Juan Caraveo
Head Coach
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Coach Juan has been involved with competitive swimming as both a swimmer and a coach for 30 years. He began swimming in Temple, TX for the Temple Area Swim Club (TASC.) Coach Juan began his coaching career with TASC working with the developmental group and assisting with the high school group.
Coach Juan graduated from Austin College in Sherman, TX. While at Austin College, Coach Juan also assisted Head Coach Sig Lawson with recruiting athletes, training schedules, and developing strength and conditioning programs.
Coach Juan began his high school head coaching career in 1998 at La Marque High School in La Marque, TX. Two years later he transferred to Dickinson High School. During his tenure as head coach, from 2000-2004, Coach Juan won one district title and had 20 district champions, 80 regional qualifiers, 15 regional champions, 15 state qualifiers and five state meet finalists.
In the summer of 2000 Coach Juan and Patty Sweeney shared a vision to bring competitive swimming to the city of Pearland. They began by starting the Silverlake Swim Team, currently the Pearland Pirates (PST). PST has 200 swimmers and competes in the Clear Creek Summer Swim League. In 2003 Coach Juan and Patty started Synergy Aquatics Club with 18 swimmers. Synergy Aquatics has now become Pearland Aquatics (PEAK) and has grown to more than 100 swimmers. To complete the swimming pyramid, Coach Juan opened the Pearland Swim Academy in the spring of 2007. The swim school had 600 young swimmers splash through the pool in the first summer. “My goal is to promote swimming by offering something for all ages and abilities. Swimming has been a big part of my life and has taught me that NOTHING is impossible.”
John T Burke
Assistant Coach
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John Burke joined the
Pearland Aquatics staff in March of 2008. An ASCA level 4
coach, John is the primary coach of the Gold group, but helps out
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 on the USA Swimming
top 16 list and set state records. He was on the Maryland
Swimming Board of Directors as the Age Group Chairman.
John moved to Texas in
August 2006 to be the Head Assistant Coach with Aquastar where he
also helped out in most aspects of the club. Since being in
Texas, John has coached swimmers who have qualified for Sectionals,
have won TAGS, have been finalists at the Southern Zone meet, and
have been ranked on the USA Swimming top 10
list.
John met his wife Ann while
they were coaching at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Ann is
a sixth grade English/Language Arts teacher in Fort Bend
I.S.D. The Burkes reside in Pearland with their children
Emma, Klara, Anna and Jack.
Caitlin Cunningham
Assistant Coach
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Coach Caitlin has been involved with swimming in
Brazoria County since she was nine years old. She began swimming
for the Alvin Aquatic Club summer league team and moved onto the
Angleton Aquatic Club, Coach Rick’s former club, when she was
fifteen. After four years of swimming at Alvin High school, she
continued her swimming and studies at Centenary College of
Louisiana in Shreveport. During her four years on the Centenary
Ladies’ swim team she qualified for the Summit League
All-Academic team and swam personal bests every season. On her
summer and winter breaks, she swam with PEAK and worked with Coach
Juan at the Pearland Swim Academy. Coach Caitlin graduated from
college in May 2009 with a BA in English; she hopes to become an
English teacher as well as coach swimming for many years to
come.
Rick Veal
Assistant Coach
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Rick Veal joined Pearland
Aquatics as an ASCA level 3 Coach with over seventeen years of
coaching experience. Rick currently serves as PEAK's Head Age
Group Coach as well as Manvel High School's Head Swim Coach.
Rick has had the priveledge of coaching one olympic trial
qualifier, multiple junior qualifiers and state champions.
Rick has also been the Head Swim Coach at Angleton
High School and Angleton Aquatic Club. Coach Rick feels
he can help anyone improve as a swimmer by devoting a lot of time
to each individual on a daily basis because can everyone
improve. Rick is married to Stacey Carter who holds a Masters
in Marine Resource Management from Texas A & M. Rick and
Stacey have a daughter, Abigail Elise Veal, who was born on
December 15, 2005.
Ann Burke
Assistant Coach
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Coach Ann has been involved in swimming
all her life. She swam competitively from the age of
five through her senior year at
Towson
University
. Her coaching career began in 1992 with
the summer league team at the Seaford Golf and Country Club
in
Delaware
. She worked with the North Baltimore
Aquatic Club from 1998 - 2001 where she met her husband,
John. An
ASCA
level 3 Coach, Ann has had swimmers compete
and place in the top 8 at the Maryland All Star meet as well as the
Eastern Zone short course and long course meets. She also had
a swimmer on the USA Swimming top 16 list. Ann teaches sixth
grade English in the Fort Bend ISD.
This past summer, Ann added a new title to her
swimming life – Swim Mom- when her daughter, Emma,
participated in her first summer league season. She is
excited about being back on the pool deck and working with
PEAK.
