Pete Raykovich - Director
2008 celebrates Pete’s 15th year with DACA. He is a
nationally recognized ASCA Level 5 coach, the highest level
possible. Pete has served as a USA Swimming National Team
Coach for international competitions on numerous occasions.
Pacific Swimming has honored Pete as recipient of the George
Haines Coach of the Year for 2002.
Pete’s career began as the Head Coach at the Indian
Valley Aquatics Club from 1979-1990. He moved on to the
University of Tennessee where he was the Head Coach of the
Women’s program from 1990-1993. ...Read
More
Tammy Hopkins - Co-Head Coach
Tammy is in her 8th year at DACA, having previously served as the Head Age Group Coach and Director of Age Group Programs. Under Tammy's directions, DACA has one of the largest and most competitive programs not only in Pacific Swimming, but in the entire country. Under Tammy's leadership, DACA has won 5 Far Western titles and 7 Junior Olympic Championships. In 2005 Tammy was honored by her coaching peers for this success by being awarded the Pacific Age Group coach of the Year.
Tammy has coached dozens of Nationally-ranked swimmers to hundreds of National Rankings, including current DACA standouts Jennifer Gong and Laurence Delisle. Tammy has also been instrumental in assembling one of the finest coaching staffs in USA Swimming.
Tammy's coaching career began in the mid-1980's with Conejo Simi Aquatics (Southern California) and went on to coach at Riverside's Canyon Crest Swim Team, Klamath Falls Swim Team, Garces High School (Bakersfield) and served as the Head Age Group Coach of Bakersfield Swim Team.
Tammy's professional achievements include: coaching numerous LSC All-Star and Western Zone teams, Nationally top-16 ranked swimmers, National Age Group record holders, Junior National qualifiers, Western Zone Champions, Far Western Champions, High School All-Americans, and CIF Champions. Additionally, Tammy is a much sought-after speaker, having made presentations at multiple coaching clinics regarding the DACA program, including the ASCA (American Swimming Coaches Association) World Clinic in 2005.
Jerry Koch - Swim School Director & Associate Head Coach
During his coaching career Jerry has produced numerous Jr. and Sr. National qualifiers. Many of these athletes continued their swimming through college. Some are now coaching.
Jerry has had many years of successful swimming with the following programs over the years:
Started coaching career at the Aurora Swim Club as an assistant in 1964
Head coach of Sequoia Swim Club 1965 to 1967 (First National Qualifier)
Location Head Coach San Bruno Surfriders 1967 – 1971
Location Head Coach De Anza Swim Club 1971 -1973
Pre-Sr. Coach De Anza Swim Club 1973 – 1974
Jr. National Coach De Anza Swim Club 1974 – 1976
National Team Head Coach Taiwan 1977 -1977
Jr. National Coach De Anza Swim Club 1978 – 1979
Head Coach Fairbrae Swim Club 1979 – 1983
Head Coach Fremont High School 1980 - 1984
Co Head Coach DACA 1983 – 1984
President of Cabrillo Threshers 1990 - 1997
Sr. Coach DACA 2002 – present
(Director of DACA swim school)
Assistant Head Coach De Anza College
Jerry is married and has three sons. Two of his son's had outstanding swimming experiences. He and his wife of 30 years Janet live in Aptos.
Education; MBA
Jerry worked as an executive in electronics manufacturing throughout his coaching career until returning to DACA. He continues to be connected to the electronics industry through teaching at the University of Phoenix in their Graduate and Undergraduate programs.
Charley Benson - Pre-Competitive Director
Charley joined the DACA coaching staff in 2006. Prior to coming to DACA, Charley was the Head Age Group Coach for California Capital Aquatics (CCA) from 1983 to 2001 and CCA's Head Coach from 2001 to 2005. He worked with Mike Hastings, 1992 Olympic Coach, for 18 years. Charley assisted in the development of Olympic Champion, Summer Sanders, and World Champion, Randall Bal. Also, he was the head swim coach at Jesuit High School in Sacramento and led the Jesuit swim team to three consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section titles. Charley's professional achievements include: Sierra Nevada Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year, coaching numerous nationally Top-16 ranked swimmers, Far Western finalists, Junior National qualifiers, Senior National qualifiers, Olympic Trial qualifiers, and High School All-Americans and CIF Champions.
