COACHES
HEAD COACH OF SOCAL AQUATICS
Head Coach of Platinum Group
Steve was a two-time Olympian (1976 / 1980) and won a Silver Medal For Canada in the 400 Medley Relay in the 1976 Olympics. Set two world records in the 100 SCM Backstroke and 100 SCM Butterfly in 1977. Seven-time All-American, NCAA Champion, and Team Captain at the University of Southern California.
Started coaching as an assistant to Hall of Fame Coach, Peter Daland, well attending graduate school at the University of Southern California. From 1999 to 2015 coached swimming and water polo at Foothill HS. In 2015 he became the Head Swim Coach at Tustin High School. Has been the Head Swim Coach at Servite since 2019. Current coach member of USA Swimming and is an ASCA Level 4 Coach. Selected as a National Junior Team Coach from 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016.
When not coaching Steve is managing the family insurance business, fishing, playing pickleball and spending time with his wife, Shelley and his four sons, Blake, Nick, Paul, and Cooper, his three daughters-in-law, Megan, Janelll, and Suzanne, and his 5 wonderful grandchildren, Kennedy, Robin Mae, Wyatt, William & Myles.
Assistant to the Head Coach & Head Coach of Silver & Bronze Group
Kyle started teaching swimming for the Tustin Unified School District in 2003 while still in high school. While at Tustin High School, he was part of the 2005 Century League champions and CIF relay teams. After high school, Kyle was an assistant coach under Coach Boyd Philpot for Tustin High School and under Coach Pickell with SOCAL Aquatics for a few years.
In 2010 Kyle left the aquatics world for an opportunity to serve in the United States Marine Corps as an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter. He retired at the rank of Sergeant in March 2015. After the military, he finished his BA in Business Administration and a Masters in Education with a multiple subject teaching credentials.
The call of the pool was too much for Coach Kyle so he returned to work with SOCAL in June 2016. He is also the Head Coach of the Boys and Girls Swim team at Tustin High School. When not on the pool deck, you can find him spending time with his wife Christiana, and two kids, Emma and Odin.
Head Age Group Coach, Pre-Senior 1 & Masters
Ben was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Canada. A graduate of Minnesota State University where he swam varsity and earned a BSc in Exercise Physiology. Swam competitively for 14 years. Ben is the current MSU record holder in the 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly. Also a ten time NCAA II All-American and a two-time NCAA II medalist in 100 fly and 100 backstroke. Competed in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle at the 2008 Candian Olympic Trials, placing 23rd in the 100 butterfly.
Began coaching in 2004 and is in his eighth season as the Head Coach of the Pre-Senior 1 group. Current ASCA Level III coaching certification Since beginning his tenure with the team in the 2010/2011 season, six of his athletes have combined to break 27 team records. Owns and operates the In Depth Swim School - a private swim lesson business in Newport Beach, CA, and has taught hundreds of children of all ages water safety and stroke mechanics.
Assistant Coach of Platinum & Gold Group
Frisk Driscoll joins SoCal Aquatics all the way from Connecticut after working as the Assistant Coach of the Men's and Women's Swim teams at Fairfield University.
Frisk also spent time coaching his high school alma mater, Staples High School. Highlights included multiple High School All-Americans and the 2014 team achieving a 10-1 record, a second place finish at the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference Championships and being named FCIAC Coach of the Year.
Competitively, Frisk had success as a student-athlete swimming for the University of Connecticut and receiving a degree in Sports Management after graduating in 2010. He made it to the finals in the 1650 Freestyle at the Big East Conference Championships three years in a row.
Assistant Coach of Platinum & Gold Group
A 1975 graduate of Tustin California’s Foothill High School, Bruce is the third of four highly successful aquatic brothers, often referred to as “Orange County California’s First Family of Swimming.” Older brother, Steve, a two-time swimming Olympian (1972 Olympic Bronze Medallist and 1976 Olympic Team Captain), and Bruce are among a rare group of siblings, in any sport, to make the same Olympic Team. Unfortunately the heartbreaking IOC decision to remove the 200-meter Individual Medley from the 1976 Olympics robbed Bruce and Steve of the unique opportunity to compete against each other in an Olympic swimming event. However, Bruce and Steve do share the distinction as the>. Bruce broke Steve’s 200-meter Individual Medley World Record in August of 1975, while competing against Steve in the U.S. Sr. National Championships in Kansas City, KS. In that same meet, Bruce and Steve, swimming for Long Beach Swim Club, shared the equally unique accomplishment, (along with teammates Tim Shaw and Rex Favaro), as the last club team to break a swimming relay World Record (4 x 200-meter freestyle relay). Earlier that same summer at the World Championship Team Trials in Long Beach, CA, Bruce also accomplished the rare feat of breaking the same World Record twice in the same day (June 18, 1975) in the 200-meter freestyle.
