Hi! I am Kailyn James, and I am very excited to be the new head coach of Berkeley Hills Barracudas! As a young swimmer, I was a member of Berkeley Hills for two years, before going to Spalding Corners where I swam and coached for 15 years. As a summer league, Duluth Middle, and Duluth High School swimmer, I was primarily a backstroker, but I did a little bit of everything and have a love for all strokes! Since 2009, I have been a coach for Wildcat Swim Club which is a middle school club team for Duluth feeder schools. I graduated from Duluth High School in 2013 and attended Georgia State University, so I could earn my bachelor’s degree in Middle Level Education while continuing to coach. My junior and senior years of college, I began community coaching for Duluth High School, until I graduated in 2016 and became an assistant coach while beginning my teaching career at Duluth Middle School as a sixth grade social studies teacher. In 2022, I was promoted to co-head coach of the high school team and started in 2023 as head coach. After teaching sixth grade for seven years, I am now teaching ninth grade world geography at Duluth High School. I am so excited to be back with Berkeley Hills, and I can’t wait for a great season!

Hi! I am Amanda Suarez-Portillo and I am super honored to be one of the head coaches at Berkeley Hills! This will be my second summer at BHCC and I count myself very lucky to be part of such an amazing team! I am also one of the swim and dive coaches at Duluth High School! Like Coach Kailyn, I also am a former Duluth swimmer! I was a freestyler, swimming the 50, 100, and occasionally the 200 freestyle. I graduated from Duluth in 2016 and went on to the University of North Georgia to earn my Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education. I am currently teaching World History at Duluth High School and love being a Wildcat again! 

 I am excited for another awesome season at Berkeley Hills! Go Barracudas!