Mike Allegretti - Age Group Director
Coach Michael began working with DACA in the spring of 2000. This will be Michael's 8 th season with DACA. Michael began his swimming career during his freshman year at Pioneer High School located in San Jose, CA. That summer he joined San Jose Aquatics were he swam for fellow coach Bill Thompson. During his high school years Michael also played 3 years of water polo, and 4 years of soccer. In 1997 Michael continued his aquatics career at De Anza College completing 2 years of collegiate water polo and swimming. Coach Michael earned his AA degree from De Anza College, and went on to Graduate from San Jose State University earning his BS in Aviation Operations. In 2005 Coach Michael attended Delta Connection Academy where he continued to develop his passion for flying. During that year he earned his instrument rating, commercial license for both single and multiengine aircraft, and his certified flight instructor certificates.
Coach Michael's coaching career began in 1996 where he began teaching swim lessons for San Jose Aquatics Swim America program. In 1997 he returned to Pioneer High School as the assistant water polo coach and JV coach. Over the years, Michael has been an instructor in all of DACA's programs ranging from teaching swim lessons at the swim school to water polo.
Coach Michael's greatest pleasure is seeing the joy of success on his students faces when they finally achieve a goal that they have worked so hard to accomplish. This stays true for both swimmers who learn how to swim for the very first time, to competitive swimmers earning new best times, to watching his student pilots “solo” an airplane for the very first time (no instructor or other pilots in the airplane).
Sage Hopkins - Assistant National Team Coach & Director of Coaches Education
In addition to Sage's duties with DACA, he is also the Head Coach of the San Jose State University Women's Swimming and Diving Team. Sage first came to DACA in the Fall of 2000. Previous to Sage's current role with DACA he served as the Associate Head Coach and Associate Director of the club.
Prior to joining DACA, Hopkins was the Head Coach and Chief Operating Officer of Bakersfield Swim Club from 1997-2000. He was also an assistant coach at his alma mater, Cal State Bakersfield from 1995-1997. In the 1995-96 season, he helped guide the Roadrunners to NCAA Division II national runners-up distinction. He was also selected by USA Swimming in 1999 to be a staff coach of the girls' National Select Camp.
Hopkins has coached swimmers to dozens of World Rankings over the years, as well as coaching multiple athletes onto the USA Swimming National Team, including Gabe Woodward in 1999 and 2000. Woodward went on to medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Hopkins holds ASCA (American Swimming Coaches Association) Level 5 Certification, the highest attainable. He has earned a Fellowship through ASCA, been named Central California Swimming "Coach of the Year" (1999), served as meet director of the 1999 Speedo Junior National Championships, and was a speaker at the ASCA World Clinic in both 2000 and 2002.
A 1997 cum laude graduate of Cal State Bakersfield with a bachelor's degree in English, Hopkins was captain of the swim team and a seven-time All-American. As a club swimmer, Hopkins trained under US Olympic team coach Mike Hastings. He and his wife, Tammy, reside in San Jose, with their son, Gunner and dog, Tiger.
Annie Stein - Age Group Coach
Annie comes to DACA after a 17 year competitive swimming career. Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, Annie's swimming highlights included the 1999 Jr. Nationals West High Point Award, a 9 th place finish in the 400 IM at the 2000 Olympic Team Trials, a roster spot on both the United States National Junior Team and Open Water World Championship Team, and a 4 th place finish in the 1500 at the 2001 Spring Senior Nationals. In 1999, she was named the Colorado Female Swimmer of the Year.
