Ludivine Stsepaniuk
Head Coach

To reach coach Ludi, please email [email protected]

Born in France, head coach Ludivine Stsepaniuk has a storied synchronized swimming career. The European trained athlete began synchronized swimming at age 6. Her love for the aquatic sport magnified when she attended "Sirella" the first French water show starring Muriel Hermine, a French Olympic medalist and pioneer of French aquatic entertainment. Starting in a small club in the south of France, she was rapidly recruited to swim for one of the top clubs in Aix-en-Provence. Following numerous national titles, Ludivine moved to Paris to swim with the senior national team at INSEP where she competed for 2 years and earned national titles.  
Ludivine moved to Las Vegas in 2004 where she joined the creation team of Le Reve, an aquatic themed show created by Franco Dragone until 2015. After performing, she return to synchronized swimming and is now head coach of the Nevada Desert Mermaids and the 13-15 US National team.

Qualified 6 athletes into USA National teams

Head coach 13-15 Team USA Gold Overall FINA Youth World Champsionships 2022
Head coach of Youth USA national team 2021, 2022, and 2023
Head coach of Junior National team 2021
Gold medal at Panam games 2021
Head coach of Southern Nevada Desert Mermaids since 2016
Head coach of 12 & under USA national team since 2018
Owner and director of Ovia entertainment
Sag-aftra Stunt performer since 2016
Le Reve-the Dream performer and captain 2004-2015
Member of the French National team 1998-2004

2020 USA artistic swimming Developmental Coach of the Year
2019 Top 100 women of influence of Las Vegas
High score award UANA Pan American 2018
2018 West Zones Coach of the Year
2018 40 under 40 business honoree

Admin chair of Nevada association
Member of the National Team committee
Member of the USAAA Membership committee
Member of the USAAA LTAD committee
Chair of the West Zones nominating committee

Coached over 50 athletes for TEAM USA
Coached over 150 athletes at National development camps
Coached over 100athletes regional and state level

 

Benoit Beaufils
AG Juniors Coach

Benoit comes to us from France where he was born and raised. His artistic career began at the age of 7 when he started practicing artistic swimming and became the first male artistic swimmer the country had seen. He was France Champion in 1995 and got to participate 20 years later in the first ever Mixed Duet competition at the World Championships in 2015 and in the European Championships in 2016 where he placed 4th.

 

He moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and was part of the creation of Cirque du Soleil’s “O”. After 7 years in that show, he moved to “Le Reve-The Dream” in 2005 and is currently performing back at “O". While being part of “Le Reve-The Dream” he got to participate in many National TV shows, movies and music videos. His credits include “America’s got Talent”, “The Ellen Degeneres Show”, “Dancing with the Stars”, “The Tonight Show”, “The Latin Grammys”, “Paul Blart’s Mall Cop 2”, Brandon Flowers’ “Only the Young” music video and was part of the underwater stunt team for "Avatar: The Way of Water."

 

Coach Ben has been coaching the Nevada Desert Mermaids since 2019 and passes on his love and passion for artistic swimming to our athletes.

 

Kaitlin Naomi Staines
11U and 12U Coach, Technical Coach, Judge, Controller, Master Athlete

Born and raised in Sacramento, CA
20+ years of experience on the national level
Passionate, fluid, diligent, dedicated, technician.
 
Former artistic swimmer who is self-driven to succeed in and out of the pool. I have a strong history of competing for high-performance club teams including the Walnut Creek Aquanauts, the Santa Clara Aquamaids, Sacramento Artistic, and was a member of the 2012 US Jr National Team. I'm committed, driven, and hardworking with an internal drive to deliver excellence, creating a solid foundation in the technical aspect of artistic swimming. I've worked with and have been coached by the best of many countries including; Hungary, France, Russia, Japan, China, Great Britain, Korea, and the United States of America.
 
What I adore about artistic swimming:
  1. Is the freedom of artistic expression, using your body in quintessential timing with the perfect piece of music to engage an audience, to make them feel something.
  2. The day in and day out strive for perfection and the mental and physical energy it takes to achieve excellence.
 
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • 2009 Age Group Nationals: 13-15 Solo 2nd, Figures 5th
  • 2010 Age Group Nationals: Jr Solo 1st, Figures 2nd
  • 2010 US Open: Jr Solo 2nd, Figures 5th
  • 2011 Junior National Championships: Team 1st, Combo 1st, Solo 3rd, Figures 3rd (Walnut Creek)
  • 2011 Senior National Championships: Team 2nd, Solo 9th, Combo 1st
  • 2011 US Open: Team 1st, Combo 2nd, Figures 7th, Solo 6th
  • 2012 Jr/Sr Nationals: Figures 5th, Team 1st, Combo 1st, Solo 4th
  • 2012 US Junior National Team Member
  • 2012 Junior World Championship: Team 10th, Combo 9th, Figures 42nd
  • 2015 Sr Nationals: Team 2nd, Combo 2nd, Solo 5th (Santa Clara)
  • 2021 Masters Championships: Solo Free 1st
  • 2023 Masters Worlds Participant Solo

 

Maya Plotnitskaya
12U and AG Youth Coach

Maya has been swimming for over 10 years and coaching since 2021. She swam for the Nevada Desert Mermaids and later moved on to the Senior National Team, in 2018 she competed in the Pan American Championship where she took 3rd place in the technical solo and 5th in the free solo. Maya trained with the National Team for 3 years and competed at the 2020 French Open.

 

Nayara Figueira

11U and Assistant Coach

Coach Nayara is currently a performer in the ‘O’ show by Cirque du Soleil. A Brazilian native that has resided in Las Vegas since 2016, she began artistic swimming at 7 years old and has since accomplished many milestones, including:

  • 2x Olympian: Beijing 2008 and London 2012
  • 3rd place at the Panamerican games in 2007 and 2011
  • Head coach of the Portuguese National Team in 2015 
  • Coach at Clube Paineiras do Morumbi in Brazil in 2013 and 2014
 

Women's Swimming and Diving Graduates Eight in Spring 2020 ...

Lucija Letts
Sharks & Mermaids Coach

Former The Ohio State University swimmer and Croatian National Champion that retired after 14 years of swimming. In her last year of college (2020), her team won B1G TEN Championship for the first time since 1967, a special time to be part of the Buckeye Family. With many years of experience as a swimmer, she's paying it forward by passing on her knowledge and experience to younger generations. She has also provided private swim lessons every summer since retiring competitively, which brings her joy to be able to give that to our youngest swimmers. Paying forward the knowledge and beauties of swimming as well as seeing progress and the amount of fun every kid has is her motivation.

 

Connie Alvarez
16U Coach

Born in Minneapolis, MN. Moved to Las Vegas in 2022. 10 years experience doing artistic swimming and 8 years of artistic swimming coaching experience including highly competitive club teams, private lessons, the 10 year 1st place reigning state championship team in Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Additional experience includes 5 years working as a swim instructor. Recently graduated with a Masters of Social Work in 2022 at Simmons University. Swimming is my life, pride, and joy. I am more than happy to share.