Coach Michael is in his second full year as Head Coach at Whittier. He is also in his tenth year at MAX Aquatics. Before joining the MAX Coaching staff in 2009, Coach Michael competed for UC Berkeley's Men's Swim Team and Team USA’s Olympic Development Triathlon Team, giving him a wide variety of training backgrounds.
Coach Michael grew up in Glendora and trained at Industry Hills Aquatics Club, before being recruited to UC Berkeley’s Swim Team (#1 NCAA) as the second fastest distance recruit in the country. (From 2004-2008) At CAL, his senior year he captained the team that went 11-1 to finish second in the Pac-10 and helped recruit the team that later became back-to-back National Champions.
His swim experience consists of many USA Swimming Nationals, a NCAA Championship, and Olympic Trials; Coach Michael brings knowledge in the sport from the highest level. At the highest level of his success he was ranked 55th in the world for his 1500m Free in 2006.
After 2008 Olympic Trials he retired from the sport of swimming to become a part of Team USA’s Olympic Development team for triathlon. While training, he coached directly under CAL Head Coach Dave Durden as the Grad Assistant Coach during the 2008-2009 season. Competing for tri's brought him back down to Southern California to start coaching with Jan Lopez and MAX.
Metro Committee’s Age Group Coaches Chair 2012 - 2014
Metro Committee's Diversity Chair 2015-2016
Metro Committee's Vice Chair 2015-2016
Southern California Swimming’s Diversity Chair 2014 - 2016
Southern California Swimming's Vice Chair 2015-2017
Southern California Swimming's Chairman 2017-2020
2014 Assistant Manager for CA/NV vs. Itoman Japan Team
2014 Southern California Swimming's METRO committee's Coach of the Year
2015 Southern California Swimming's METRO committee's Coach of the Year
He is very enthusiastic to bring his knowledge of the sport and continue to grow the MAX Aquatics family!
