Ted Carson
Head Coach, CEO
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Ted grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas and
swam there from the age of ten through high school and then at
Midwestern University.
After graduating from Texas Tech
University Ted's first coaching job was in Moore, Oklahoma as the
head coach for both the high school and the club team. After five
years in Moore, he moved to Abilene, Texas where he was able to
complete his Masters degree in Management and Human Relations at
Abilene Christian University. Ted then moved to Midland and was
there for 17 years. He started as the Head Age group coach and
later became the high school coach for MISD. In 1997, he was named
Head Coach for the COM swim team.
Ted has been married to his wife Marcia
for over 30 years and they have two daughters. Both his daughters
swam in Midland and went on to swim Division I in college.
Liz Kershaw
Associate Head-Coach
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Liz Kershaw began her swimming career at age six in Attleboro,
Massachusetts, and has been involved in the sport ever since. She
attended Ohio University where she completedher swimming career
with four varsity letters and three Mid-American Conference
Championships. She has two masters degrees, one in athletic
administration and the other in adult fitness and sports
physiology.
As a coach she has 15 years of coaching experience, which includes
4 years of Division I College Coaching and 11 years at the club
level. She has developed 8 and unders, TAGS Champions,
national and junior national qualifiers, NCAA qualifiers and
Olympic Trial Qualifiers. Liz has coached in Texas, Ohio and
Virginia.
In 2007 she was asked to create a marketing program for COPS that
has become a model for many other swim clubs around the country.
Liz was one of the first coaches in USA Swimming to take an
active role in securing corporate sponsorship for swim teams.
Because of this cutting edge development in how club teams
operated, Liz was asked to be a presenter at USA Swimming's
Marketing Symposium in 2008. This past year she was the
Assistant Manager for the US Team at the 2010 Short Course World
Championships in Dubai, UAE and was also an Assistant Manager for
the 2011 Youth World Championships in Lima, Peru. Liz is currently
the Administrative Vice Chairman to North Texas Swimming.
Liz has lives in Dallas with her husband and daughter. She
is married to Andy Kershaw, the Associate Head Coach for SMU
Men’s Swimming and Diving.
Martin Slattery
Director of Development and Marketing
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Martin began swimming
at the age of 5 and has never left the sport. Having lived in
Plano in the 90’s he swam at Plano East and at Los Rios
Country Club. He has managed and coached swimming for
over 20 years, from USA Swimming, YMCA and swim schools. He lists
coaching CT 8/Under State Champions and receiving a We Belong award
for inclusion of children of special needs as some of his
cherished memories.
Martin lives in McKinney with his wife Debbie and his two sons
Cadyn and Meryk.
Rodrigo Pereira
Director of Communication & Social Media
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Rodrigo joined the COPS staff in 2009. He began his swimming career
in Brazil at age 5. After moving to the U.S at age 10, Rodrigo
took a few years off from swimming, returning to the sport when he started high
school. His swimming career ended on a high note, receiving
All-America honors his senior year in high school.
Rodrigo spent 6 years at the University of Texas, earning a
BA in History and an M.Ed in Sports Management. Rodrigo began his
coaching career right after high school, coaching summer league in
Houston. He was introduced to coaching USA swimming during his
sophomore year in college, when he worked with age group
swimmers at Longhorn Aquatics. Rodrigo officially became a member
of USA swimming in 2007 when he joined the staff at Texas
Gold Georgetown.
Rodrigo has been married to his wife Kristen for 2 years and they
have a great dog named Colby.
Mary Sasala
Assistant Coach
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Mary began her swimming
career in Layton, Utah at the Layton Surfers where she still holds
the 10 and under 500 freestyle record. Her family moved to Memphis,
Tennessee
where she continued swimming at Memphis Tigers. She qualified for
Junior Nationals and earned All-State in high school and was a
school record holder.
Mary earned a scholarship to swim for the University of Idaho
Vandals where she swam distance freestyle and backstroke. She
earned WAC-All Academic awards and Vandal
Scholar Athlete Award. After retiring as a swimmer, Mary
began coaching for the University of Idaho team as well as the
local club program Gold Medal Swim Club.
Karen Sakalys
Assistant Coach
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Joined the Cops staff in September 2012. She began swimming at
age 3 and has never stopped. At the age of 11 she received her
Junior Life Saving and she swam on her high school team in her
home town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Karen received her BS in Chemistry Business from the
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She received her MBA from the
Lake Forrest Graduate School of Business in Lake Forrest
Illinois. In 2010 Karen left the corporate world and joined
Lifetime Fitness where she was the Assistant Coach for the Lifetime
Swim Team and she taught both group and private swim
lessons.
Karen lives in Wylie, TX with her husband John and their
2 children, Paul and Audrey, who both swim for COPS.
