Debbie Potts

Head Senior Coach

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Debbie Potts, CEO, Aquatics Director and Head Senior Coach 

email: swimfordeb@msn.com    

Debbie has been coaching club for 26 years.  In 1989, she formed Mission San Jose Aquatics, and she has been coaching there ever since.    Debbie's experience, education, vision, energy, enthusiasm, dedication, management skills, creativity, and most of all, her "love" for the sport, has helped MSJA grow considerably.  In 18 years, MSJA has grown from a 39-member swim team to a nearly 2,000 member multi-program organization.  Currently, MSJA has 218 swimmers on our year round team, and our gender split is 112 boys and 106 girls. We also have more than 500 swimmers participating on our seasonal teams. In 1996 Debbie became a program director for SwimAmerica. That first year, we taught 311 students to swim in one facility.  In ten years our summer SwimAmerica 8-week program, has grown to over 1000 students, taking multiple 2-week sessions, at three locations. 

Debbie's background includes 13 years of competitive swimming, 6 years of elementary school teaching and 26 years of USA coaching. Debbie first started coaching 10-unders, and then moved on to 9-12 year olds, and for the past 15 years, she has coached senior swimming.  She has helped produce World-Ranked Swimmers, Olympic Trial Qualifiers/Finalists, National Age-Group Record Holders, 16 Pacific Records, High School Champions, High School All-Americans, Scholastic All-Americans, Far Western and Western Zone Champions and ASCA National Stroke Champions. In addition her swimmers have won medals at USA Sectionals, Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals, the World Cup, US Open and the Olympic Festival.  In all, she has coached her swimmers to 214 National Reportable Top 16 Individual Rankings, 11 Number 1 Individual rankings and 49 relays have achieved National Rankings with 10 of the relays ranked number 1 in the nation.  

Debbie's positive attitude and work ethic has greatly influenced the athletes she works with. Her swimmers have learned the value of hard work, persistence and dedication.  Besides coaching the senior group, Debbie is responsible for the overall success and development of the entire aquatic program, which includes, but is not limited to:  the hiring of staff, coaches education, staff evaluations, staff meetings, group structure and guidelines, pool scheduling, marketing, meet schedules, travel meets, swimmer's socials, team goals, team budget, staff education and team newsletters.  Debbie is also the program director for SwimAmerica and she is responsible for all Seasonal MSJA Teams.     

Debbie is an American Swim Coaches Association Level 5 Coach, the highest level you can receive.  She has been named one of the USA's top 100 coaches and in addition one of the top 5 teaching coaches in the country.  Debbie's book "Drills and Games, A Fun Way To Run A Practice" is on the American Swim Coaches Association must read list. She is a highly sought after sponsored speaker who has spoken at swim clinics across the country showing coaches her training and teaching methods.  Debbie is a lifetime Fremont resident who is committed to making MSJA the finest aquatic program for developing young people.  

Debbie's life-time dream is to build a swim center in Fremont. For the past 2 years, with the assistance of many professionals, Debbie has been trying to build an indoor world class aquatic center in Fremont, housing a 50-meter by 25-yard pool, a separate 25-yard by 30-yard pool with a zero entry, a gym, multi-purpose room, cafe, and pro-shop.  She has secured a loan for $13.3 million dollars, and she has the design and business plan to build and operate a center of this magnitude. 

Isadore O Real

Head Age-Group Coach

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Izzy Real, Vice President, CFO, Head Age-Group Coach

email: izzyr1105@msn.com

With 28 years of coaching experience, Izzy Real serves as MSJA's Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Head Age-Group Coach.  Izzy began his coaching career with the Newark Swim Club as their Head Coach. He then worked with the Glenmoor Swim Club for 2 years as their Head Age-Group Coach and for 1 year as their Head Senior Coach. He has also worked on the coaching staffs of Bay Area Aquatics and Fremont Swim and Aquatic Club. Before joining MSJA, Izzy was the Head Age-Group Coach for West Coast Aquatics. Izzy joined the MSJA Coaching Staff in 1991 and he has worked with every group on the swim team, ranging from the novice to national level.

Izzy has been an intricate part of MSJA for the past 16 years.  His longevity with the program contributes to his outstanding leadership and vision for MSJA's future success.  Izzy is sensitive to the needs of each individual swimmer and feels while it is important to work toward team goals, it is equally important to work towards the individual goals of each of his swimmers. There is a mutual respect between Izzy and his swimmers that is unmatched.  In his 28 years of coaching, Izzy has learned how to effectively train and prepare his athletes for advancement and competition.

Besides coaching the Elite group, and site supervising SwimAmerica, Izzy is our Vice President, CFO, Team Store and Equipment Manager, and club tabulator,  maintaining rosters, team records, our top 10 and meet profiles for each swimmer on our team.  Izzy also produces our team video presentation for our annual awards banquet.

Izzy has been selected as a coach member to Pacific All-Star coaching staffs.  He has coached National Reportable Top 16 swimmers, a National Champion Relay Team, Pacific Reportable Top 10 swimmers, Pacific All-Star's, Western Zone all-stars, Far Western Champions, Western Zone Champions, 4 Schleuter National Stroke Champions, and in 1996, had his first Pacific Record Holder.   In his 28 years of coaching, he has had the pleasure of coaching many of the Mission Valley Athletic Leagues (MVAL) most successful swimmers, many of which have competed and some who still compete at the National and Collegiate level.  

