CCA Marlins - Our Coaches & Board

Coaching Staff

Kayla Gurney

Head Coach

Coach Kayla joined the Marlins in 2026. She was born and raised in Massachusetts. Kayla has an impressive 14-year swimming background and over 11 years of coaching experience across recreational, high school, and club programs. She holds a Master’s Degree in Strength & Conditioning, bringing both knowledge and performance expertise to the pool deck. She is ASCA Level 3 Certified.

Outside of coaching you can find Kayla staying active with running, hiking, strength training, and swimming. She also enjoys walking her dog and relaxing with a good book.

Susan Bleecker

Swim America Director/Mini Marlins/Lancerlot Coach

Susan came to the Marlins program in 2012 with over 25 years of swim instruction experience. She is the CCA Marlins Swim America program director and coaches the Mini Marlins 1 at both the CAC and Lancerlot sites. Susan adds a wealth of swimming knowledge and coaching insight to the Marlins family.

Susan grew up in the Roanoke Valley, swimming at the Elks Club summer league swim team. Her joy of swimming led her to swim coaching at various summer league programs throughout the Roanoke Valley, including the Elks Club, Countryside, and North Lakes Swim Clubs. Coach Susan swam in college while attending the University of Mary Washington, where she earned a BA degree in sociology and teaching.

In more recent years Susan has continued to offer private swim lessons and has coached for swim teams at Roanoke Catholic High School, Lord Botetourt High School, and Read Mountain Summer League Swim Team. She was named Roanoke Catholic Coach of the Year for the 2019-2020 school year. She is ASCA Level 3 certified and a certified water safety instructor, lifeguard, as well as a swim instructor at the Botetourt Athletic Club.

Susan is married to Doug and is the mother of three : Jennifer, John and Juliana. Susan believes, "Through my experiences as a swimmer, instructor, and coach, I realize the life-long benefits of swimming and appreciate every level of swimming. Learning to swim is essential and takes patience on the part of the swimmer, parent and coach. It brings me great joy to see an "emerging" swimmer of any age."

Amina Serir

Executive Director/Bronze Group Coach

Amina Serir has led the Marlins since 2017. She started as Head Coach and is currently Executive Director and Bronze Group Coach. She has coached swimmers who swam at Junior Nationals, Futures, NCSAs, and Zones. Since Coach Amina has been at the helm, the team has grown each season and expanded to a second location at the Lancerlot Sports Complex.

Amina was born and raised in Algeria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021. She started swimming at the age of 5. at age 12, she qualified for her first international meet with the Algerian National Team. For 8 years she competed with the international team and trained with the top 15 swimmers in the country. During those years she had the opportunity to train with some of the best international coaches and compete against the top swimmers in the world. She competed in the Magherban Championships, African Games, Mare Nostrum, and Arab Games, among other top international meets.

Amina began coaching swimming at the age of 17 as an assistant coach to Algeria's international team, USMA, and her age-group team, NRDI. In 2010, Amina became the general manager of one of Algeria's elite swim teams, which required her to lead the coaching staff, run practices, manage the facilities, coordinate international travel, liaison with international athletes, and manage the team's general budget. Amina moved to the United States in 2015. She was the Aquatics Director at the Kirk Family YMCA from 2016-2017. In November of 2017, thanks to the influence of coach Louis Tudor, Amina joined the CCA Marlins as Head Swim Coach. She is currently ASCA level 3 certified. Amina graduated with honors from Algeria's University of High Business Education (EHEC) in 2010 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business and Marketing. She received a second Bachelor's Degree as a General Physical Instructor with a specialty in swimming and an Elite Athlete rank. In addition, Amina was recruited by Algeria to revive the sport of synchronized swimming and graduated from an intensive training program as a synchronized swimming instructor in 2014.

Jamie Renick

Senior Development Coach

Coach Jamie joined the Marlins coaching staff in August 2019. A Roanoke Valley native, Jamie grew up swimming year-round with the Marlins and competed nationally with the team at meets including Junior Nationals and the U.S. Open.

Jamie continued her swimming career at Virginia Tech, where she double majored in Wildlife Science and Biology. She specialized in sprint freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke and was named to the Big East All-Academic Team all four years. During her collegiate career, she competed at Senior Nationals, placed fourth at the 2003 Nike Cup, and earned multiple top-ten finishes at the Big East Championships.

After completing her undergraduate degrees, Jamie earned a Master of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech. She has coached swimmers at a variety of levels, including serving as the head coach of the Lord Botetourt High School swim team, where she was a two-time Blue Ridge District Coach of the Year, and as an assistant coach at Radford University. She currently serves as the Head Coach of RVAA's Castle Rock swim team and continues to coach with the Marlins.

Jamie also has a background in science education and taught biology at Louisa Middle School in Charlottesville for four years. She currently works as the Director of Environmental Engagement for Clean Valley Council.

Jamie loves helping swimmers develop confidence, a passion for the sport, and a lifelong love for the water. Outside of swimming, she enjoys hiking, horseback riding, and spending time outdoors. One of her children currently swims for the Marlins.

Kevin Gorby

Lancerlot Red/Black Development Coach

Coach Kevin joined the CCA Marlins coaching staff in 2024. He coaches the Red and Black Groups at Lancerlot.

Miranda Kirtley

Interim Head Age Group Coach/Gold and Silver Group Coach

Coach Miranda joined the Marlins coaching staff in 2025. She oversees all Marlin age group swimmers and coaches the Silver and Gold groups. She is ASCA Level 3 Certified.

As a Roanoke Native, she swam competitively from age 4, swimming for the Roanoke YMCA, Virginia Gators, and CCA Marlins. She holds multiple Virginia State Records in the long distance freestyles.

She went on to swim in college at West Virginia University, where she earned her degree in Computer Science. She was a Scholar All-American at West Virginia, finishing top 6 at Big 12 conference championships in the 1650 freestyle all 4 years.

She believes that 'For the Love of Swimming' is a crucial core value for this sport, and reinforces a positive, fun environment on the pool deck.

Pat Bateman

Silver Group Coach

Louis Tudor

Head Masters Coach/Assistant Coach in Memoriam

Coach Louis Tudor was the former Marlin’s Head Master’s Coach and also assisted with the multiple swim groups in the Marlins program. He will always be a part of the CCA Marlins family.

Louis grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina but was a long term resident of the Roanoke Valley where he was influential in the development of an unmeasurable number of swimmers of all ages and levels. Tudor was an ASCA Level II certified coach, Head Coach of the Roanoke Valley’s “City Swim” program, the Adult Swim Coordinator at the Kirk Family YMCA, the Adult Swim Coach at Hunting Hills Country Club, and the former Head Coach of Roanoke Catholic School where he garnered four Coach of the Year Awards over an eleven year tenure.

Louis also had an impressive swimming career. His notable age group career led to him earning a scholarship to swim for the University of North Carolina where he qualified for the NCAA’s and was a four year letterman. Coach Tudor earned multiple USMS Top Ten National finishes as well as USMS World rankings (4th in 50 free and a member of three 1st place ranking relays in 2000) and was an active participant and record holder in RVAA since 1985.

Tudor both loved an audience with and embraced the challenge of getting anyone faster no matter the age or talent level. As Tudor put it, "It's the reason I coach - the two way exchange of information between the coach and swimmer towards achieving a common goal that keeps me in it". Louis was married to his beautiful wife Jessica had four children: Erin, Nicholas, Shane, and Hannah (all of whom are former Marlins swimmers). He is deeply missed by the CCA Marlins organization. His dedication to the entire Roanoke swimming community has left a lasting legacy.