquatic Club (SPAC) in Orange Park, where he served as the program’s Head Coach from 2004-10.  During his tenure with SPAC Porter has coached swimmers to number one rankings at the local, state, and national level.  Porter also served as the Head Coach for St. Johns Country Day School since August of 2004, where he taught physical education.

Porter enters his 36th year of competitive coaching.  Thirteen of those years were spent as an assistant coach at the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins in Ohio, then one of USA Swimming’s Gold Medal Clubs.  Porter also served those 13 years as a teacher/coach at the Hawken School in Chesterland, Ohio. 

Awarded the 2011, 2022 & 2023 Florida Swimming's Age Group Coach of The Year, Dale Porter’s experience is only equaled by his enthusiasm for teaching and coaching.  Most recently, he was named to the ASCA top 50 Age Group Coaches list for 2024. An established and highly respected coach in Florida Swimming, Porter brings a wealth of experience and a great store of excitement to the Bolles Sharks Age Group program.  He has presented talks at the 2012 and 2014 ASCA World Clinics, 2015 San Diego Age Group Coach's Clinic, 2013 Legends of Texas Coach's Clinic, and for USA Swimming's online clinics.  He has served USA Swimming as a manager for the 2021 Boys National Select Camp, 2018 Jr. Pan Pacs, 2017 Jr. World Championships, 2017 Western Zone Select Camp, 2015 & 2016 Open Water Select Camps, the 2016 National Junior Team Camp., and as an assistant coach for the 2014 National Select Camp.  

Highly regarded for his outstanding coaching, depth of knowledge, leadership, enthusiasm, and humility, Porter creates an exciting dynamic on the Bolles Sharks coaching staff and within the team itself. Dale has been married to Catherine for 29 years.  They have two adult children, Maggie and Jacob.

Associate Head Coach

Coach Alexis comes to Bolles most recently from New Trier Aquatics, a storied high school and club program in the Chicago area.  Her 25+ years of coaching experience includes Northwestern University, North Carolina State University, New Trier Aquatics, and Colorado Athletic Club.  She has also held multiple roles within the USA Swimming organization and local LSCs and is currently the COO for Streamline Teams – and web-based networking and education platform for swim coaches. Coach Alexis has had athletes compete at all levels of the sport by focusing on an athlete-first philosophy, finding technique and training methods that suit each athlete, but are carefully integrated into the full team dynamic.

Coach Alexis has a passion for giving back to the sport and has working numerous LSC & National camps and clinics. As an athlete, Alexis competed as a swimmer at the National level while growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and continued her career as a scholarship student-athlete at Northwestern University, and then completed her graduate degree at N.C.State while coaching there. She works to produce camps, clinics and products to help athletes and coaches foster a healthy relationship with swimming. Find her Swim Journal for athletes on Amazon - CLICK HERE.

Currently, Alexis lives in Jacksonville with her large cat Seamus and collection of vinyl & books

Assistant National Group Coach
Varsity High School Head Coach
Summer Camp Director

Coach Jake was named National Group Assistant in October of 2022. He joins the full-time staff after a year as part-time assistant with both the Late Night and School groups. Prior to joining the full-time staff, Gibbons spent two years as Vice President of Podium X, a student-athlete development firm that partners with college athletic departments to help student-athletes prepare for and launch meaningful careers.

In 2020-21, Jake served as Volunteer Assistant Coach for the men’s swimming team at his alma mater, Texas A&M University. That year, he helped the team achieve its highest finish at NCAAs in the program’s history (10^th ). He was part of the coaching staff that produced NCAA Swimmers of the year, Olympic team members and high performing athletes of both genders.

A Texas A&M grad, Gibbons earned his bachelor’s in political science and master’s in public administration. As a student-athlete, he competed in the distance freestyle and backstroke events and served as team captain his senior year. Gibbons was a two-time CSCAA Scholar All-American, four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient, and Texas A&M school record in the 1000-yd freestyle (9:05.38). In 2020, Gibbons was awarded the Texas A&M Distinguished Letterman Award, the highest honor bestowed upon an Aggie student-athlete who demonstrates extraordinary talents in the areas of athletics, scholarships, leadership and service.

In addition to his accomplishments in the pool, Jake was elected Chair of the Southeastern Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In this role, he represented the interests of all SEC student-athletes in conference and NCAA policy formation.

Coach Jake is a Bolles alumni (Class of 2015) and was a member of the 2014 Boys’ National Championship squad.

Coach Jake currently lives in Bolles Hall as a Dorm Parent with his wife, Nicole and their pug, Flipper. He enjoys a good game of pickleball when he’s not watching college football or basketball and you can follow him on instagram @coach_jake_swim

Lead National Prep Coach
Strength & Conditioning Coach - Senior Programs

Coach Claire grew up in and around the Denver, Colorado area. This is her second year leading the National Prep group, and she has coached for the Sharks since 2017. Her experience working with some of the top swimmers in the country, both at Bolles and through numerous USA Swimming camps helps to provide significant foundations for the athletes in the prep group.

Claire is in her sixth year with the Bolles School Sharks and has been coaching since 2012. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Sport and Exercise Science with minors in Coaching and Psychology, and her Master's degree in Kinesiological Sciences from Jacksonville University.

Prior to her arrival in Jacksonville, Coach Claire was an Associate Head Coach and Assistant Aquatics Director for the Colorado Athletic Club Stingrays in Englewood, CO. While she worked with all ages with the Stingrays, her primary focus was their Senior team. During her time with the Stingrays, she coached athletes to win CHSAA State titles, Sectional and Zone titles, and helped athletes achieve Junior National qualifying times. Several of her athletes have gone on to DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA collegiate programs. 

