Frank Grijalva
Head Coach
Frank was an age group swimmer in Northern California for more than 10 years. He qualified for many regional and sectional events during a time when that area was producing many national and Olympic qualifiers. While Frank was groomed in an intense competitive environment, he believes in a complete program approach which includes plenty of fun for the swimmers as well. Frank’s background as a behaviorist gives him a strong foundation in guiding young swimmers in development. His experience as a competitive swimmer informs his ability to motivate experienced swimmers successfully. His background as a Navy Special Warfare Diver assigned to the Marine Mammal program for 8 years has produced a unique understanding of hydrodynamics and behavior modification that he employs in training sets.
Since Frank's tenure as coach the Mariners have climbed steadily through the ranks of state swimming. In 2006 the Mariners were ranked 20th in the state and scored 12 points with 3 swimmers, in 2010 the Mariners scored 1,330 points qualified 26 swimmers, placed 7th and produced state champions in 7 events. The Mariner's qualified 9 swimmers for the allstar team and 6 swimmers went to Zones producing 1 Zone champion, several top 100 times and 1 top 16 time. The Mariner's have grown from 30 swimmers to nearly 100 in that same time frame and have swimmers from 4 states who proudly call themselves Mariner's. Mariner swimmers have also recently broken several long standing high school records and have their sights set on many more.
Frank is a level 2 ASCA stroke certified coach, and when he is not coaching he works as a consultant and program developer for at risk children who come in to contact with community systems both here and abroad.
