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Coach’s Corner: Verona Area Swim Team’s Emily Paradis
Courtesy: Elizabeth Purpero

Coach’s Corner: Verona Area Swim Team’s Emily Paradis

VERONA, Wis. — With new pools in the Verona community comes a brand new swim team! This is the first year for Verona Area Swim Team (VAST), and at the helm of it all is coach Emily Paradis. Verona Sports Monthly caught up with Coach Emily who filled us in on her background and details of this new venture.

Coach Emily is an expert at this sport having swum her entire life. She comes from a family of swimmers and it made sense for her to dive in feet first too. Her years in the pool paid off when it was time to go to college. Coach Emily ended up swimming for UW-Madison. As a Badger, she was an All-Big Ten Selection, NCAA All-American, Big Ten champion, school record holder, and team captain. She was also an Olympic Trials qualifier in both breaststroke and IM events in 2000 and 2004.

Because Emily loved swimming so much she got into coaching after having her first child. She started off her coaching career at DeForest Aquatic Club as an assistant coach, working with all ages from 2007-2012. After moving to New Glarus with her family Emily became Head Coach at the Green County YMCA from 2012-2020. While there Coach Emily was voted age-group coach of the year in 2015. She also developed a strong program at GCY and greatly enjoyed fostering a spirit of growth in beginning swimmers along with coaching swimmers that placed in the top ten at both USA and YMCA State meets.

In 2020 Coach Emily transitioned to VAST. She describes her time with this team by sharing, “We are a team of just under 100 swimmers with ages ranging from 6-18 years old both boys and girls. The swimmers are practicing less this year with COVID restrictions, but are still swimming 2-4 practices a week. We would normally be swimming 3-6 practices a week! Swimmers swim a large range of events from 25’s up to the mile (that is 66 lengths)!! We have beginner swimmers up to National qualifiers.”

“This is our first year as a team which obviously has had many challenges starting in 2020 but, because of the smaller team size and group sizes, I have been able to get to know each swimmer individually and I will always remember this first year for that. I am so excited for what the possibilities are in the future for this team, and growing this into something special for the Verona community.”

Out of the pool Coach Emily is a mom of 3 girls, and 1 boy, and 2 fluffy kitties. Her husband Todd is an elementary school principal and they love spending time in Door County when given a chance.

We welcome Coach Emily to Verona and are excited to hear about all the things VAST accomplishes each season!

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