After graduating from Germantown Academy in Philadelphia as a multiple-time High School All-American, Annie went on to attend and swim for the University of Michigan, scoring every year at the Big Ten Conference Championship and graduating with a 3.32 GPA and Sport Management degree. As a senior, Annie served as a team captain and along with her fellow senior women, was honored with the Frank E. Barnard Award for Leadership. Annie also spent 3 years on the University of Michigan Student Athlete Advisory Council, serving as Vice-President her Senior Year. As a coach, Annie loves watching her swimmers develop a love for the water and desire to succeed.
Tori DeMoss - Age Group Coach
Tori begins her 6th year with DACA who relocated from high-altitude training in Boulder, Colorado. Originally from the Bay Area, Tori grew up on the Tiburon Peninsula where her love for swimming began at the age of 6 while coached by Ken and Rick DeMont. She competed in swimming and water polo throughout High School and was a member of the Indian Valley Aquatics Club then coached by Pete Raykovich. As a member of Arizona State University swimming team from 1992-1996, her specialty was 100/200 breaststroke and 200/400 I.M.. Tori enjoyed success on both the USA Swimming and Collegiate levels, earning 7 All-American Honors. Her water polo skills earned her a spot on both the USA Junior National and National Teams. After college, Colorado was a great fit for Tori who enjoys hiking, biking, snowboarding and skiing.
...Read More
Christian Bonner - Age Group Coach
Christian began coaching with DACA in 1998 and has worked in every level of the organization. He has taught swimming at the swim school and in the pre-competitive program, and was a member of the competitive coaching staff and the head of the stroke session semi-private lessons at the De Anza College facility until 2004 when he left the Bay Area to pursue his graduate degree at New York University. Since his return to DACA in December 2006, he has coached no less 10 individuals to JO time standards and 5 to Far Western and PRT times.
Besides coaching, Christian is an artist, ceramic lecture, and teacher who has worked in both the US and Japan. He is the former intern in charge of contemporary Japanese ceramics at the Brooklyn Museum (BM), was a moderator of a meet the artist event at the BM, and has lectured at multiple universities in the US on ethics and history or Japanese ceramics.
Tom Cariveau - Age Group Coach
Tom has been with DACA since May of 2007. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in May of 2006 and moved to California the following September. While in high school and college, Tom participated in football, wrestling, track and rugby. Because of the climate in Wisconsin, swimming has never been a major sport for Tom; however his experience with water activities has been life long. As a child he took part in the swimming lesson program the school district offered and worked as a lifeguard for 3 years. When the opportunity presented itself, Tom was hired as Berlin's Aquatics manager, a position he held for three summers prior to moving to California. Tom is an avid runner taking part in several marathons in Wisconsin and California. He enjoys working with the staff and students at DACA.
Aimee Gleaves - Age Group Coach
DACA is looking forward to have Aimee working with our competitive
program in our 2007-2008 season. This marks Aimee's 9th
year with DACA. Aimee enjoys inspiring young children about
swimming and teaching them to be excited and proud about
their progress. She currently studies at De Anza College
and plans on transferring.
Aimee has swam since she was very young and has taught
swimming for the City of Cupertino and DACA's pre-competitive
program prior to her contributions with DACA's competitive
program. Aimee's passion for working with young children
and helping them reach personal goals is an asset to DACA
that is treasured.
Tom Grimm - Water Polo Coach for DACA and De Anza College
Tom holds a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach and an M.Ed. from La Verne University. He competed in both Water Polo and Swimming in high school and college. Tom was a high school All-American in Water Polo, a community college All-American in Swimming, a Southern California Community College Water Polo Player of the Year, an AAU All-American in Water Polo, a U.S. Olympic trials finalist in Water Polo, and a National Champion in Masters Swimming.
Tom was a high school teacher for fifteen years. For the past twenty-two years Tom served as a high school administrator, i.e. Dean, Assistant Principal and Principal. During his 18 year coaching career he coached college Water Polo and Swimming. He feels fortunate to have coached several All-Americans in both Swimming and Water Polo during that time. Three Water Polo players and five Swimmers that he coached eventually competed on a United States Olympic Team.
