Coaches and Directors
John Burke joined the Pearland Aquatics staff in March of 2008. An ASCA level 4 USA Swimming and Age Group coach, John is the primary coach of the Gold group, but helps with most aspects of the program. Previously, John was an age group coach in Maryland with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club and age group coach and founder of the Annapolis Swim Club. In Maryland, he coached swimmers who placed in the top eight and won events at the Maryland All Star and the Eastern Zone meets. His swimmers have also been ranked in the USA Swimming top 16, and top 10 lists. He also served on the Maryland Swimming Board of Directors as the Age Group Chair.
John moved to Texas in August 2006 to be the Head Assistant Coach with Aquastar where he also helped in most aspects of the club. Since being in Texas, John has coached swimmers who have qualified for Sectionals, NCSA Junior Nationals, Winter Juniors, Long Course Juniors, Olympic Trials, won TAGS, have been finalists at the Southern Zone Age Group and Senior meets, and have been ranked in the USA Swimming top 16, and top 10 lists.
John coached Adriel Sanes who represented the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, and the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungry. Former PEAK swimmer Madyson Morse, Illinois State University, represented Team USA at the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China. Madyson was the 2021-2022 Horizon League conference Scholar Athlete of the year for swimming, and 2022-2023 Swimmer of the Year.
Several of his swimmers have gone on to swim in college where they have been conference finalists and champions, and NCAA qualifiers.
John is the Coaches Rep on the Gulf Swimming board of directors.
John met his wife Ann while they were coaching at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. The Burkes resides in Pearland with their children Klara, Anna and Jack. John and Ann's oldest daughter, Emma, lives in Fairfax, VA and is a student/athlete at George Mason University where she is a member of the swim team.
Coach Natalie began her swimming journey with Alvin Aquatic Club at the age of seven. She later joined Angleton Aquatic Club's USA Swimming year round program and swam for honors such as Sectionals finalist, Junior Nationals qualifier and Texas Age Group (TAGS) Champion. She swam for Alvin High School for four years and continued her swimming career at Texas Christian University where she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology and a minor in Communications. She worked for Pearland Swim Academy while in college and was the head coach of Alvin Aquatic Club for three summers prior to joining PEAK. Now in her 12th year at PEAK, Coach Natalie continues to enjoy working with athletes to reach their potential and learn valuable life lessons through the sport of swimming. She is currently the Lead Site Coach at the Pearland Natatorium, and works with the NAT 4-5x/wk HS athletes as well as age group athletes in the 3-5x/wk groups at the Pearland NAT.
Coach Jeannine started her swimming career at the age of 7 swimming for the Michiana Marlins in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana. She was a state runner-up in the 200 and 500 Freestyles while swimming for Penn High School. She then traveled to West Virginia to swim at West Virginia University where she held the school record for the 500 Free for a couple of years. While at West Virginia University she earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry. She worked with Dow chemical for 15 years in both Midland, Michigan and Freeport, Texas. She started coaching theAngleton Aquatic Club that was associated with TAAF in 2007. In 2015 the Angleton Aquatic Club was turned into the USA swim team, Angleton Pacesetters. Since 2007, Coach Jeannine has coached swimmers from ages 5 to 18. Coach Jeannine enjoys working with swimmers and helping them to reach their goals in both swimming and life skills.
Coach Thuc started swimming at the age of 4 when he lived in Vietnam. He swam through high school at high levels of competition (somewhat equal to state level here). At the age of 20 he moved to the United States with his family. Prior to coaching with PEAK, he was employed as a head lifeguard at Pearland Natatorium. While working as a lifeguard during PEAK practices, Thuc realized he wanted to share his passion for swimming with PEAK swimmers.
Coach Thuc joined PEAK in summer 2016 and works with year-round team, clinics and summer team programs. Coach Thuc also certified as Lifeguard Instructor Trainer and helped keep PEAK coaches up to date with their safety certifications.
