Swim Team Coaches
Coach Paul Dean
Coach Paul will be returning for his fifteenth season at Thornblade. He's been involved in competitive swimming for over 50 years, which makes him old, but keeps him young!
Having coached for over thirty years, Paul has experience with swimmers at every age and level. In addition to coaching in S.A.I.L. and serving as a Head Coach for a USA Masters Team, he’s served as Head Coach for two year-round, USA Swimming teams. He currently serves as Head Coach of Greer High School, Shannon Forest High School, and Sportsclub Swim Club.
In addition to working on technique and helping the kids to be more competitive, Coach Paul, along with the rest of our staff, loves to make swimming fun! His goal this summer is for The Blades to continue their multi-year streak of taking home the Founders Cup quality award.
Coach Kylie Larkin
Kylie swam for the Blades for 10 years. She also swam for Team Greenville and her high school team, Christ Church Espiscopal School. Most recently, Kylie swam for the University of South Carolina Swim Team until she had to retire for a shoulder injury. Her favorite strokes are freestyle and backstroke, but she used to love butterfly, too (you can even find her name on the TB record boards). Kylie now enjoys swimming for fun. She loves to share her love of swimming through teaching swim lessons and now coaching for the Blades. She is excited to come back and coach for her third summer and hopes to help them bring home another trophy.
Coach Will Bridges
Will is a rising Junior at Eastside High School, has been swimming SAIL since he was 5 years old and been a Blade since 2019. He is a year-round national swimmer at Team Greenville and current state record holder in 200y backstroke. He enjoys freestyle and backstroke and loves encouraging the team. You'll see his name on the Thornblade record board, as well... he'll be hoping to add his name to a few more spots as he competes alongside the team this year.
Guppy Coaches
Grace Hunt
Grace has swam for the Blades for many years and has several TB
records. She swims for YSSC's national team and has competed at the
club level for 10 years. She also swam for Southside Christian and
currently holds the high school state record in the 100 breaststroke.
Next year, Grace will swim for the University of Georgia, representing
the DAWGS and continuing her swimming career at the next level. Her
favorite stroke is breaststroke, but she also loves swimming butterfly
and IM. Grace has a passion for swimming and loves teaching swim
lessons to share this passion. She is excited to coach the guppy
program this year and cannot wait for a fun summer with the Blades!
Aven Kennemore
Mollie Mendelson