Through his natural wit and humor, Izzy has been able to put swimming in the right perspective for his swimmers during those adolescent years when they need the support of someone who understands.  Coaching, swimming continues to be a fun experience for him. 

Michelle Conan

Age-Group Coach

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Michelle Conan, Age-Group Coach, Secretary of the Board

email: coachmichelleconan@gmail.com

Michelle began her MSJA swimming career in the spring of 1991 and has been a part of MSJA ever since. She has won Coaches Awards, Most Inspirational Awards, Most Improved Swimmer Awards, Lane of Fame Award winner. In fact she has been an individual award winner at our Annual Awards Banquet every year she has been on the team.  Michelle also holds the distinction of being one of only four MSJA Lifetime award winners, an award given on rare occasions to a person who has given MSJA a lifetime of commitment.

After graduating from Archbishop Mitty, Michelle attended San Jose State University where she earned a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration. At SJSU her passion for swimming continued, where she swam for 4 years under the tutelage of Olympic Gold Medallist Pablo Morales. None to our surprise she became an outstanding team leader and was named captain of the SJSU swim team her junior and senior year. Michelle's leadership and team pride earned her an athletic scholarship her final year at SJSU.

Michelle coaches our Frogs, Fastducks, and Dolphins and assists with our Marlins.  She also supervises our SwimAmerica^tm lesson program, coaches seasonal teams, and serves as Secretary of the Board.

Michelle is a natural when it comes to coaching.  Michelle does an extraordinary job with this large group and she finds a way to make every one of her swimmers feel special and proud of their accomplishments.  Michelle is creative and comes up with some fun incentive programs.  She is dependable, organized, and professional.

Michelle's passion for swimming is unmatched and she has and will continue to pass this enthusiasm over to her swimmers. Through her years of Age Group and Senior Group swimming with Coaches Izzy and Debbie, Michelle has gathered a plethora of swimming knowledge. This past season she took that knowledge and guided our Age Group program with passion and enthusiasm.

Gene Kendall

Age-Group Coach

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Gene Kendall, Age Group Coach

email: gkendall@ohlone.edu

 

During Gene's extensive coaching career, he as worked with every level from the novice swimmer to collegiate athlete. With over 40 years of swimming experience, Gene brings a wealth of experience to MSJA.

 

Gene earned a Master of Arts degree in Human Performance from St. Mary's College and is currently the Head Swimming and Water Polo coach at Ohlone College, a position he has held for the past 12 years. Gene's extensive background in swimming includes: 15 years of competitive swimming with the Santa Clara Swim Club, 2 years head coach with the Newark Swim Club, 8 years head age-group coach with Fremont Swim and Aquatic Club, 2 years as the Aquatics Director and head senior coach with Bay Area Aquatics, 14 years as the head swim coach at Irvington HS, 9 years as the head coach of Kennedy Seals Summer Team. Gene has coached with MSJA for the past 8 years and has served as Senior Assistant, Junior Coach and Age-Group Coach. 

 

Lisa Petersen

Marlins Coach

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Lisa Petersen, Elite Group Assistant and Coach of the Junior Group

email: petersen.lisa@gmail.com

Lisa has been swimming competitively since age 4.  First, through summer recreational team Mission Highlands , then USS team Fremont Area Swim Team, and then Mission San Jose Aquatics.  As a member of MSJA, Lisa achieved accomplishments such as Coaches Award, Scholar Athlete, Top 10 Times, 800 yard Free Relay team record, and nearly all life-time bests at every championship meet.

Lisa attended Mission San Jose High School and excelled in both water polo and swimming, earning a White Sweater award for 8 varsity letters.  She qualified for North Coast Section all 4 years of swimming, was MVAL event champion, captain of water polo and swimming, MVAL All-League in water polo, 3-time Coaches Award, Most Inspirational Award, Most Valuable, Athlete of the Month for MSJ, and Athlete of the Year (swimming female) by the Argus in 2000. 

After high school Lisa attended University of California at Davis where she was accepted on a swimming scholarship.  In her first year Lisa saw the UC Davis Women’s swim team win the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference for the first time in Davis history.  Also, Lisa qualified for NCAA Division 2 National Championship her freshman year and was on a record setting 800 Free Relay.  She was elected team captain her sophomore year of college and served 3 years at team captain as UC Davis transitioned into Division 1 status and competition.  Lisa was able to help lead the team as they captured the 2^nd place title in only their second year in the Big West conference.  Lisa has earned a place in the Top 10 Times in the 1000 free, Most Inspirational Award, 3-time Aggie Pride Award, and Coaches Award.  While at Davis Lisa was also a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee which consisted of student-athlete leaders managing and connecting athletics, academics, faculty, and philanthropy.  Lisa was also involved in many other leadership and volunteer opportunities throughout college.

Lisa recently graduated UC Davis in June 2006, with a Bachelors degree in Religious Studies and a double minor in Managerial Economics and Communications.  After finishing her collegiate athletic eligibility Lisa has not stayed away from the water for long; she has joined a local masters swim team and plans to continue to compete in swimming and triathlons.  Lisa now excitedly joins MSJA again, not as a swimmer but as a coach.  Lisa looks forward to being able to give back to the sport that has given her so much as she partners alongside MSJA athletes as they succeed at new levels of performance, fitness, and fun.