Alison Pick begins her third year at HSA. She is currently the Lead Coach for Voyager 3 as well as an assistant for Voyager 4 and Endeavor 1 groups. She has been coaching for 23 years at all different levels and age ranges. She most recently she was the Head Coach of Kearney High School Girls Team as well as the assistant coach for the Boys Team. Before that she was the Head Coach of Wichita Swim Club from June 2014 until March of 2020. While at WSC, there were many achievements the club and student-athletes achieved. Over sixty team records were broken, five swimmers were recognized as USA Swimming Scholastic All-Americans, three NISCA All-Americans, and much more. WSC also became a USA Swimming Bronze Medal Club for the first time in 10 years. Coach Alison was also selected to be a MV Zone Team coach as well as a USA Swimming Select Camp coach. She was the Missouri Valley Swimming LSC coaches representative and served on the MV BOD for three years. She is a Level 3 American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) certified coach, a certified USA Swimming coach, and a Level 1 Amphibious Exercise for Improved Swimming (AXIS) certified coach. Coach Pick is also a current member of the USA Swimming Coach Advisory Council (CAC).
Alison brings an impressive resume of coaching and administration experience to HSA. Before she coached in Wichita, she was the Assistant Head Coach at COOG Aquatics in Houston, TX for 2 years. She spent the 8 years before that coaching at SwimMAC Carolina, one of the best club teams in the U.S., where she coached all levels of swimming, from age group to Olympic Trial qualifiers. While living in North Carolina, Alison also worked as assistant coach at Davidson College in Davidson, NC, head coach of Lake Norman Charter School in Huntersville, NC, as well as head coach for the Wynfield Waves and Northstone Country Club, both summer league teams in Huntersville, NC. She also coached at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. Her first swim coaching gig was as assistant squad coach for the Siouxland Sharks in her hometown of Sioux City, IA.
Coach Alison has many notable coaching awards and experiences. She was awarded 2018 Missouri Valley Senior Coach of the Year and the 2015 Missouri Valley Age Group Coach of the Year, coached Olympic Trial qualifiers in 2012, most recently a 2020 Olympic Trial qualifier, and has received coach of the year twice (2010-11 and 2011-12) during her role as head coach at Lake Norman Charter School in Huntersville, NC. Coach Alison’s favorite thing about coaching swimming is helping guide swimmers toward their goals, help them through the process, and then seeing them achieve those goals. She likes watching the improvement that takes place in her swimmers.
Alison grew up in Sioux City, IA, where she began swimming at age 9. She swam for the Siouxland Sharks for 10 years, and also swam for Sioux City East High all four years of high school. Alison then swam for Northern Illinois University from 1996-2000. Her favorite races to swim are the 100 fly, 200 fly and 100 free.
Butterfly and freestyle tie for Coach Alison’s two favorite strokes. She holds high school records in the 200 Medley Relay, the 200 Free Relay, the 400 Free Relay (which still stands today), and she was also appointed team captain her senior year of high school. She was voted most improved her freshman year at Northern Illinois University and served as team captain there from 1998-2000.
Coach Alison received her Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from South Dakota University in 2004, with a minor in Public Recreation. She also studied athletic training at Northern Illinois University from 1996-2000.
Alison is a Chicago Cubs fan, an avid TV watcher and loves watching sports and listening to music (especially Dave Matthews Band). She has a younger brother and loves being an aunt. She adores her niece and nephew and tries to spend as much time with them as she can.
Hanging out with Olympians is something Coach Alison was fortunate enough to be able to do while working at SwimMAC Carolina. If she could spend time with an Olympian she hasn’t yet met in person, she’d pick the versatile Tracy Caulkins or record butterflyer Misty Hyman.
