PDST Coaches:
Peiyong Li
Head Coach
Coach PeiYong Li swam with the Sichuan Men’s Swimming Team & China National Youth Swimming Team during the 1970s. During his competitive swimming career, he won gold and silver medals in China’s National Swimming Championship meets (200 meters and 400-meter individual medley (IM) in 1976 and 1974).
After retiring from competitive Swimming, he graduated from Beijing Physical Education University and became a Sichuan Women’s Swimming Team coach after graduation. He was a coaching member of the China National Swimming Team for the 20th European Swimming Championship in 1998 and the National team coaching member for China during the 12th Asian & Pacific Swimming & Diving Championship in 1998.
Coach PeiYong Li received China’s National Level 1 Swimming Coach certificate (the highest level in China) and was awarded the National Outstanding Swimming Coach Award by China National Sports Bureau. He has more than 40 years of professional swimming coaching experience in China.
Coach Li immigrated to the USA in the fall of 2008 as a “National Talented Swimming Coach” under US immigration law. He is looking forward to contributing his excellent swimming coaching skills to this team and will take on a head coaching position.
In 2009, he founded PDST. During his tenure as head coach of PDST, he trained many outstanding athletes to represent PDST, Washington State, PNS, and even the United States in various competitions.
CoachLi is a US Swimming certified head coach (level 3 or equivalent).
Xiaowei Xu
Senior coach
As a swimmer at Chengdu Women’s Swimming Team, Coach XiaoWei Xu won five Gold medals at Sichuan Provincial Swimming Championship in 1974 (200m and 400m IM, 800m freestyle, and anchored in two 4 x 100m relays). After graduating from Chengdu Physical Education University, she began coaching in 1978. Since then, she has coached at Chengdu Women’s Swimming Team and was the Age Group Head coach of Chengdu Swimming Sporting School in Sichuan, China, before moving to the US. With her outstanding coaching work, she was awarded China’s National Level 1 Swimming Coach, the highest-level swimming coach certificate in China.
She was also granted the National Outstanding Amateur Swimming Coach Award by the Swimming Management Center of China National Sports Bureau.
She has 30 years of amateur, youth, and competitive swimming coaching experience. She has recruited and personally coached many leading Chinese swimmers in China, including Huang Xin: National Champion in 100m Butterfly in 1998 and 200m Bronze medal winner in the World Short-Course Swimming Champ in Paris in 1996. Huang Xin was a member of the Chinese National Swimming Team & currently a coach of the Sichuan Swimming Team in China.
Coach Xu has applied her outstanding swimming teaching and coaching skills with her new swimmers. Coach Xu passed away on March 1st, 2019. Coach Xu will always be remembered for her excellent coaching, caring, and passion for all PDST swimmers and our swimming community.
Leon Li
Senior coach
Trained by Coach Xu and Coach Li at Chengdu Amateur Swimming Sports School, Leon represented the Sichuan Province Team to attend the China Age Group Champ meet in August 1996 at the city of Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, winning 3rd in 50M Fly and Backstroke in the boy’s 11-year age group. In July 1997, Leon won a bronze medal in the 400M Free in the 12-year group at China Age Group Champ meet in Kunming.
While studying Communication major at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Leon coached youth swimmers at Chengdu Olympic Wind Swimming Team (OWST) for four years.
Leon came to the US and started his US swim coaching career at PDST in Sept 2015. In 2017, Leon was selected as the team coach of the National Diversity Selected Swimming Training Camp at the Denver Olympic Training Center; In 2018, he participated the National Swimming Training Camp as a present coach at the Denver Olympic Training Center.
John Michael Yasatake
Age Group Coach
John Michael is a former marine and an athlet in the National Professional MMA First-Class League. He has over ten years of experience as a lifeguard and a swimming instructor. After joining PDST in 2012, he became a swimming coach, private class instructor, and dryland trainer. Michael pays attention to athletes' physical training and athletes' spiritual development. Ryan Zhang, who he trained, won the 1500m freestyle championship in PNS Championship, and the women's 10-year-old mixed relay team, which he was responsible for, won the PNS Championship in 2012, creating a new competition record.
Jack Curtis Kelly
Age Group Coach
Jack has been a swimming instructor teaching various age groups, beginners, and swimmers since 2011. He was the Aquatic manager of the Jewish Community Center and is currently responsible for teaching low-age and middle-age PDST groups.
Jack is passionate about teaching kids and introducing the wonderful sport of swimming to them. Outside of swimming, Jack enjoys camping and hiking.
Mian Lew
Coach
Mian Lew started to teach swimming at SJCC after COVID capacity increased because she took precautions seriously. By now, her many years of teaching expertise have allowed her to use different instruction styles to best suit swim learners confidently.
Emily Huang
Coach
Emily Huang started her swimming career in PDST and has previously trained in the Senior Group. She presented the PDST Rely team during the 2017 PNS Champ and got top 8 of all teams. She serves PDST and is on the deck of the Pre-Dragons, Flyfish, Pre-comp, and Dev groups. She is also the assistant coach of the Senior group.
Shih-Yu Chen
Assistant Coach
Shih-Yu Chen graduated from the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport, Taichung, Taiwan, and became the Swim Lesson Instructor in 2013. With more than 15 years of lifeguarding experience and over six years of swim coach experience, Shih-Yu Chen's tasks include developing swimmers’ foundation (endurance, speed, technique), collaborating with the head coach on ensuring swimmers’ long-term goal achievements, and more.