Tom currently lives in Los Gatos with his wife Cathy. Since moving from Southern California, Tom and his wife have had a greater opportunity to see their daughters and grandchildren. Tom's oldest daughter Sherry and her husband Dennis along with their two daughters, Catherine Grace and Marie, live in Folsom, CA just a two hour drive from Los Gatos. Tom's youngest daughter Tammy and her husband Sage and their son Gunner live in San Jose, just three minutes from Tom and Cathy's house.
Tom is physically active and works out daily. It is a lifestyle in which he believes and hopes to model for others.
Eric Koch - Age Group Coach
Eric graduated from Aptos High School where he earned MVP
Swimming Honors in 1998, 1999 & 2000. Eric is a 4-time
High School All-American in the 200 free & 500 free
in 1999 & 2000.
Recently, Eric graduated from the University of California
Santa Barbara with a BA in Dramatic Arts and finished a
successful collegiate swimming career. He was the Big West
Champion in the 1650 free all 4 years (2001-2004), Big West
Champion in the 1000 free 3 years (2001-2003) and he holds
the Big West Record in the 1000 free. Eric earned University
of California Santa Barbara MVP honors in 2003.
Golda Marcus - Age Group Coach
After having a competitive swimming career for more than 20 years, Golda has decided to pursue her love of swimming through coaching. Golda was born in El Salvador, a small country in Central America. She was adopted at the age of three months by an American woman and was taken to Coral Springs, FL, where she was raised and also made an American Citizen. Golda's entire life consisted of balancing swimming and school. She joined her first compeitive team at the age of 5 and has known nothing but swimming since.
Swimming opened many doors for Golda. She was able to see El Salvador for the first time at the age of 18, and shortly after began representing her native country in competition. In the summer of 2001, Golda graduated from high school and moved on to Florida State University. Throughout her college career, Golda bloomed into a national hero in El Salvador, the best distance swimmer the country had ever seen. Golda became a seven time gold medalist and two time silver medalist at the Central American Games in 2001. That same year, she won two gold and two bronze medals at the CCCAN, consisting of Central American and Carribean nations. In the Central American and Carribean Gamres in 2002, Golda was a three time bronze medalist in the 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyle events. In 2006, she earned a bronze in the 1500 and in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the same competition. At the 2007 CCCAN, Golda won gold in the 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyles, as well as a silver in the 200 meter butterfly. She also participated in the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, and the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, where my country's 4x200 meter freestyle relay. At the 2007 Pan American Games, Golda was a member of the 4x200 meter freestyle relay that took sixth place. Golda's biggest honor has been participating in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. In addition, Golda is the El Salvador National Record Holder in the 400, 800, and 1500 meter freestyles.
Golda's swimming accolades continued in the United States. She is a United States Olympic Trials qualifier, as well as a National Age Group Record Holder and Southern Zone Champion.
Golda graduated from Florida State in 2005 with a BA in English (Creative Writing). In July of 2008, she earned her MFA from National University in the same subject. Golda is currently working on writing about her experiences in Beijing. She hopes to use her swimming experiences to encourage young swimmers to never stop believing in who they are and what they could possibly become.
Chris Michelmore - Age Group Coach & Assistant National Team Coach
Chris Michelmore grew up in Sacramento, CA. There he was a member of the Arden Hills swim team under head coach Brian Nabeta. Chris went on to graduate in March, 2006, from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA, earning a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration with concentrations in entrepreneurial management, public accounting and enterprise accounting. He was a four-year swimmer for the NCAA Division I program. As team captain his last two years, Chris was a senior national qualifier in both breaststroke events.
Chris' coaching career began while attending Cal Poly, where he spent two seasons coaching the San Luis Obispo High School girl's team. Prior to moving to San Jose, he spent six months under his mentor as the assistant national team coach and varsity coach at Arden Hills in Sacramento, CA, where he assisted with many national and Olympic trial qualifiers. After moving to the Bay Area in 2006, Chris began as an assistant coach at San Jose State, where he is now entering his second season. In addition to San Jose State, Chris began coaching with DACA in May, 2007. Chris is extremely excited to be a member of the DACA family. He currently lives in Campbell with his wife Tina, and has American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Level 3 certification.
