Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics - Cardinal Swimming : Coaches & Directors

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Joey Sementelli

Owner / Head Coach

Joey is the Head Coach & Owner of Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics - Cardinal site, Head National Group Coach, and the Volunteer Assistant Coach for the Stanford University Women's Swimming team. Under his guidance, the PASA-Cardinal program has been very successful. PASA is recognized as a USA Swimming Gold Medal Club and ranks as the top club team in Northern California.

Joey is entering his sixth year with PASA and second with the Stanford Women's team. In his first year on The Farm, the Cardinal finished second at the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships. Stanford boasted six NCAA champions and 10 All-Americans, who combined for 35 All-America honors. In addition, Sementelli worked closely with four Stanford swimmers who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In his second season, Sementelli helped Stanford to its first NCAA team title in 19 years. The Cardinal had 13 different All-Americans combine for 47 All-America honors, seven individual national championships and three relay titles en route to the largest margin of victory at the NCAA Championships in 14 years.

Prior to coaching PASA, Joey coached in Massachusetts with Shawmut Aquatic Club. Shawmut was recognized as the #1 club team in the country with under 150 swimmers. He was the Head Age Group Coach and assisted with the National Group. In Joey's final year, Shawmut won 2 New England Championships. Joey Head Coached the Framingham Swim Team, a developmental 18 & Under program. Under his guidance, the team grew from 80 to 220 swimmers and posted a dual meet record of 76-3-1. He was also an assistant coach for the Framingham High School Varsity Team. In 2011, Joey was one of two people to receive the Salute to Framingham Award for his outstanding service and work with youth in the community.

Joey was recently recognized by the American Swimming Coaches Association as the Pacific Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year. He is actively involved in swimming governance at the local and LSC levels, and currently serves as the Pacific Swimming Age Group Chair. He is an American Swimming Coaches Association Lifetime Member.

Laura Mitchell

Owner / Head Age Group Coach

Laura is the Head Age Group Coach & Owner of the PASA-Cardinal Site and the Lead Coach of the Senior 1 group. Under Laura's guidance, PASA - Cardinal has improved tremendously in recent years. PASA has won multiple Zone, Junior Olympic and Far Western Championships.

During her first years with PASA - Cardinal Laura was also the Head Coach of the SCRA Summer Rec Team (2010 - 2017). During this time, the team improved significantly and in 2014, the SCRA summer team won 3 championships and posted their first undefeated season in 13 years. SCRA remained undefeated for three years.

In addition to on deck coaching, Laura is on the steering committee that organizes and hosts a Women in Coaching Clinic each year. The Women in Coaching Clinic is a conference and forum for those who think about, talk about, and are invested in the development of swimming as a sport and career for women and girls. Additionally, Laura is actively involved in swimming governance at the local level.

Laura graduated from UC Davis, where she studied Organizational Sociology and Women & Gender Studies. Laura especially enjoys coaching with PASA - Cardinal because of its close knit community and looks forward to getting to know families through the aquatics program. She is an American Swimming Coaches Association Lifetime Member.

Greg Meehan

Owner / Coach

Greg Meehan is the Head Coach of Stanford Women's Swimming and an assistant coach with PASA-Cardinal.

In his time at Stanford, Meehan progressed Stanford from an eighth-place showing at the NCAA meet during his first season to a second-place effort in 2014 and a third-place showing in 2015. Regarded as one of the top assistants in the country during his tenure at Cal, Meehan took over the Stanford program after leading the Golden Bear men's swimming and diving program to back-to-back national titles. Meehan, who spent five seasons with the Golden Bears, was promoted to Associate Head men's swimming and diving coach in 2011. In Meehan's five seasons with Cal, the program produced a pair of NCAA championships (2011, 2012) and a runner-up finish in 2010. Prior to joining Cal's staff in 2008, Meehan was the Head Coach for both the men's and women's programs at the University of the Pacific. Meehan coached at Pacific from 2005-08, leading his women's team to a second-place finish at the Big West Conference Championships in 2006-07 and two fourth-place finishes.

Joe Brinkman

Coach

Joe begins his third year coaching at PASA. He is the assistant coach for the National Group and is involved in all aspects of the competitive team programming. Joe is also the volunteer assistant coach for the Stanford University Men's Swimming & Diving team. Prior to coaching with PASA, Joe spent three summers as a coach at the University of Michigan Swim Camps. During his time at the Michigan Swim Camps, Joe worked with swimmers of all levels ranging from age group to elite professional athletes. Joe was also the Head Coach of Tri-to-Swim in Williamsburg, Kentucky where he worked with adult open water swimmers and triathletes.

Joe was an NAIA All-American and school record holder during his collegiate swimming career at the University of the Cumberlands. He was nominated as an NAIA Champion of Character twice and Mid-South Conference Champion of Character. While at UC, Joe studied Business Administration.

Daiane B Oliveira

Coach

Daiane begins her second season coaching with PASA. Daiane is the Lead Coach of Age Group 3 and Age Group 1. Before moving to the United States, Daiane was the Head Coach for IronXtrme Triathlon Team in Brazil and was a coach at Parana Club, working with multiple competitive age groups. Daiane has been swimming competitively for the 16 years. As a professional swimmer, Daiane won a Short Course World Championship in 2014, was a Pan American medalist, and a South American Record Holder and Brazilian National Champion. Daiane received her degree from Federal University of Paraná, in Physical Education with a Masters extension in Exercise Physiology.

