The Jefferson City school district announced in a press release Thursday it has found the first leaders of the Jefferson City and Capital City swimming programs, as Carrie Korprowski was named head coach of the programs and Kendal Moore was named to be her assistant.
For the year-and-a-half Korprowski has lived in the Capital City, she has been waiting for this opportunity and jumped at the chance the moment it came available.
“I have been secretly been praying for that for a long time,” Korprowski said. “When we moved up here I was hopeful that a swim program would be starting here soon. … One day at work during one of my classes, a friend sent me a chat when the position was listed and I applied within the hour. … My initial reaction was just a lot of excitement.”
Korprowski has a long history coaching the sport of swimming.
She got her start with the Eldon Dolphins swim club, a summer swim program in the Mid-Missouri Swim Conference, as an assistant and worked with the team from 2016-22.
“It was just such a positive experience,” Korprowski said. “The head coach, his name is Dale Rosenthal, he was just amazing. I learned a lot from him.”
Korprowski then made the move to Jefferson City in December 2021 and spent the past year as an eighth-grade math teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School while also working on the coaching staff of the Barracudas Swim Team at the Knowles YMCA — what will be the home pool for Jefferson City and Capital City High Schools.
Her time with the Barracudas gave her more time to learn from other coaches and feel apart of another swim family.
“Right away they offered me to come coach with them,” she said. “I was really thankful they offered me the chance because they already had six coaches. … I got to learn from six new coaches and they all brought something different to the table. It was one big swim family and it was really a team effort.”
And Korprowski will be involved in a big swim family with the new job, as she will coach both the Jays and the Cavaliers with the two schools practicing together but competing separately.
Not only will being around another team drive competition and in return help push the athletes to be better, but she believes it will grow the two teams very close to each other.
“I am really thrilled that there is more than one (team) because the more swimmers you have in the water, the more competition there is,” Korprowski said. “… Everyone becomes a family and encouraging each other and supporting each other. You want to swim with your competitors because that’s a great opportunity for you to get faster, for you to get better and for you to work harder.”
Korprowski and her new assistant Moore chatted briefly Thursday and will begin putting together plans for the offseason, but the two are already familiar with each other.
Moore is an eighth-grade writing teacher at Lewis and Clark and has been with the Jefferson City YMCA since 2015 working as a swimming coach, instructor, head lifeguard and pool manager.
“She has a really great personality,” Korprowski said of Moore. “She may be able to level with the athletes and help with the community-building side of it really well. She also has a lot of different technical experience being a lifeguard and swim coach.”
The first steps for the coaching staff will be trying to recruit interested athletes and putting together workout programs for the summer.
“My initial steps right now, because we are already in the summer, is I want to host a meet and greet at the Knowles YMCA for our girls and our boys high school swimmers that are interested to get them signed up and going,” Korprowski said. “Then working with the strength coaches at JC and CC to get them time in the weight room. Then getting our students, especially the boys, into the pool as soon as we can.”
The boys swimming season will begin in the fall and the girls will hit the pools for their inaugural season this winter.
Korprowski will now teach at Jefferson City High School as an algebra teacher.