Coach Claire was a distance swimmer throughout her time at the University of Northern Colorado and was a member of their Conference team for all three years that she attended. She has wanted to be a professional coach since she was 15 years old and she is excited to be able to continue her coaching journey with the Bolles School Sharks!

Outside of the pool, Coach Claire likes to spend time at the beach, go for an occasional surf, and foster dogs and cats for a local animal rescue. 

Lead Mako Coach

Age Group Curriculum Coordinator

Coach Julia is in her third year of her second stint at Bolles School Sharks after her career took her through multiple lead positions and working with some of the top coaches in the country at elite programs like Bolles SwimMAC Carolina and Queens University of Charlotte.  

At SwimMAC, Coach Julia worked as a division lead swim coach (overseeing an age group of 100+ swimmers), assistant swim school director (teaching and creating curriculum), and as a registration/placement/outreach coordinator where she ran clinics and built relationships to build the program. Coach Julia was also instrumental in growing the program to its largest at the North site in the past three years as they increased membership to four hundred swimmers from the low 300s in previous years.

In 2017 she took the assistant coaching position at Queens University of Charlotte where she oversaw the distance group accompanied by Northwestern’s Hall of Famer Bob Groseth. During her time at Queens (2017-2019) both men’s and women’s teams won consecutive DII National Championship titles.

As a scholarship student-athlete at West Virginia University, Czentye competed on the swimming and diving team under Olympic Coach Sergio Lopez (and spent her time coaching for him at Bolles 2007-2012). During her time there she served as team captain her junior and senior years. She also represented the team in the university’s SAAC program as a representative for three seasons, and 4x Big East Qualifier and finalist her senior year in the 400 IM.

Julia and her husband Alexander along with their four children (Joanna, Jillian, Xander & Anderson) are so happy to be part of the Bolles Family, with Joanna & Jillian enrolled in the Lower School. “I am thankful for my family who helped me return here, especially my husband. It is a great feeling to coach with Coach Dale, as well as my other colleagues who I worked with before…thank you to Coach Peter who has given me an opportunity to be part of the team! I am excited the most on building on the rich tradition Bolles has and the continuation of development to keep it going, GO BOLLES!”

Lead Tiger Coach
Lead Masters Coach
Camp On-Site Resident Manager

Coach Sean is a Jacksonville native, having been a Bolles athlete himself! With 30+ years of coaching experience, his aim is to help each athlete find their potential and love for the sport of swimming - regardless of what age! He has a background in construction and worksite management - so it's not unusual to see him at work on a facility repair as he goes through his day. 

Both of Coach Sean's daughters currently attend Bolles and are his heroes - everything he does is to guide and support them in their journey. 

Lead School Champs Coach
Coach Melissa works with our Senior programming and returns to Bolles as an alumna coach. After her scholarship athletic experience at University of Louisville, Coach Melissa finished her bachelor’s degree at Louisville and then a second sequence of study at the University of Arkansas.

With stints at the college level at Arkansas & Florida Gulf Coast, Melissa has a wealth of knowledge in and out of the pool to assist athletes as they navigate their high school experience. Melissa also has club experience in the age group programs with the RAC Aquahwags and Swim Florida. Coach Melissa is a passionate educator and has also taught swim lessons and various group exercise course as well, but perhaps most impressive is her commitment to education as she currently works as a teacher at a nearby elementary school.

Assistant Age Group Coach

Sergey moved to Florida from Ukraine, where he was a head coach of a public swimming school. In less than five years between 2014-2019, Sergey created a swimming program and raised the level of the team to the national youth championship. His swimmers have repeatedly won National championships in 2018-2019.

Sergey has coaching history with “Ras Tanura Aramco” Saudi Arabia in 2013 and 2015. Twice in those seasons, swimmers of various age groups completed the NQT, the USA Standard to participate in the national championship and became KSA champions and medalists.

From 2000 to 2012, Fesenko was the head coach of the Ukrainian national swimming team and was responsible for the scientific and methodological support for swimmers. Comprehensive scientific training programs for the Ukrainian National Team at the Olympic Games 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 have been repeatedly recognized as one of the most meaningful and achievable.

From 1992 to 1999 Fesenko was a coach and consultant for the Ukrainian National Team Age Group division, specifically for endurance and IM swimming.

Fesenko got his first international coaching experience while working in China in Hubei province with a local swimming team in 1990-1992. Fesenko was invited to China as an exchange program between the Universities of Kiev, where Fesenko headed the Department of Swimming and the province of Hubei. While working in China, he advised the coaches of the National Swimming Team, studied local methods, and also coached the swim team. Later, with his help, Liu Li Ming won medals at the World Championship and the Olympic Games at 200m butterfly.

From 1985 to 1989, Fesenko was engaged in scientific activities, collecting materials on the decades of training methods from world-class swimmers around the world. Analytical data and research summary of more than 200 sports biographies were embodied in a doctoral dissertation, which Fesenko successfully defended.

Fesenko's sports biography is more vivid than his coaching activity - The champion and silver medalist of the Olympic Games, the repeated medalist of the World Championships 1978,1982, European Champion 1977, 1981, 1983, and the University Games - 4 gold medals 1981, 1983.

Coach Kathy has been a longtime assistant coach for Bolles for the Age Group Program. She has a passion for education and making sure each athlete matters! Currently an elementary school teacher at San Jose Catholic School where she routinely finds potential in her students, Coach Kathy even recruited her daughter to return to Bolles as a coach! 

Swim Office Admin.

Business Manager