Nicki Rivera - Age Group Coach
Nicki joined the DACA coaching staff in April 2007. She is originally from Riverside, CA where her passion for swimming began. She participated in competitive swimming for 9 years, has 15 years of experience teaching swimming and has been a USS swim coach for 17 years.
Nicki began her coaching career in 1992 as an assistant coach for a winter swim team known as the Riverside YMCA River Rats. She later coached along with her older sister in the 90's at a swim club called the Canyon Crest Tidal Waves, winning dual championship and league championship swim titles for seven consecutive years.
Over the years Nicki established a “learn to swim” program for La Sierra Elementary school in Riverside annually teaching 50 kindergarten students the fundamentals of swimming, which became part of the school's academic study. She had seven years of experience organizing and coaching events for the Special Olympics in Southern California.
In 1998 she moved from Southern California to San Jose attending college at San Jose State University, majoring in Kinesiology emphasizing in Physical Education and Psychology. Her interests of study are Sports Psychology and Sports History. While attending SJSU, Nicki organized and taught swim classes for National Youth Sports Program at San Jose State University a Government organization for disadvantaged youth. Nicki also concurrently coached for West Coast Aquatics from 1998 to 2007. At West, she coached all age group levels but really gained a passion coaching novice swimmers. Nicki has attended several ASCA World Clinic swim conferences around the United States professional for development and has obtained an ASCA level 3 coaching certificate.
Nicki is an enthusiastic, energetic swim coach who loves to teach. She enjoys teaching the art of swimming and motivating swimmers to do their best. Nicki's motto that she shares with her swimmers is to “swim smart”!
Carol Crouthamel - Development Group Coach
Carol grew up swimming back East for the club team Spirit Swimming located in the Philadelphia , PA area. She was a well-rounded swimmer, making Junior Nationals in the 500, 1000, and 1650 Freestyle events as well as the 200 IM, 400 IM and 100 Fly. She was a National qualifier in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke, and competed in the 2000 Olympic Trials in the 200 Breast. Carol continued her swimming career at The University of Minnesota from 2000-2004. Carol was a leader for her team, as she was voted Team Captain her Senior year.
Upon completing her swimming career, Carol began coaching focusing with age group level athletes, as well as beginning level swimmers and adults. Carol has been coaching for 4 years, and enjoys the many opportunities the sport of swimming has to offer. Carol graduated with a degree in the Foundations of Education and has a teaching credential. She is currently a fifth grade teacher with The Cupertino Union School District, and is currently attending San Jose State to receive her Master's in Educational Leadership.
Bill Thompson - Age Group Coach
Bill Thompson has spent nearly all of his life in the Santa Clara Valley. He attended school in Santa Clara and graduated from Santa Clara HS with some of the most illustrious US swim stars under legendary Coach George Haines. Much of Bill’s coaching philosophy, methods and values came from the example set by Coach Haines.
Good fortune enjoyed by coaching experiences providing talented young people enabled Bill to establish a fine record of success in competitive swimming. Recognized by Pacific Swimming as Senior Coach of the Year in 1997 while Head Coach at San Jose Aquatics and Pacific Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year in 1987 during his time as Head Age Group Coach at Santa Clara Swim Club. Bill was one of the very first Level 5 ASCA Age Group certified coaches and also holds that status as a Level 5 senior coach. ...Read More
Don Vierra - Age Group Coach
Don's undergraduate degrees include a B.A. in Psychology from CSU Chico and B.S. in Organizational Psychology from the University of San Francisco. He earned his Masters Degree in Counseling from Santa Clara University. While at Chico State, Don swam for legendary coach Ernie Maglischo, earning NCAA All-American honors in the 100 and 200 Breastrokes. Don currently coaches both the girl's water polo and swimming teams at Monta Vista High School, where he also teaches as an educational specialist.