In 2016, furthering their exemplary career as a world-class swimming duo, a panel of 20 coaches, swimmers, administrators and media members selected Bruce, and brother, Steve, to the Pacific 12 Conference’s All-Century Men’s Swimming and Diving Team. Bruce and Steve were two of ten USC Trojans receiving this illustrious honor>
Bruce was twice named World Swimmer of the Year,>Robert J. H. Kiphuth Award as the high point winner at the U.S. National A.A.U. Outdoor Championships. He was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1987. In May of 2001, Bruce was inducted into the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame; the fourth male swimmer in the school’s 125-year history awarded the honor. Bruce also participated in carrying the Olympic flame as a participant of the 1984, 1996 and 2004 Olympic Torch Relays in the Los Angeles area.
It is also interesting to note that in the midst of these extraordinary athletic accomplishments, and throughout much of his prime swimming career, Bruce became noted for achieving athletic success in spite of waging a quiet and very personal battle against the crippling arthritic disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis, an affliction from which he has suffered since the age of 16.
A licensed California Real Estate Broker for the past 30 years, Bruce has marketed and sold over $1 Billion worth of multi-family and commercial real estate. He is a Senior Vice President and Broker Associate with Berkadia Apartment Real Estate Advisors,>
Bruce is a founding and current board member of Swim with Mike, a non-profit organization, which provides financial scholarships to physically challenged athletes enabling them to attend college. Swim with Mike was established in 1981 following a tragic motorcycle accident which left his close friend and USC swim teammate, Mike Nyeholt, paralyzed from the chest down. Bruce is also an active supporter of the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the YMCA of Orange, the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Villa Park High School Aquatics, and San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church.
Bruce is a 1979 graduate from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications, where he received his B.A. degree in Journalism. He resides in Villa Park, California along with his wife Sharon, and their four children, Kyle, Troy, Brooke and Quinn. His son, Kyle, is a member of the USC Class of 2016 and played water polo for the university.
Co-Head Coach of Pre-Senior 2
Kristy has been in the water, on the pool deck or watching races from the stands for over four decades. She started swimming for her neighborhood summer team in Michigan as a young girl and quickly realized how much she loved the sport, mainly because "you can't tell you're sweating so much when you're already wet in the water!"
Head Coach of Black 1 and Minnows
Pristine was born and raised in the Philippines. Upon
moving to Tustin, she began swimming for SOCAL Aquatics at 10 years
old. She later swam for Beckman High School and was the Varsity
team captain during her senior year. Her coaching began at a young
age of 15, where she helped coach SOCAL Aquatics’
pre-competitive team. During the same year, she also began teaching
swim lessons at Beckman High School through the Tustin Unified
School District’s Learn-to-Swim programs.
After graduating high school, Pristine started coaching with SOCAL
full-time. While helping younger swimmers achieve their goals at
SOCAL, she also coached the Open Girls swim team at Beckman High
School (2011-2012), then later moved on and helped the Foothill
Frosh/Soph Girls swim team to win League Championships for two
years in a row (2014 and 2015).
Since the beginning of her coaching career at SOCAL (2010),
Pristine has coached swimmers to break multiple team records
and win individual and relay events at Age Group Championship
Meets.
Pristine has a degree in Psychology from Cal State Fullerton. After
graduating from CSUF, she taught Kindergarten for five years while
coaching at SOCAL. On top of being a full-time swim coach, she runs
her own private swim lesson business around Tustin and Irvine. When
off the pool deck, she loves to hike, run, cook, and explore new
places.
Head Coach of Black 2
Brooke started out swimming in her early years on her neighborhood summer league team, Tustin Dolphins. She used to coach with Tustin Dolphins and coached private lessons in 2019 and 2020. She began swimming competitively with SOCAL the summer after her freshman year of high school in 2019 at Tustin High School. While at Tustin High, she competed on the varsity team all four years and was a part of the 2021 and 2022 CIF teams. She is now going to school at Orange Coast College where she is majoring in Sociology and is continuing competitive swimming on the school's team. She plans to transfer after 2 years to UC Davis. Outside of school and swimming, Coach Brooke enjoys cooking and baking, spending time with friends (especially taking trips to Joe's Italian Ice!), and watching Grey's Anatomy.
Head Coach of Sea Turtles
Karen was born and raised in Orange County by swim school owners. At 3 years old she started swim team and at 10 years old she ranked top 16 nationally in 3 events. She played club water polo, basketball, and would assist her parents with teaching swimming lessons where she eventually became employed full time at age 15. After high school she continued to teach and coach pre competitive level swimming. She completed her AA in Spanish at Golden West College and got certified as a holistic health coach with IIN and was YA certified and taught Yoga at Corepower Yoga. In 2013 she became the training director for Watersafe Swim School where she helped start the Swordfish pre-competitive and competitive swim team. Her business expanded world wide to training swim teachers and staff using the Smart Fish Method that was established by her and her mother Ginny Flahive Ferguson. Today Karen and her husband Jack have 3 kids, Robert, Monet & Sagan. Together with her husband, they own Smart Fish Academy with the hopes of one day having a training facility for swim teachers to learn and grow. Her mission is to strive for excellence in skill, while inspiring a love for the sport she grew up in.
