Our
mission is to have our swimmers enjoy positive experience at every
level, from learning to swim to our highest level senior gold
group.
To
have a nationally recognized aquatics program that teaches and
trains all levels of swimmers emphasizing individual progress, team
unity and family participation. The PS program is characterized
philosophically by the principles of self image philosophy. This
discipline is concerned with guiding and directing individuals
towards maximum development of their talents and abilities. The
coaches endeavor to teach, train and motivate all the young people
to achieve their ultimate potential in swimming, in the belief that
this experience will prove valuable to them as they grow and
develop.
Di Molenaar was born
inSouth Africa
. Di has 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren who live in
San Diego
. Di swam competitively until the age of 16 in
South Africa
. As well as a 16 year career in Advertising and Marketing, Di ran
a swim school in Johannesburg for 13 yrs after her first child was
born before moving to the the US. After arriving in the states Di
coached for the United Poway swim team for 2 years. The Pacific
Swim team was founded in 1990 with a small group of swimmers and a
handful of beginners in lessons. "My passion for swimming as well
as my love of kids has made this an unbelievably gratifying
experience and journey for me, we now have 200 year round swimmers,
over a 1000 beginners in lessons, adults who are beginners and
adults who swim masters. A positive experience for all levels
is my motto and we strive to create this every day for everyone who
swims in any of our groups, beginner through national.
I was born and raised in the greater
Seattle area. When I was 21 years of age I moved to San Diego
and was hired by Sony Electronics Inc. as an Engineering Apprentice
in Material and Design Engineering. Soon after working at Sony for
about 3 years, I was selected to lead a start up project for the
North American production of Sony Electron Guns in Tijuana,
Mexico. That same year I met my wife Katy at Sony and we soon
became married. About two months after being married I left
for a 3 month stay in Tokyo, Japan to learn the art of Japanese
manufacturing. I returned in 1995 and began my project in
Mexico. After completing the project and traveling to and
from Mexico daily for about a year I was recruited into the
Engineering Product Development Department and began working on the
first flat screen TV’s for Sony. I launched the first flat
screen 20 and 27 inch TV with great success. Soon after the
product launch I worked in Materials Engineering where I studied
Statistical Engineering for about a year. I then enrolled and
completed the System Engineering Program at USCD. The day I
finished the System Engineering Program at USCD I resigned from my
14-year career with Sony to become a stay at home Dad and raise my
two children Lisa who was now 6 and Lora who was just welcomed into
the world in 2000. I spent about 3 years at home being a
mister mom when my oldest daughter Lisa became interested in
swimming and I met Di. After Lisa had been swimming with PS
for about 3 years I became a member of one of the finest swim clubs
in the U.S. “Pacific Swim”. I have now been
working with PS since 2006. I have had a wonderful
opportunity to serve the members of Pacific Swim. Since
I have been with PS I have been able to bring the team into the
world of online team management. Working with Team Unify we
developed the online team management system that is now used by
more than 300 teams across the U.S. and growing fast. I
have been able to bring online account payments, online account
management, and online meet registration to PS. I have also
had the pleasure of launching my own company Team Innovations, Inc.
that works in tandem with PS to bring continued changes that are
important to keep us ahead of the game in and out of the
pool. Its my pleasure to serve such a well run and respected
team and I am excited for the future of PS.
Alexandra Hatch
caught the swimming bug at a young age, competing in her first meet
at 6. After moving fromZimbabwetoSouth
Africaat age 8, she joined the husband and
wife team of Mo and Bill Lamont. In a strange twist, it was here
that she first met Owen and his sister Jane Molenaar. Alex
continued swimming throughout her age-group years, and was
nationally ranked from ages 8-18. The impact that her coaches made
on her, and the positive lessons learned from being a part of the
swimming community have shaped her desire and love for coaching. At
13 she made the South African National Travel team, and traveled
with them abroad to Hong Kong andTaiwanto represent her country. She
traveled to theUSat 17, attending theUniversityofHoustonon a swimming scholarship. While
still swimming in college, she began coaching a summer league swim
team, and discovered her passion for coaching and teaching younger
swimmers. After graduation, she worked for a year as a college
assistant coach. In 1998, she began coaching high school
swimming atNorthShoreSenior High
SchoolinHouston,Texas, and in that same year was named as
the Conference Coach of the Year. She coached at the
high school level and worked as an English teacher for 3 years.
Moving toSan
Diegoin 2001, she returned to both
age-group coaching and to swimming herself. Alexandra has been
involved in all levels of swimming and coaching. She firmly
believes that a solid background in technique and a consistent
commitment to working hard will always lead to success. Her
coaching philosophy is based on the idea that success in the pool
is achieved by those same elements that lead to success outside the
pool; namely consistency, balance, accountability, and
attitude.
Away from the pool, Alex enjoys camping, swimming, surfing,
hiking and reading. She recently married Kurt Hatch of San
Diego. They live in Carmel Valley with their two crazy
cats.
Started swimming in South Africa
when he was 3 years old. Swam competitively for club and High
School until age 17. Has been a swim coach at Pacific Swim for the
past 15 years. During that time coached beginners and 3 Olympic
Trial Qualifiers. Since 1997 Has consistently coached top ranking
swimmers in the Nation. Coached multiple Junior Olympic Champions,
C.I.F Champions, Sectional Champions, Junior National Champions,
Senior National Qualifiers and Finalists. Owen’s swimmers
have won over 25 races at the Western Zone Championships.
