Mike began his coaching career with Chinook from 2016-2019 as an Age Group Coach along with coaching summer league for the Fairwood Barracudas Swim Team. In 2021 Mike made the decision to come back to coach after swimming collegiately and finishing up a degree in business administration at PLU. Since taking over as Head Age Group Coach, Mike's swimmers include multiple Chinook record holders/top 10 performers, PNS & NWAG Regional Champions, PN All Star, Age Group Zones, and Future qualifier swimmers. Mike firmly believes swimming is a team sport and everone plays a role from the athletes, coaches, and parents. Building a community that supports our swimmers in becoming a better version of themselves is the most important part of team success. Mike is looking forward to another great season where everyone has fun, builds relationships, and creates memories that last forever!

I am so excited to be rejoining the Chinook coaching staff for the ‘23-’24 season. Chinook is a great program for swimmers to continue working on technique and fundamentals necessary to advance as swimmers. This will be my eighth year coaching the fantastic sport of swimming. My coaching philosophy is centered around building self-confidence in athletes through positive reinforcement and recognizing positive growth and development. Also, I strongly believe that teaching good-habit technique is the key to becoming strong, competitive and healthy swimmers. It is going to be an action packed and fun season, and I can’t wait to get started. Go Chinook!

Gunther started swimming in 1972 at the Boys Club of Hollywood and continued as a competitive swimmer through High School and Jr. College. He has been coaching swimming for over 30 years at mostly small swim clubs. In addition to coaching, Gunther was an elementary classroom teacher for over 20 years. His coaching/teaching career led him to both coasts along with seven years at international schools in Asia. Gunther has coached and helped develop, Olympic trials qualifiers, USA Swimming AG record holder, Central Cal record holder, Potomac Valley Swimming record, several USA top 10 AG swimmers. Gunther is committed to helping every swimmer achieve their full potential. Gunther has a Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration, along with a multiple subject teaching credential. Gunther has lived in the Pacific NW since 2016 with his wife and two daughters.

A lifelong swimmer, Clara has over 20 years of experience working with children. She has spent the last six years as an adapted swim instructor teaching children with special needs and physical limitations to enjoy aquatic recreation. She loves to connect with developing swimmers to help them build a solid foundation where they feel empowered to achieve their goals in the water. Because of her experience as an adapted swim instructor, Clara excels at explaining challenging concepts in a simple way. Despite her pink hair and playful attitude, Clara holds her swimmers to the highest standards and corrects errors in form so that these young athletes can achieve their full potential as they grow and learn in the water.

I started swimming competitively at eight years old in Southern California on the Mission Viejo Nadadores. I loved racing the 100 breaststroke and 500 free. I swam through high school on my varsity team, and decided to end my swimming career my senior year. I started age group coaching during college in San Diego, and loved every second of it, until the pandemic hit and my career came to a pause. My coaching philosophy is simple, I want to create a fun and safe environment that my swimmers can thrive in, and in turn be successful in their swimming careers! I am super excited to continue my coaching career here in Washington on this amazing team!

I started swimming competitively at eight years old swimming for the Fairwood Barracudas. I also swam varsity for 4 years at Kentridge High School while also being a captain my senior year. I loved swimming the 100 fly and 100 free. I started teaching swim lessons during my sophomore year of high school and quickly learned that I loved to pass my knowledge of swim onto others! I've coached for the WAC swim team and have also helped coaching swim camps for Fairwood. I currently attend Bellevue College and hope to transfer into a nursing program next fall! I am very passionate about helping swimmers become better each day and want to create a fun environment for everyone while they develop their skills!