KENOSHA, Wis. – The first student-athlete nomination for this year's VIPS Program presented by Gateway Mortgage comes from freshman women's soccer player Sarah Swonger. Sarah is a midfielder from Midway, Ark., and has nominated women's soccer head coach Brittany Nikolic to be her VIP.
 
Sarah Swonger on Coach Nikolic: "Coach has been the absolute best with my transition into college from 12.5 hours away. Even with the pandemic going on, coach Brittany has tried to keep our team connected and together via zoom or any other way possible. I am so excited for a hopeful soccer season in the spring with her as my coach!!"
 
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BRITTANY NIKOLIC
Brittany Nikolic was named head coach of the women's soccer team in June of 2015, becoming just the fourth head coach in the history of the program. She enters her sixth season at Parkside as the 2021 season approaches.
 
Nikolic has guided the program through some turbulent times, including a post-season ban and a conference switch after the 2017 season. In three seasons in the GLVC and two in the GLIAC, Nikolic holds a 32-47-10 all-time record with Parkside. Also, during her five years at the helm, the team has been honored by the United Soccer Coaches as Team Academic Award Winners every year. In 2018, Nikolic was honored individually by the USCA, with the College Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Silver Award for exhibiting fair play, sporting behavior, and adherence to the laws of the game.
 
Prior to coming to Parkside, Nikolic was a standout player at Stanford from 2000-03, guiding the Cardinals to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Pac-10 Championship and a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2002.
 
After graduating Stanford, she served as an assistant coach at Northwestern, UNLV, and Milwaukee from 2004-08. She then went on to coach at NCAA Division III Alverno College, where she guided the Inferno to their best season in program history in 2013, and today remains the program's all-time winningest coach.
 
Q&A with Brittany Nikolic
What are your job responsibilities here at Parkside?
Running the women's soccer program including recruiting, coaching and mentoring the student-athletes.
 
How did your job responsibilities change during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Initially we had to do everything virtually so I tried to be creative and find ways for the team to stay connected while we were all at home. For instance, we did a "guess who" game with favorite songs and made a cool juggling video for social media. Since coming back this spring we have had a very different fall than usual with no competition and training mostly in small groups. Recruiting has changed a lot too as we've had to watch a lot more video over the past few months when we couldn't go see teams play.
 
What do you like about working at Parkside?
The people. I love being around coaches from other sports and seeing all the students. The SAC is a great environment because we can get to know members of the faculty as well as the athletic department.
 
What are some big projects you are working on over the next few months?
Mostly we are getting ready for a spring season. Our seasons are flipped this year so it's all about preparing for games in March and of course the ongoing recruiting that we do year-round.
 
What are some ways you have filled time during the pandemic?
While we were all staying home in spring my family had movie nights and we watched all the Marvel movies in chronological order. But I really feel like I have less time now as we are doing more hours of training as coaches since we aren't with the whole team at the same time.
 
What is your alma mater, your degree, and what year you graduated in?
Stanford University, BA in American Studies, 2004
 
Any family members you'd like to recognize?
My husband, David, and two boys, George & Sebastian
 
ABOUT GATEWAY MORTGAGE
Gateway Mortgage is a family owned and operated mortgage banking company that was founded in 1983. Today, Gateway is a full-service mortgage banker – underwriting, funding, and servicing the loans originated.
 
Gateway Mortgage is located at 6501 Green Bay Road, Kenosha, WI 53142. For more information on their services, please call 262-657-7733 or visit GatewayMortgageCorp.com.