As an age group coach, Owen has received the Coach of the year
award and was head coach of the San Diego Imperial Allstar team.
His swimmers have been ranked # 1 in the nation. They have broken
many San Diego Age Group and C.I.F records.Owen was selected to
attend Select Camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs.
He is proud of the fact that many of the swimmers he has worked
with from a very young age swam with me for over 10 years and are
currently swimming on scholarships at top colleges across the
country including Stanford, Northwestern, USC, UCSB, UCSD, UCI,
UCLA, Wisconsin, Tulane, Villanova and many more.
Dan enters his first
season as the Pacific Swim Senior Gold coach after coaching the
Senior Silver Group last season. He enters this new challenge with
a wealth of experience coaching swimming in all levels of the
sport. He hopes to make in impact on both the competitive level of
his athletes as well as connect with them as young adults and
motivate them to want more from swimming as well as life.
Before beginning with Pacific Swim he was the head assistant coach
at theUniversity
of
California San Diego
for five full seasons. The men and women placed in the top 5
nationally 7 times in his tenure and the athletes achieved multiple
national titles, Division II national records, All-Americans,
Senior National and Olympic Trial time standards.
Dan has also coached the
Mt.CarmelHigh School
men’s and women’s varsity teams for the past 4 years.
The girls have never placed lower than 3rd at C’ were runner
up in 2004 and 2006 and added a CIF championship in 2005. In 2005,
the Sundevils won an unprecedented 8 of 12 events set 8 school
records and 1 National Record. In 2004, the Mt. Carmel Boy’s
placed 5th with an All American Relay and a 3 CIF titles. After
rebuilding in 2005 and a move from 9th to 4th in 2006, the
boy’s will be a contender for their first CIF championship
this season under Dan this upcoming season.
Dan also is the founder and Head Coach of Swim Smarter one of the
most competitive Masters teams in
San Diego
. Swim Smarter ranked 14th Nationally in the summer of 2005 with 11
National titles. At World Championships in 2006, Swim Smarter saw
it’s first World Champion and runner-up as athletes took 1-2
in the 200 Free Age 25-29. They also came with .2 of setting a
World Record in the 200 Free relay. They set 5 individual and 4
relay
San Diego
records. Along with Masters competition, some of the more
competitive athletes are still competing at the highest levels of
US
competition.
In addition to the competitive side of Swim Smarter masters, he
also coaches multiple athletes ranging from triathletes, fitness
swimmers, channel swimmers and more. He has been teaching private
technique to athletes all across
San Diego
for the past 6 years and has been growing his reputation as a
premier coach at the masters level. He is also a certified USA
Triathlon coach.
For his own swimming career he was awarded his high school MVP for
3 years in a row and was team captain both his Junior and Senior
year. After high school he became a four year NCAA Division I
varsity swimmer for the
University
of
Massachusetts
at
Amherst
, where he specialized in middle distance and distance events.
Winning the UMass Minuteman Award in 1996, he was ranked 3rd, 4th,
and 5th in
New England
in the 200yd, 500yd and 1650yd freestyles respectively and helped
the Minutemen to win their first 3 Atlantic-10 Conference
Championships.
Dan currently lives in Sabre Springs with his wife Amy, a school
teacher and head girls basketball coach at Rancho Bernardo. When
not coaching or swimming, he is an avid golfer and enjoys skiing,
beach volleyball and almost every sport.
Grace has been involved with USA Swimming as an athlete and
coach for over twenty years. She is passionate about the sport and
shares that with the kids she works with. Since joining PS in
2007 Grace has brought her love of the ocean to the athletes she
works with and all of them have not only excelled in the pool but
also in the ocean. Grace's main goal is to impart to her
swimmers the skills they need to be the best athlete they can be
and also the best person they can be.
Growing up Pete was involved in many
sports at the competitive level including: basketball, baseball,
soccer, tennis, and golf. It was not until the age of 11 that
he began swimming on a summer league team where his teammate (Dan
Peck) taught him how to do starts and turns. He joined his
first year-round club team at the age of 15 and gave up his other
competitive sporting interests (except for tennis). He was a
four year letter winner in swimming and tennis in high school in
New Jersey and went on to win four varsity letters in swimming at
the University of Delaware. Upon graduating he jumped right
into the coaching scene as a volunteer assistant at his hometown
high school. Since that time he has coached NUMEROUS swim
teams at the Summer League (Westwood Swim Club, Kennett Area YMCA,
Western Family YMCA, Greenville Country Club, Brandywine Country
Club), USA (Team Delaware), High School (Rancocas Valley Reg. H.S.,
Sanford School of Delaware), and Collegiate level (University of
Delaware asst). Outside of coaching Pete has been teaching
group and private swim lessons for 10 years and spent some time as
a tennis instructor with USTA. Outside swimming he enjoys
competition in any game or activity (golf, basketball, tennis, ping
pong, pool, darts, shuffle board, foozeball....) basically any
game. If there is not a game available to play he will just
make one up!
