Coaches/Instructors

Will Gallagher
Director of FCA
 

Will came to FCA in August of 2019 as the Assistant Head Coach. Will is Currently the Director of FCA. During his tenure at FCA, he has become their Meet Director and Operational Risk Director while also being a coach. He is active in the Middle Atlantic (MA) LSC. He is on the Board of Directors of Middle Atlantic as the Safe Sport Chair, and recently was part of the Middle Atlantic Summer All-Star Zone Coaching Staff in 2021 & 2022. Additionally, he has been appointed to the USA Swimming National Committee of Safe Sport. Prior to joining FCA, Will was the Assistant coach at Lower Moreland and was also their Strength and Conditioning Coach. 

Will is from the Philadelphia area, and grew up in Upper Dublin Township. While attending Upper Dublin High School, he swam for the high school team all four years and was captain his senior year. Since then, he has always loved the sport! Will graduated from Slippery Rock University with a BS in Exercise Science and has his Masters in Sports Management from the University of Texas-Austin.

Will’s love for Philadelphia Sports teams spreads to all four major teams! His favorite team is the Philadelphia Eagles and his favorite memory is attending the 2017 NFC Championship game. He also enjoys running and has completed numerous marathons!

Jack Eichenlaub

FCA Head Coach

Coach Jack was born and raised in Ambler, PA where he graduated from Upper Dublin High School in 2009. He was a late comer to the sport of swimming at the age of 13, but quickly fell in love with the sport. After high school, Jack went on to swim and attend Bloomsburg University and was voted team captain his senior year. Graduating in 2014 with a degree in Organizational Communications, he then went on to serve as Graduate Assistant Coach at Nova Southeastern University earning his masters in College Student Affairs. While at NSU, Jack helped lead the team to 2 top 5 team finishes, 9 individual national champions, and several All-American honors at Division II NCAAs. Following his success at NSU, Jack also coached at Division I Miami University in Ohio as the distance coach, and then went onto Florida Gulf Coast University as the sprint coach. 

After 5 years of coaching at the collegiate level, he wanted to dive back into where it all began with club level coaching. Where as he says, “I wanted to go back to where it’s fun!”. From 2018 to 2020, he was the lead coach of the Aquatic Team of Mecklenburg, ATOM. At his time there, he was instrumental in the stroke and skill development throughout the age group program. He was also effective in communicating and implementing the most up to date techniques and strategies with staff. Then from 2020-2023, he was the Head Age Group Coach of Waves of Wilmington (WOW). During his tenure with WOW, successfully coached athletes to Futures, Sectional, and State cut times each year under his tenure. 

Jack plans to bring his coaching philosophy of having fun and creating passion for the sport of swimming to Friends’ Central. He is excited to return back to the Philly area! While not avidly coaching on deck, he is a dog dad to his loving companion, Zannah! And he is also an avid Philly sports fan who loves going to Eagles and Phillies games!

Bridget Brown
Head of Swim School & Assistant Head Coach

Bridget is the Head of FCA's Swim School and Assistant Swim Team Coach.  She is a Philadelphia native and a mother of two. During high school, she swam for world-renowned and recently inducted Swim Hall of Fame legend, Jim Ellis—check out the biopic film about him: Pride!

Bridget is a University of Pittsburgh graduate, where she participated in Varsity Swimming and Track. Her BS is in Health and Physical Activity, and her Masters is in Sport Management. Bridget has also been the Aquatics Manager at the KROC Center and the Coordinator of Aquatics Safety at Drexel University. Bridget is a Level II Member of American Swim Coaches Association.

Victoria Gillison
Team Phoenix Head Coach
 

Victoria is the Head Coach of the Team Phoenix program and assists with multiple groups for FCA and Swim School when needed.  Victoria is a Friends' Central School and FCA alumnae and went on to receive both her Bachelor's and Master's from the University of Pennsylvania.

While she was a student at FCS, Victoria was a four year varsity high school swimmer during which she set multiple records and was on the FSL Championship for four consecutive years.  She was a member of FCA from the age of nine until she left for UPenn.  

Victoria is excited to broaden her horizons with coaching at FCA and looks forward to helping her swimmers enjoy the sport of competitive swimming while continue to evolve as people, much like her coaches did for her.