Coach Esther has been in the world of competitive swimming since age 11. She swam for PEAK for 5 years before stepping up to coach throughout high school and her undergraduate years in college. This will be her 5th year coaching. In the previous years, Coach Esther has been able to learn more about helping competitive swimmers through different venues. She was chosen to attend the American Swim Coaches Association World Clinic in 2022 from a National standpoint. She has also coached a clinic group internationally in her family’s country, Uganda. Coach Esther brings a sense of inclusiveness on deck and constantly makes it a goal to instill confidence in swimmers.
In May of 2023, Coach Esther graduated with a Bachelor’s of Psychology and Biblical studies from Houston Christian University. She is now working in the mental health field as a full-time Case Manager with the Sanctuary Foster Care Services and is continuing to coach with PEAK part-time. Coach Esther is excited to continue helping swimmers to tap into their fullest potential. Ultimately, she hopes to help athletes grow in every way and establish good character along the way.
Coach Charyl joined PEAK in 2012 as a 12 and under development coach. From nervous and crying 6-year-olds to TAGS finalist 10-year-olds, coach Charyl puts the FUN in fundamentals while she prepares development swimmers for competitive swimming.
Coach Charyl has been swimming since the age of 3, and along with 4 siblings, swam competitively. At 16, Charyl started her professional career in aquatics as a lifeguard, summer league swim coach, and Water Safety Instructor. Founder and owner of The Aquatic Academy, LLC Coach Charyl teaches Pearland how to swim. Coach Charyl has worked for the City of Columbus, Easter Seals of Ohio, The Ohio State University, Heritage Park Wahoos, and the YWCA of Columbus. She coached several Swimming and Diving teams, certified numerous lifeguards, and has taught well over 1000 people how to swim.
In addition to swimming, Coach Charyl is an avid Star Wars enthusiast and enjoys the role of "cool" mom to her teenage kids. Her son Alex also teaches lessons at The Aquatic Academy, LLC, and her daughter Leia swims and Jr. Coaches with PEAK.
Coach Kim began her swimming career at the age of 12 swimming for the Deer Park Seals. She began her coaching career in 2002 with the CCSL summer team the El Lago Dorados. After graduating in 2006 from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics she began work as a teacher and high school coach at Deer Park H.S. After earning her M.S. in Applied Mathematics, she took a break from high school coaching to teach at night as an adjunct professor at San Jacinto Community College and Alvin Community College. Coach Kim maintained her swim coaching presence through coaching her summer team. In 2018, Coach Kim moved from coaching the Dorados (after 16 years) and began to coach the Shadow Creek Tsunamis. She has also moved from Deer Park ISD into Alvin ISD to teach and served as a high school coach at Shadow Creek H.S.
Coach Kim is passionate about instilling a love for swimming and developing life-long skills of dedication, teamwork and perseverance.
Kristine Hu is excited to return to swimming as an Assistant Coach with PEAK. She began swimming with Clear Lake City Stars, and continued with Space City Aquatics (SCAT) where she qualified for TAGS in 100 breaststroke. At Clear Lake High School she was varsity swimming and water polo where she respectively competed at the Region and State levels. During the college summers, she was head coach for the Clear Lake City Stars and loved the sense of community with swimmers & parents. Coach Kristine now has children swimming with PEAK and is enjoying the full circle moment. When she’s not coaching, she’s working her corporate job where she’s the queen or PowerPoint, cooking & eating good food, or spending time with her family.
Coach Ann brings a lifetime of experience and education to the pool deck. She has been passionate about the sport since she was a young girl and has experienced it as an athlete, coach, and parent. She originally started coaching with a summer league team during her college swimming days and has worked with swimmers at all levels for over 30 years. In addition to her time with competitive swimming, Coach Ann also spent 17 years in the classroom teaching English at the junior high level. She is a certified personal trainter and Surge Strength Certified dryland coach who works with athletes and teams across the country.
Coach Ann is passionate about empowering athletes to find joy in the challenge of pushing their personal limits and believes in leading by example through her own athletic endeavors.
