HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, June 10. BRANDON Brooks, Coralie Simmons, Aaron Chaney and Serela Kay will join the Women's Senior National Team Coaching Staff, Head Coach Adam Krikorian announced today. Brooks Simmons and Chaney will serve as the Assistant Coaches while Kay takes on the role of Team Leader. Brooks and Simmons are Olympic veterans each having a medal to their credit while Chaney is a longtime official serving as the USA referee in Beijing. Kay arrives from the University of California at Berkeley where she was an assistant coach for the women's water polo team.
"Each one of these coaches is well-known and respected on the international level. During their successful careers, they have all at one point been the best at what they do," Krikorian said, "Coralie, along with being an outstanding athlete, is a passionate, creative, and driven coach and teacher. Brandon brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the goalkeeper position and is someone with a strong vision of the game, while Aaron has an international reputation that is second to none as one of the most respected officials in the world but is also known as an inspiring coach that emphasizes the fundamentals," said Krikorian.
He also highlighted the addition of Kay, "Serela has a great work ethic and is also an energetic and passionate person to be around. She has experience in every aspect of this sport and is a great addition to our staff."
Simmons comes on board from Sonoma State where she serves as the Women's Head Coach. Simmons is no stranger to the Women's National Team, helping the team to a Silver Medal finish at the 2000 Olympic Games. The winner of the Cutino Award in 2001, Simmons was named National Collegiate Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998. Arguably one of the top players in the world during her career Simmons played under Krikorian in her days as an undergraduate in Westwood. She has also spent time as an Assistant Coach at UCLA and the University of Hawaii.
Brooks joins the women's staff from the Men's Senior National Team where he played for parts of the last 6 years. A 2004 and 2008 Olympians, Brooks was just recently named Head Coach of the UCLA Women's program and prior to that served as the goalkeeper coach for UCLA, helping the Bruins to their fifth consecutive NCAA title this past May. As a player Brooks led the Bruins to consecutive NCAA Championships in 1999 and 2000, and earned All-American status on three occasions.
Chaney arrives after a longtime career as a water polo official from which he retired in 2009. A veteran of the MPSF and FINA, Chaney served as the USA referee at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Selected to whistle at various major international events, the Hawaii native and UC-Santa Barbara grad has also carved out a niche as a coach in the Orange County water polo community.
Kay graduated from UCLA in 2000 where she played for Krikorian. She helped lead the Bruins to national titles in 1997, 1998, and 2000. She was also a member of the USA Junior National Team earning Gold at the Junior Pan American Games in 1996. Prior to Cal, Kay was the director of the Santa Barbara Water Polo Foundation as well as an Assistant Coach at Princeton University.
Krikorian, Brooks, Simmons, Chaney and Kay are currently at their first major international competition, the 2009 FINA World League Super Final, set for June 9-14 in Kirishi, Russia.
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