OUR COACHES
GEORGE SOUTTER
Head Coach/Board President
Coach George began his swimming career swimming for the Leonia Swim Team in the North Jersey Pool Managers Association conference from 1973-1981. From 1984-1996 he was a swimming instructor, and eventually the Assistant Aquatic Director for the YWCA of Bergen County in Ridgewood, NJ. He became the Girls Varsity Swimming Coach at Paramus Catholic High School in 1994 and the following year started a boys’ team. In 1996 he began coaching at Kittatinny Regional High School in Hampton, NJ as an assistant swimming coach, becoming Head Coach in 1999 where he continues today. In 2004 Coach Soutter founded and coached the Kittatinny Barracudas Swim Team. He began coaching for the Sussex County YMCA Swordfish in 2006 as an age-group coach, and was Head Coach from 2011-2016. In 2016 he founded the North Jersey Barracudas; which has become the premier USA Swimming club in the area. He is a certified USA Swimming and ASCA Level 2 coach. Coach Soutter has served the Wallkill Valley Swim Conference as President since 2009. He is married to Debra, and has three children Evan, Christopher, and Hannah
MIchele Kaminskyj
Coach
Coach Michele Kaminskyj has been involved with Kittatinny swimming for a very long time in a variety of ways. It began when she joined the junior high swim team back in 1984 and continued swimming for the high school swim team until she graduated in 1990. In 1999, she began coaching at Kittatinny Regional High School in Hampton, NJ as an assistant swimming coach until 2008, when she stopped to have her two daughters, Kayleigh & Kelsey. From 2006 – 2008, she was the head coach of the Junior High Swim team and took back over the position in 2012, where she continues to coach presently . In 2004 Coach Kaminskyj co-founded and coached the Kittatinny Barracudas Swim Team until 2007 and has rejoined the Barracudas as a coach with her daughters now on the team
kayleigh leppert
Coach
Coach Kayleigh Russell began swimming with the Kittatinny Barracudas in 2004 and finished in 2013. She also swam for the Sussex County YMCA Swordfish winter team from 2011-2013 in both the North Jersey YMCA and NJ/USA Swimming leagues, and was an active member athlete of USA Swimming. Kayleigh was also an important member of the Kittatinny Regional High School Cougars from 2009-2013, where she served as Captain her senior year. She swam for the College of New Jersey Club Team in Trenton, NJ. She began coaching for the Kittatinny Barracudas in 2015, and is an elementary school teacher in Randolph.
jaclyn BAMBARA
Coach
Coach Jaclyn Bambara has been the Assistant Swim Coach of the High Point Regional High School Swim Team since 2014. In 2016, High Point joined forces with Wallkill Valley, as a co-op team, and Jaclyn continued her position as the assistant coach. During the 2017-2018 season, the HPWV Girls Team was honored as the first place team at the Sussex County Swimming Championships and went to the State Sectional Finals. During the 2019-2020 season, Jaclyn will take over the position of Head Coach for the High Point/Wallkill Valley Swim Team. She is a full-time Speech-Language Pathologist at High Point Regional High School and the mother of two Kittatinny Barracudas swimmers. As a parent, she has been involved with the Kittatinny Barracudas since 2016. She is excited to be joining the Kittatinny Baracudas coaching staff.