Michael Kauveh Jafari
Head Coach and Senior Coach
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This is Coach Michael's eigth 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 Caliornia Swimming's Chairman 2017-Present
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!
Coach Michael can always be found body surfing some waves at the beach.
Tyrone Brown
Head Age Group Coach and Silver 2 Coach
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Coach Brown brings over 30 years of coaching experience to MAX
Aquatics, coaching college, high school, Club teams, and Masters.
As a four year scholarship Varsity athlete at Cal State Northridge,
he received a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology. He was an
accomplished swimmer competing in Backstroke and Butterfly for the
Matadors where CSUN won the NCAA Division 2 National Title three
out of four years.
Coach Brown enjoys giving back and helping his swimmers reach
their full potential as an athlete and a person. He feels that the
journey is what all swimmers will remember and take with them for a
life time.
Coach Brown will never be a Lakers fan.
Ceallach Gibbons
Senior Development Coach
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I grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and started swimming for STAR
Swim Team at age 7. I stayed with STAR throughout high school, and
went on to swim and play water polo at Wellesley College in
Massachusetts. After 2 years on the varsity teams there, I turned
my focus to open water swimming. I started training with the
Cambridge Masters Swim Team, and the Boston Open Water Swim Club.
In July of 2016, I completed a solo swim of the English Channel,
swimming the 21 miles from England to France in 15
hours and 26 minutes. I was the 499th woman to
ever complete the swim.
I will bring over 5 years of coaching experience to MAX Aquatics.
I've coached all levels, from beginners through masters and
everything in between. I love helping swimmers set challenging
goals, and I incorporate these goals into every single
practice.
I also bring years of volunteer experience with USA Swimming to my
new LSC here in Southern California. I have served as an athlete
representative for Minnesota Swimming, and am actively serving as
an athlete representative on multiple USA Swimming national
committees, including the Athlete Executive Committee. I conduct
governance workshops and leadership training sessions throughout
the country, and work very hard to ensure that athlete issues and
the athlete voice is represented at all levels throughout USA
Swimming.
Next up, I'm training to swim the Catalina Channel! I'm pretty
excited about ditching the chilly New England beaches for some
warmer Californian waters, but I'm not too sure how I feel about
the sharks. When I'm not coaching or swimming, you can find me at a
spin class or a yoga class!
Brandon Bailey Paguio
Gold Group Coach
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I found my
love for aquatic sports during my Sophomore year in high school
swimming for Monrovia High's swim team and taking on the challenge
of becoming a water polo goalie. I am driven to accomplish
difficult tasks and I find my success when I see others succeed. I
began working for MAX aquatics during the summer of 2014 as one of
the top child advancement instructors to have both passion and
dedication to improve ones swimming ability. I look forward to
enhancing each and every swimmer's technique.
Ice cream
cake and prosciutto pizza are my weaknesses!
Gabe Collins
Bronze 2 Coach
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Coach Gabe was born in Seattle, Washington but moved to California before he could remember. As a child he moved around a lot, he moved to Eugene, Oregon when he was in 1st grade, but moved back to California to start the 3rd grade. This is when I first joined a swim team in Lancaster, California, I swam during the summers up until he moved to Arcadia his freshman year of high school. His sophomore year he joined the AHS swim team and from then on has always loved swimming. Coach Gabe graduated from Arcadia high school in 2015 and took a gap year before starting college, in this gap year he joined MAX Aquatics for the first time training with Coach Tim and Coach Michael. Along with swimming with MAX he also became a coach for the AHS Swim Team for the 2015-2016 season.
My favorite events are everything breaststroke!
Jocelyn Jo
Bronze 1 Coach
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Coach Jocelyn grew up in South Pasadena, California and started swimming competitively with the Monterey Park Manta Rays swim team when she was ten. She then swam with the South Pasadena Sea Tigers swim team throughout her high school years. She graduated from South Pasadena High School in 2016 and is currently swimming competitively for Pasadena City College. Some of Coach Jocelyn’s highlights of her swimming career include winning the Rio Hondo League championship in the 100 breast twice of her four years of high school and competing the 100 breast at CIF-SS Division I in her sophomore and Division II her junior and senior years of high school. She is currently majoring in kinesiology at Pasadena City College.
Coach Jocelyn can always be found taking a nap, but when she is not taking a nap she can be found hanging out with her friends, walking the dog, or baking cookies and cupcakes.
Marco Flores
Interim Auxiliary Coach
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Coach Marco grew up in Arcadia, CA, and started swimming competitively at the age of 4. He swam for Rose Bowl Aquatics in the national group. Some of his career highlights include qualifying for Winter Junior Nationals and winning the 100 butterfly at the CIF- SS Division 3 meet his senior year. He then continued his swimming career at New York University, along with pursuing a major in sports management.
In his free time, Coach Marco enjoys watching and playing basketball, working out, and watching movies. FRIENDS is his all-time favorite TV show.
Irene Young
Interim Utility Coach
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Coach Irene grew up in Monterey Park, California and started
swimming competitively, at the age of 12, with the San Gabriel
Valley Aquatics before they dispersed. Shortly after, she swam
competitively for the La Mirada Armada before joining the Monterey
Park Manta Rays. She graduated from Mark Keppel High School in
2012, where she was a part of 2 CIF-SS Division 3 Girls'
Championship titles. In addition to competing at the club and high
school level, Coach Irene has also competed in both water polo and
swimming at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). After completing her
studies at ELAC, she transferred to Chapman University in Orange,
California, where she graduated as Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors
of Science in Kinesiology in 2016. Coach Irene is currently the
assistant coach for the Women's water polo and swim teams at ELAC
and has a great desire to coach the swimmers of MAX Aquatics. In
June 2018, she plans to relocate to Oregon, in order to pursue her
degree in Osteopathic Medicine. With these experiences, Coach Irene
hopes to contribute not only her knowledge of swimming but also to
be a role model to all her athletes and inspire them to dream
big.
In her free time, Coach Irene enjoys working out and hiking, going
out for boba and poke, and just spending time with friends and
family. When she is not doing said activities, she can be found
Netflixing her favorite shows: FRIENDS and Grey's
Anatomy.
