Paige Johnstone will be there to lead the Gilmer High School swim team this upcoming season.
She will take over for Mary-Melissa May, who spent eight seasons as Gilmer High’s head coach. Johnstone, 29, is also Clear Creek’s girls head cross-country coach and an assistant girls soccer coach at GHS.
“I’m really excited for this, and it’s always something I’ve wanted to do,” Johnstone said. “I’m excited to hopefully expand the program, make it bigger and get more kids involved. I just didn’t think it would happen so quickly.
“I enjoy everything about coaching, from the adrenaline at races during meets, to seeing these kids grow and become better athletes.”
Johnstone’s husband Taylor was recently named head coach of GHS Bobcat soccer, and they have a son Ryder (8) and daughter Laken (3). She has been in education for three years and previously worked at a nonprofit with special needs adults after obtaining a master’s degree in exercise science.
Johnstone has a year of coaching experience, and she started last summer as an assistant with the Gilmer TRAC swim team.
“I’ve been swimming since I was 7 years old. I swam for the Pickens Sea Dragons’ summer swim team then swam in high school at Cherokee,” said Johnstone, who is a special education teacher at GHS.
“Each swimmer is an individual, and each kid has their own way of growing and learning, so you have to teach and coach kids individually. It’s the same with teaching. Each kid learns differently, and you have to teach them in different ways.”
Johnstone wants to see participation improve, which has been hampered by the fact that the team does not have a dedicated pool. The summer team only had eight swimmers last season, and they had to practice in Pickens County.
Gilmer High’s numbers took a dip last season as well, and the team practiced at a shared community pool inside Coosawattee River Resort.
“I want to get the word out that we do have a swim team and we want more kids involved,” Johnstone said. “Trying to get kids on the team is the biggest thing. We had some great athletes who went to state last year and won. We want to get to the point where we’re regularly getting kids to state so they can have that experience.
“Our biggest struggle is that we don’t have a pool in the county so we don’t have anywhere to go. I’m super thankful for Coosawattee and them allowing us to practice there. If we had access to our own pool, it would be amazing and things would be different.”
The Gilmer County pool construction is supposed to get underway in the coming months. Alton Guidry, who has been a mainstay at different levels of Gilmer swimming will be Johnstone’s assistant.
Former GHS coach May was also heavily involved with the youth summer swim team in addition to her GHS duties, and doesn’t intend to be a stranger to Gilmer swim.
“I plan to help out as needed but not in an official capacity,” May said. “I love swim and GHS swimmers will always be ‘my’ kids, especially the ones I have seen swim since they were 6-7 years old. My daughter is moving up to ninth grade and plans to swim with the high school team. I’ll be on the pool deck one way or another.”