I’ve been coaching since I was 18 years old, but my official high school title came a few years ago: head coach—varsity boys water polo, then head coach of varsity girls. I took an inexperienced boys team, and we won our Division 1 bracket, upsetting four opponents from a low seed. On the girls side, we had a more experienced core but very little depth—two players were very raw—but we still made it though several upsets to win the div 1 title in CIFs.

Despite those successes, most of my efforts have been invested in recruiting my friends and their kids to play water polo, to share my love for the sport and to get them involved. Right now, we’ve got some great 12U players moving up to 14U, a solid crew holding it down in both 12U and 10U, and a couple of really hard-working kids in those in-between groups. Great families all around, and it’s been awesome to watch the culture grow.

And I’ve learned a lot.

I stopped coaching high school to free up my time. Most of my coaching experience was with elite athletes at camps and at the Olympic development program. Doug Peabody from Shores contracted me to help with some very talented players—Alex Bowen was one of them. I coached him as a club athlete in high school. Alex went on to become an Olympian. He’s a good friend. He actually married one of my second cousins, Hillary. My wife and I were in their wedding.

Alex was a diamond, and probably most influenced by his dad, Rod Bowen—a great coach who led Alex and his friends to a national 12U championship with a small Santee club called the Sultans. It’s not easy for an independent club to win something like that, and I’ve always respected it. That was many years ago. The youth sports ecosystem has changed dramatically since then.

Over the years, one way I’ve made a living is running water polo camps—some as short as two or three hours, some as long as five days. Most of my time has been spent teaching elite athletes, but a big interest of mine was teaching kids who didn’t know how to play—to play. To fall in love with the game.

I was reminded of that recently when I was walking into the Coronado Marriott pool. A mom stopped me. She pulled out a photo of her son—11 or 12 years old at the time with me and we both were smiling—at a camp I coached. She thanked me and said my energy and unique approach to teaching water polo had inspired him. He went on to play in college. Just graduated. She really credited that one day with me. Three hours. She credited that moment as a lever in his journey.

Was I the reason for his success? No. But maybe I nudged him forward. And to her, it mattered. That hit me.

The biggest lesson I took away from that? Be grateful. Tell people thank you. When they move you—say it. They might not know, and little sparks of gratitude have a big impact.

I had no idea I impacted that kid. But over my five-Olympic, 20-year journey, I’ve collected a lot of those stories. I played long enough to be part of the Olympic team when Ratko Rudic led a young Adam Wright, Chris Segesman, Dan Klatt, Wolf Wigo, Tony Azevedo, Merrill Moses, Brandon Brooks, Brett Ormsby, Larry Felix, Peter Hudnut, Layne Beaubian, Ryan Bailey, Merrill Moses, Genai Kerr, Omar Amr, myself and others. We toured California doing clinics and games with local high school and youth kids. Probably did 30 of them.

I learned from Ratko. From Tony. From Adam. From all of them. I was just 18. Tony was 19 but already an Olympian and one of the top scorers in the world. I took what I learned and passed it on to kids. And the one thing I added was that I’m stoked on water polo. I love it. That love—plus a smile amid effort, even when things are hard—that’s my secret sauce.

I learned the recipe under Randy Burgess. Hard practices. Legendary coach. A lot of people learned that from him. And in all those years of coaching, it comes down to one thing: give kids opportunities. And when they show up—give them more.

That’s what Coach Burgess taught me.

I was recently inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. I spoke about how Ratko taught me perseverance, how Terry Schroeder taught me inspirational leadership, how Dejan Udovicic taught me vision and planning. These coaches weren’t just coaches of mine—they were teachers. Masters of teaching. Masters of leading. Masters of planning and focus.

I believe in the idea that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. And I believe 100% that sports gives you a platform to stand on—one that can elevate every part of your life. Elevate us as humans.

Jesse Smith