Renata Martinez

Coach

Renata is the Lead Coach for Age Group 2 and Senior 2. Prior to coaching with PASA, Renata coached for 2 years in Pasadena, California with Rose Bowl Aquatics. Renata was the Head Coach of the La Cañada High School Swim Team for 2 seasons. Under her leadership, the team moved from last place in the league to second place. Renata trained 14 CIF Division 1 qualifiers and 8 finalists from La Cañada High School.

Before Renata moved to the United States she taught and coached in her home country of the Czech Republic with Prague Sharks International Swim Club. She was the lead developmental group coach, head age group coach and senior group assistant coach. She was awarded the First Class Swimming Coach Certificate from the Czech Swimming Association, which gave her the opportunity to spend time with and assist the Czech National Team.

Renata received her Master’s degree from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, where she studied Physical Education and Sport Science. She is also an experienced athlete of over 12 years. She is an ASCA-certified Level 2 USA Swimming and High School coach.

Mitch Shanahan

Strength & Conditioning Coach

Mitch is the Athletic Performance and Strength coach. Mitch has an extensive swimming and fitness background, and brings with him more than 10 years of experience in the sport. He focuses on the importance of technique and biomechanics with concern to optimum performance. Prior to joining the staff at PASA-Cardinal, Mitch spent the last three years working as a personal trainer, swim and triathlon coach at Equinox in Palo Alto. Throughout Mitch’s coaching career he has helped develop swimmers of all ages, ranging from young age groups to adult swimmers. He has also worked with triathletes and has completed two 70.3 half ironman races himself.

Mitch graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Biology. During his time at Iowa Mitch competed on the Men’s Varsity Swim Team for two seasons before dealing with career ending injuries. His primary strokes were backstroke and butterfly. After swimming competitively, Mitch spent the next two years as an age group coach for the Iowa Flyers swim club. Many of his swimmers now hold Iowa state records.

Josh Rines

Assistant Coach

Josh is in his first year coaching with PASA – Cardinal and is assisting with groups at every level. Before coming to PASA, Josh was an assistant coach during the 2017-2018 season with Executive Swim Club in Manchester, NH after graduating from Bates College in May 2017. Since 2013, Josh has worked, and continues to work the Bates College Swim Camp program each summer in Lewiston, Maine where he works with swimmers of many different ages and levels from elite high schoolers to young age groupers. During his college career at Bates, Josh was a two-year captain, school record holder, and helped lead the team into the NCAA national rankings for the first time. He graduated with a BS in mathematics and physics, and a concentration in art and visual culture.

Kati McDermott

Coach

Coach Kati begins her first season with Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics. She comes to PASA with experience coaching at every level. Kati will be the Lead Coach for the Imagination & Discovery Groups, and will assist with the Age Group team as well. She has coached at the recreational, high school, and club levels and has worked with athletes ranging from beginner swimmers to high level age groupers. Kati developed a swim school and clinic for competitive swimmers while coaching in San Ramon. Prior to PASA, Kati coached for Peak Swimming.

G. John Mullen

Performance Consultant

Dr. G. John Mullen recently graduated from University of Southern California with a doctorate of physical therapy and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. At USC, he was a primary investigator at the clinical exercise research center studying lung adaptations in swimmers and the effects of tri-axial vibration for adolescents at risk for type II diabetes. He has treated and trained numerous athletes including NBA, NHL, professional triathletes, Master's and adolescents. John is a columnist for Swimming World Magazine, Swimmer Magazine, http://www.myhousecallmd.com/ and the creator of http://www.swimmingscience.net. Prior to USC, John was the assistant National team and strength coach of Chapel Hill YMCA in North Carolina.

As a swimmer, John received a scholarship and swam collegiately at Purdue University where he was a national qualifier. At Purdue he obtained a B.S. in health sciences and certificate in entrepreneurship. He is a native of Dayton, Ohio and attended Centerville High school where he obtained numerous All-American accolades.

Emily Schicki

Yoga Instructor

Emily Schickli has been regularly practicing yoga since 2011 and completed her 200hr yoga teacher training with Peacebank Yoga Studio in Redwood City in 2017. In her Hatha Vinyasa style training, she learned how to read anatomy, offer skillful assists, teach and practice yogic philosophy and Ayurveda, and develop original sequences. Emily hopes to share the gift of yoga because it’s allowed her to overcome injury and become more mindful in her everyday life. Emily has a swimming background with 7 years of experience teaching and coaching kids and young adults ages 3-18 in swimming and water confidence. Emily has also taught English literature, writing, study skills, social studies, and art.

Sorina Diaconescu

Yoga Instructor

Sorina is a Yoga Alliance-certified instructor with a personal yoga practice that spans two decades. She has been teaching yoga to young swimmers within the Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics program since 2013. Her work with PASA athletes focuses on promoting a balanced physique, equally flexible and strong. Through yoga postures, language and play, she encourages young swimmers to develop body and breath awareness and explore mindfulness techniques.

Sorina currently studies under the guidance of Indian-born master yoga teacher Anirudh Shastri, and has trained with such Western yoga luminaries as Tim Miller, Chuck Miller, David Swenson, Maty Ezraty, Seane Corn and Shiva Rea.

Off campus, Sorina works with clients of all ages and abilities both privately and at yoga studios within the Bay Area. A journalist in her previous career, Sorina received a B.A. in European Studies from UCLA and an M.A. in journalism from University of Southern California.

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