Coaches and Directors
The Arizona Swimming Gauchos Head Coach, Kyle White, has been coaching swim since 2003. Through this time, Coach Kyle has honed in his training and coaching philosophy which he brings to the Gauchos. The Arizona Swimming Gauchos training philosophy is quality swimming along with "athlete ownership" in order to create an environment of successful swimming. This is a unique and fun training philosophy that helps to reduce the risk of injury as well as create life long swimmers.
For more information on the Arizona Swimming Gauchos training, please contact us at [email protected] or at 623-824-1195.
Please read below for a more detailed bio on Head Coach Kyle White:
Head Coach Kyle White started his time with the
Arizona Swimming Gauchos on a volunteer basis back in early 2006.
Coach Kyle used that time to observe, then Head Coach, Charlie
Cunningham's coaching style. During the volunteer timeframe,
Coach Kyle was the Head Coach for a year-round swim team for
the City of
The time spent watching Coach Charlie was an eye opening experience for Coach Kyle, and completely changed his coaching style. Coach Kyle was so committed to the training philosophy of Coach Charlie, that he joined the Arizona Swimming Gauchos as an Age Group coach as soon as the first job opening came available. Coach Kyle White was extremely eager to learn and grow while coaching under Coach Charlie Cunningham, and did so for nearly a decade.
Once hired onto the coaching staff, Coach Kyle worked his way from entry level age group to Head Age Group Coach as well as developmental Senior Coach. Coach Kyle was promoted to be the Gauchos Head Coach in August 2015, succeeding Coach Charlie Cunningham following his retirement after 35 years with the Arizona Swimming Gauchos.
Kevin Kleissle began swimming for the Arizona Swimming Gauchos in 2012. He continued to be a 4 year state qualifier at Apollo High School and District Swimmer of the Year for Glendale Union High School District in 2017. For Gauchos Kevin made state every year until 2018 in many different events. Kevin went on to swim collegiately before returning home to complete his B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Performance from Northern Arizona University.
Kevin furthered his education by becoming a American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Physiologist and Red Cross Water Safety Instructor. He has been using his education as well as previous competitive swim experience to grow as a Gauchos coach since 2019 in hopes of providing the best possible training and opportunities for swimmers of all ages.
Bailey Kaufmann began swimming for the Arizona Swimming Gauchos in 2016, prior to joining the Arizona Swimming Gauchos Bailey swam for several other club swim teams in the valley since 2010.
After her time swimming at Paradise Valley High School, Bailey went on to get her Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University in Speech and Hearing Science. Bailey also graduated with her Master of Science degree in December 2024 in Communication Sciences & Disorders from East Carolina University.
She has 2 years of experience coaching for a recreation team in the valley, teaching swim lessons since 2016 with a Water Safety Instructor certification, and working with students at a local school district in the speech therapy department.
While swimming with the Gauchos, Bailey learned more technical swimming knowledge from the current Head Coach, Kyle White. Bailey took this training, as well as her previous years of training with other teams, and growing up around the sport, and used it to start coaching for the Gauchos in 2024.
Bailey has been and continues to be excited to teach swimmers of all ages to build their swimming skills, improve upon them, gain self-confidence in competition, and create a lifelong relationship with the sport and peers.
Coach Paul Wanamaker is tragically no longer with us after an accident on January 15, 2016.
We miss him dearly and he is always with the Gauchos in spirit.
Hannah Young began swimming for the Arizona Swimming Gauchos in 2007. She continued to be a swimmer of the team through her time at Sunrise Mountain High School. Hannah earned her B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Performance at Grand Canyon University.
While swimming with the Gauchos, Hannah learned much of her technical swimming knowledge from the current Head Coach, Kyle White. Hannah took this training and used it to start coaching for the Gauchos in 2019.
She has been excited to teach swimmers of all ages how to improve their strokes and gain a competitive edge.
Hannah and Ryan have been happily married since February of 2022.
Ryan Leff began swimming for the Arizona Swimming Gauchos in 2018. He continued to be a swimmer of the team through his time at Peoria High School.
Ryan is a graduate of GCU with a bachelors in Engineering.
While swimming with the Gauchos, Ryan learned his technical swimming knowledge from Kyle White. Ryan took this training and used it to start coaching for the Gauchos in 2021. He still occasionally coaches still, but mainly helps with rentals and pool maintenance.
Ryan and Hannah have been happily married since February of 2022.