Kerry Sherin-Porter
Assistant Coach

Kerry has been teaching and coaching in the area for over 25 years and has been with FCA since the summer of 2003.  Kerry is our swiss army knife of coaches as she works with all possible levels from masters swimmers to level I swim school participants.  She is the lead coach for Masters, Mini's and Level I swim school.  Kerry was also a FCA swim parent as one of her sons swam for FCA who still holds the 15-18 50 free team record and later went on to swim at West Chester University.

Kerry has a BS in Music Education from West Chester University and plays professionally with a string quartet and Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra.

Olivia Gillison
Assistant Coach

Olivia is an Assistant Swim Coach at Friends’ Central Aquatics. Olivia has worked with young swimmers for more than 15 years including FCA Swim School, FCS Summer Camp and OWU’s Bishop Bubbles program. She began her swimming career with FCA at the age of eight (8) in the Novice Group and swam all the way through high school, at Friends’ Central, and collegiately, at Ohio Wesleyan University. Olivia graduated from OWU Cum Laude with a BA in Geography, Environmental Studies and Urban Studies. She has had many successes in being a part of record breaking relay’s through high school and college, as well as holding individual records. She continues her love for the sport of swimming through coaching the next generation at FCA and by advocating for equitable access to swimming for BIPOC communities. 

Ace Macdonald
Assistant Coach
 

Ace is joining FCA for his first season as an Assistant Coach. He is a Philadelphia native and Quaker, having attended a Friends’ school for much of his youth. During childhood, Ace spent much of his time in the pool, swimming for various local club teams.

As a four-year varsity swimmer and Captain of the Water Polo team at Germantown Academy, Ace went on to continue his athletic endeavors both in the pool, with Wagner College Water Polo, and in work, fighting wildfires across the western United States. Since returning from the west, he had taken up directorship over the Souderton Pool, focusing their swim program on beginner and intermediate instruction.

Ace is excited to bring his extensive swimming knowledge and many work experiences to FCA and its surrounding community.

Felicity Tso
Assistant Coach
 

Felicity is an Assistant Swim Coach at Friends’ Central Aquatics. Growing up, she loved to be in the water and has competitively swam and played water polo for over ten years. In her time as a swimmer, Felicity was captain of her club and high school swim and water polo team for two years. She has over seven years of experience teaching and coaching at the Bridgeton Swim Club, Flyers Aquatics Swim Team, and the Jewish Community Center in her hometown, St. Louis.

Felicity has a BS in Microbiology from the University of Kansas and recently moved to Philadelphia to attend Drexel University as a Microbiology and Immunology graduate student.

She is excited to be a part of the FCA community and explore Philly. Felicity likes to spend time with her cat, Toast, and try new food in her free time.

Sam Sjosten
Assistant Coach
 

Sam is very excited to be joining FCA as an Assistant Swim Coach. A 2020 Ursinus College graduate, Sam competed on the Men’s Swim Team, and has since gone on to graduate from law school. Before that, he was a Co-Captain of the Daniel Boone Area High School Swim Team.  Sam has coached many different levels of swimming and is excited to be returning to coaching.

Sam is a Berks County Native and has been swimming since he was 10 years old. He grew up swimming for the Boyertown YMCA Navy Seals, the Amity AC Marlins, and the Maple Springs Sea Dogs, which is also where he began his coaching career. In his spare time, Sam enjoys training for triathlons and being a new addition to the FCA Masters team.

Currently, Sam lives and works full-time in Philadelphia, where he can either be found in one of the many Wawa’s in the area getting another coffee, or on the Schuylkill River trail.

Clara Behling,
Assistant Coach
 

Clara is a new assistant coach this season.  She has been on FCA for 8 years and has been swimming since she was 6.  Clara is an instructor with FCA's Swim School and has taught lessons/lifeguarded at the FCS Tenderfoot Camp for the last two summers.

Clara is a junior at Friends' Central Upper School.  She has attended and finaled at the USA Futures Championship meet the last two summers, competing in the 100/200 Breaststroke and the 200/400 IM.  Clara plans to swim D3 or D1 in college and pursue her interest in veterinary medicine.

When Clara is not swimming, teaching lessons, or coaching, she is hanging out with her brother, cuddling with her cats, or playing the viola (which she has been playing fir 6 years).