Mitch Gold

Head Coach

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Mitch brings 20 years of experience successfully coaching athletes of all ages and abilities. As an age group  swim coach he has led swimmers to the Sectional, Zone, and Junior Olympic Level. Coach Mitch is an American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Level 3 Coach, a member of the Positive Coaching Alliance and brings an extensive background in physiology and sports psychology, as well as an elite level structured and positive coaching style to the Palm Desert Swim Club. Mitch also chairs the Eastern Committee, Southern California Swimming for his second term. 

In 2018, a squad of High School swimmers bolstered Mitch’s coaching achievements with Akemi Von Scherr winning the 500 at CIF Southern Section Championships and qualifying for California High School State Championships and breaking the La Quinta High School record. Olivia Garcia from Coachella Valley High School broke all 11 High School records as a freshmen , and qualified for CIF Finals in the 50/100 Free. Overall, five of Mitch’s swimmers qualified for CIF Finals in 9 individual events

2017 brought Sectional level times to Mitch’s coaching credentials along with 12 Junior Olympic medals, including the 1500 Gold Medal and Silver Medal in the 400/800 via AVS and an11th place women’s team finish as the top small team.  

In the 2016 Long Course season, his squad of 15 Sr & Jr swimmers earned 9 medals at the Summer Junior Olympics including 2x JO Champion, Akemi Von Scherr in the 800/1500 with Sectional time cuts (a first for PDSC). Mitch also added a Top 10 Nationally ranked swimmer to his list of coaching accomplishments in Emmi Von Scherr finishing the 2016 season in 6th place in  the 1500 .

During a breakout season in 2015, Mitch proudly took four athletes to the Southern California Swimming Club Championships earning two medals (Erin Shen/50 breast and Lucas Brunett/50 back with a National Top Ten Time). Mitch also had 8 swimmers qualify for the Winter Junior Olympics in 41 events and earned 12 medals, including the crowning of a Junior Olympic Champion in the 100 IM (Lucas Brunett). Mitch also took 19 of athletes to the June Age Group Championships and Summer Junior Olympics.

Mitch brings a wealth of coaching experience to PDSC. Before joining the PDSC staff, Mitch filled the Head Age Group Coach with the Palm Springs Piranhas and Head Coach for Palm Desert High School Boys Team.

An athlete with a National caliber running background, Coach Mitch is also a multiple USAT All-American, 13-time World Triathlon Championship Qualifier and two-time Armed Forces Champion of the World Triathlon Championships.

Mitch is retired Marine Officer and University of Maryland graduate.

Tom Burbank

Head Age Group Coach

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Head Age Group Coach Tom came on board as an Assistant Coach in May,2016.  He retired in June 2016 after spending the previous 25 years as a high school social studies teacher with the Desert Sands Unified School District.  During four of those years, he served as the president of the Desert Sands Teachers Association.  In 2016 he coached the JV swimmers (both boys and girls) for Palm Desert High School.

Prior to his career in public education, Tom spent 15 years as a swimming coach, literally from Maine to California, and is an ASCA Level 3 certified coach.  His successful experience includes being head

coachof three club teams, head age group coach of a fourth, and head coach of three high school teams.  His swimmers competed at local, state, regional, and national levels.  His teams have won state championships, and individual athletes training with him have gone on to become national collegiate champions.  At every turn, Tom has been involved in the administration of the sport as well as the advancement of the coaching profession.  Between 1988-90, he served as the first National Director of ASCA’s SwimAmerica program.  He also was selected to the coaching staff of the Southern California Swimming Western Zone team in 1986.

Before becoming a coach, Tom swam competitively on interscholastic, club, and intercollegiate teams, specializing in middle-distance freestyle, breaststroke, and individual medley events.  He is a 1975 graduate of Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he earned a B. A. in Political Science and was captain of the swimming team.  He was born and raised in South Portland, Maine.  Tom is married to Julia Alberg-Burbank, with whom he shares six children and stepchildren as well as three grandchildren.

K.C. Carlene Dinneny

Age Group Coach

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After 8 years of competitive swimming with PST and the Palm Desert High School Swim Team, K.C. Carlene Joins the Palm Desert Swim Club coaching staff.

K.C. Carlene reached the Junior Olympic and Winter Age Group Championship level and is currently College of the Desert and majoring in Liberal Studies to become a kindergarten teacher. K.C. Carlene is working with Coach Ann-Britt to develop our 8 & Under and Pre-team Programs and is very excited to be coaching for Palm Desert Swim Club alongside Coach Mitch and Coach Ann Britt who were my coaches throughout her swimming career. 

Felipe De Jesus Avendano-Vela

Assistant Coach

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Felipe joined the PDSC Coaching Staff in August 2017 and works with swimmers of all levels. Coach Felipe primarely works with our Pre-Team and Developmental level groups. Felipe is from the Coachella Valley and swam competitively at Coachella Valley HS and at the University of La Verne.

Felipe has a BS in Movement and Sports Science with a concentration in education and works especially well with children, so you can understand why we’re so happy to have him join our staff. 

John Mook

Assistant Coach

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John works with our Jr Developmental group preparing them for the next level of competitive swimming. John joined the PDSC Coaching Staff in September 2017. 

Joshua Otteson

Assistant Coach

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Coach Josh works with our 8 & Under group and the Sr Developmental group preparing them for the next level of competitive swimming.  Josh swam competitively for 8 years and was a lifeguard/swim instructor in Malta, MT before moving to the Coachella Valley. Josh completed his Bachelor’s degree in ’99 and an MA in Educational Administration in 2006.

Coach Otteson has been a physical education teacher for PSUSD for 14 years and is currently the Department Chair for our Elementary PE staff for PSUSD. 

Natasha Anne Barsness

Assistant Coach

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Ann-Britt Dyrvig

Head Developmental, PT and 8&U Coach

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Ann-Britt brings a successful coaching and teaching career that spans over 20 years, the majority taking place here in the Coachella Valley.  Her swim coaching career has included jobs with the Piranha Swim Team, Palm Desert Aquatics, Palm Springs High School, and her native swim club Horsholm Swim Team in Denmark were she found her passion and talent for teaching swimming.  

As an outstanding competitive swimmer in her native country Denmark,  Ann-Britt was invited to swim with the Danish National Team as a teenager, traveling and competing all over the world at the International level.  She was an Olympic Trials qualifier and over her career competing at Denmark's National Meet, Ann-Britt earned a National Championship in the 200 meter backstroke, three bronze medals in the 100 meter backstroke, and made finals in several other events.  Holm is still swimming when she can find the time and as a Masters Swimmer won the 2010 Southwest Zone Championship in the 200 IM.

Ann-Britt earned her A.A. in Early Childhood Studies from the College of the Desert.  She is also an accomplished figure skater that qualified for Adult Nationals in 2000.  Besides athletics she is skilled in the arts and has done many performances as a solo singer as well as performs at the Palm Canyon Theater.  

Kelly S Emmer

Assistant Coach

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Coach Kelly joined the PDSC Coaching Staff in September 2017 and works with our Pre-Team and 8 & Under groups. Kelly is a former Palm Desert High School Swimmer and Water Polo player and continued to play Water Polo at the University of Redlands. 

Kelly brings a wealth of experience in aquatics, and served as the PDAC Program Director and the YMCA "Y Be Fit" Program Director.