Arcadia Riptides Swim Club Coaches
We are so appreciative of our coaches. They bring a wide range of experiences and offer expertise, much energy and encouragement to our swimmers. Not only do they strive to teach our swimmers to be fast through disciplined workouts and by teaching proper techniques, but they also aim to teach each swimmer to grow up to be outstanding individuals. Go ARSC!
Coach Brown: Tyrone Brown joined our team in June 2011. He mainly coaches the older swimmers. Coach Brown has over 30 years of experience in swimming. He was a high achieving swimmer, swimming for Cal State Northridge (CSUN) for 4 years, where he received a BA in Kinesiology. Three of those 4 years CSUN won the Division II National Championship. As a parent, he has watched his daughter swim at a high level in the age-group level. As a coach, he has coached at several local high schools and coached 6 years at Occidental College in the 90’s. Coach Brown has experience as a swimmer, parent, and coach. This allows him to push swimmers, counsel parents, and mentor younger coaches. On a personal level, Coach Brown is a dedicated Celtic fan, even though he grew up in Southern California. Ask him how many Celtic shirts he has.
Coach Alva: Alva Cha has been a coach here at Arcadia Riptides since 2008. She mainly coaches the younger swimmers. She began teaching at the age of 16, at the start of college. She has a Bachelor degree in Education, with an emphasis on swimming from China. She also swam with a state swim team in China, and was one of their top swimmers during that time. In the US, Alva swam with her college team, under a highly respected coach. Before coming to ARSC, Coach Alva both coached and was a life-guard at another pool. That is where she met and first worked with Coach Grace. As a coach, Coach Alva covers all fundamentals of swimming. Passion, hard work, and quality are 3 things she advocates at every practice. She is a no nonsense kind of coach, who can be very affectionate with her swimmers outside of the pool. During pool time, however, she is all business, doing her best to help each of her swimmers reach their potential. She sets high expectations, and for those who listen and work hard, they will do well. In fact, under her coaching, some ARSC’s novice swimmers have reached Junior Olympic (JO) time standards.
Coach Grace: Coach Grace joined our team in June 2011. She mainly coaches the beginner swimmers, both younger and older. She began life-guarding and teaching lessons at Granada Park in Alhambra when she was 15. She has always enjoyed the lessons much more than life-guarding. The thing she loves the most or finds most rewarding about coaching is seeing a swimmer improve and gain confidence as time goes on. Coach Grace swam on San Gabriel High School’s Swim Team for all 4 years. Later, she attended Hawaii Pacific University and received a degree in Finance. On top of coaching, she also works as a realtor and administrative assistant. She enjoys playing basketball and hiking on the weekends. She loves to travel, and has spent 4 months in South Korea, 1 month in France, and vacationed in Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. She hopes to see more international places soon!