Meet the Duluth Swim & Dive Coaches
I am very excited to start my coaching and teaching career at Duluth High School. I am a former Gwinnett graduate, graduating from Parkview in 2018. I recently graduated from Emory University with a bachelors in physics where I also was a goalie for the soccer team. My love for swimming started very early. I swam for 15 years growing up and have been coaching since I was 16. I spent 4 summers as the head coach of the Woods of Parkview summer league team. I also have 2 years experience coaching club for Spartan Aquatics and spent my last two years as the assistant coach at Parkview. Summer league, club and high school are different in so many ways, but all come back to the kids. I want our swimmers to have fun and enjoy their time as a high school athlete, but I also want to push them both in and out of the water to be the best swimmers and people that they can be. I am very excited for this season and go Wildcats!
My name is Erica Parker. I have been with the Wildcat Swim Club for 4 seasons. I have been coaching swimming in some capacity for 27 years. I was the head swim coach for Berkmar High School from 2012-2016 until my son, Declan was born, then I took a step back to take care of him. I am also currently an adult swim instructor at Gwinnett Swim in Buford, GA.
As a swimmer, I was primarily a butterfly/backstroker. I LOVED the IM. I am a strong believer in technique over speed. If you can do the strokes correctly, the speed will come.
I have a dual degree in Elementary and Deaf Education from Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. I have been in Gwinnett County Public Schools since 2008. I am currently a 4th grade teacher at Chattahoochee Elementary. I started teaching in 2006 at Briarlake Elementary in Dekalb County. I transferred to Norcross Elementary in 2008 and was a 4th grade teacher there until 2012 when I was asked to move to Berkmar High School to teach their Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. This was when I took over the Berkmar Swim Team until 2016. I took a year off of teaching to spend with Declan and I have been with Chattahoochee since 2017.
My goal for the Wildcat Swim Club is to teach them to be efficient in the water. Efficiency leads to skill, skill leads to speed.
This is my 2nd year at Duluth as the athletic trainer. Before Duluth, I graduated from the University of Virginia with a Masters of Science in Athletic Training in 2025. Prior to UVA, I swam at West Virginia University while getting my Bachelor's of Science in Health and Well Being. My swimming experience is extensive, having swam in college, coached at the summer league level, as well as providing swim lessons to various age groups.
Coach Sydney graduated from Parkview High in 2016 over in Lilburn, GA where she grew up. In high school, Sydney was a member of the tennis team, dive team, marching color guard, ultimate frisbee club, and swimming in the summers. She went on to earn her undergrad degree from Berry College (hook 'em vikes), majoring in Exercise Science and minoring in math. Sydney dove for Berry as well as played for their women's lacrosse team, ultimate frisbee club, and numerous intramurals teams. She has been at Norcross teaching for 3 years, currently in the Mild Intellectually Disabled setting. This is also her third year coaching for Duluth, Norcross and Meadowcreek. Sydney enjoys running and hiking and is passionate about exercise and nutrition. Coach Partlow was honored with the 2022-2023 Dive Coach of the Year.