Meet our coaches
Head Coach/President Paul Crandell (Gold group)
Paul is the founder and President of the Flyers organization. He was the head varsity coach of the Queensbury High School Girls Swim Team from 1984 to 2004. Paul also served twenty years as a State Trooper, retiring in 1998. He returned to college at SUNY Albany and earned his graduate degree and teaching certification in history. He taught part time for five years at South Glens Falls High School and is currently a teacher of Criminal Justice Studies at BOCES SAEC in Hudson Falls. Paul started his competitive swimming career at age 10 and continued to swim through college where he qualified for the NJCAA Championships in the butterfly. Intermittently, he continues to swim competitively at the masters level. Right after moving to the Glens Falls area in 1980, Paul had his first head coaching position at the Glens Falls YMCA, and also started a new team at the Glens Falls Country Club. He was the pool director at the Glens Falls Tennis & Swim Club, and a tour guide at Fort William Henry in Lake George. He and his wife Barbara have three married daughters (all swimmers!) and they've lived in Queensbury since 1981. Amanda Heller (Blue group)
Amanda grew up in Reston, Virginia where she joined a swim team at age 7. She continued to swim for her high school team and local USA swim team. Amanda was so good in the backstroke that she participated at the Junior National level and the US Open. She attended New Hampshire University where she specialized in the freestyle and backstroke events and several different relays while the team won two conference titles. Amanda and her husband Doug have two children, one being a daughter, Celia, who is a member of the Flyers. They reside in Wilton with their very large Saint Bernard, Daisey. We are very lucky to have Amanda as a coach, with such a high level of experience, and being a mom, she brings compassion for the sport as well as compassion for her young swimmers. Emily Gugliotta (Red group)
Emily grew up in the Finger Lakes area of western New York. She began to swim competitively at nine years old as a member of the Bath Eels Swim Team and the Watkins Glen Gators Swim Team. Emily was a varsity swimmer as a seventh grader for Bath-Haverling HS. During her tenure there she broke several team records including the 200-yard IM and as a member of all three relays. The school's medley relay went on to set a new Sectional record and compete in the State High School Championship. Emily attended SUNY Potsdam, receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees and she currently is a new third grade teacher at Glens Falls' Jackson Heights Elementary School. In her free time Emily still likes to swim, hike, ski and travel. We're excited that Emily has joined our staff and we know her experience and passion for teaching children will be a valuable asset to our mission of developing young athletes. Jennifer Merry-Bierman (White group)
Coach Jennifer is an alum of the Flyers Swim and past QHS swim team member. Now returning to the area recently after spending many years away after her graduation from SUNY Geneseo where she swam as a Blue Wave swim team member and a Water Polo player. Majoring in Biology and education she went on to be an assistant coach at Geneseo Central. She worked at BOCES in an Alternative Education program teaching at risk youth science and health before moving to Albany. There she taught Biology and coached the Albany HS girls swim team as well as the assistant coach for the boys HS swim team. Rose for her Masters in Special Education she worked as a swim instructor for the YMCA, returning to something she enjoyed doing when she was in high school and college. Currently she is working on homesteading with her husband, two young daughters, a dog, and several chickens. Jennifer brings experience in competitive swimming to the Flyers program and is looking forward to teaching and developing our youngest beginners.
