Hello Golden Marlins! I am so fortunate to have this job that I truly love. This is my 3rd year coaching the Marlins and I can honestly say it feels like family. Like most kids, I began swimming with a summer club and hanging on the lane ropes. At the age of 8 I began swimming year 'round first with the YMCA followed by USS and high school. Today I am a Masters swimmer and have recently competed in a 10K swim across Horsetooth Reservoir. My swimming took me many places and there was no match for the social impact it had in my life. By the age of 9, I was traveling often and swimming in regional meets. My biggest races took me to Florida for Nationals and Junior Olympics. I was also an All-American swimmer in high school.
As a coach, I would like to motivate each child to reach their personal goals. By teaching the latest in stroke technique I will help them gain confidence in each stroke discipline. I will encourage self-esteem, personal growth and an overall great team spirit. My hope will be that the kids I coach will remember me, as I remember my coaches.
Assistant Coach Heather Hemphill
Hi everyone, my name is Heather Hemphill, this is my first year coaching for the Marlins and I am excited to return to summer club coaching!
I grew up in Littleton and swam for Ken Caryl Swim Club from the age of 7 to 18. I also swam for Chatfield High School and during my senior year I began coaching for Foothills Swim Team and for Ken Caryl Swim Club. While at Colorado State I played water polo, for a while, and continued to coach for Ken Caryl Swim Club during the summers. During my senior year at CSU I started coaching for a small year round team. After graduation in 1999, I returned to Denver and was the head coach for the Woodbourne Wave and also joined the University of Denver Hilltoppers coaching staff. I remained with TOPS until the summer of 2006 when I accepted the Head Age Group Coach position with the Evergreen Hurricanes. I returned to Denver in the Fall of 2007 to go back to school at Metro State to get my teaching certificate in secondary science at this time I started coaching again with Foothills as the Golden Site Director, later in the year I accepted the position of Head Age Group Coach. During my coaching career I have had the pleasure of coaching all levels of swimmers from novice to state champions and zones qualifiers. Through my 15 years of coaching many things have changed but the one thing that remains constant is my love for the sport and my ultimate goal is to pass this down to the swimmers I work with as did my coaches and the coaches I have had the please to work with. The key to success in swimming is great technique and fun. I look forward to getting to know all of you, and having a great summer. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions coach4everatgmail.com (replace the "at" in the email address with "@").
Assistant Coach Sosi Papazian
Hi my name is Sosi Papazian, and I have been a member of the Marlins swim team for about 11 years, and through this team have developed a love for swimming. My favorite events as a swimmer are the 100 yard breastroke, and the 500 yard freestyle. I just finished four years competitive swimming at Lakewood High School, and am so excited for the upcoming summer season! I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you, and hopefully seeing you compete on the Marlins summer team. Marlins has a family atmosphere that can be matched by no one, and I hope that I will be able to create memories as a coach that will last as long as those my coaches gave to me.
Assistant Coach Andy Peoples
Howdy all. I am Andy Peoples and I am one of the assistant coaches for this season. This is my fourth season for coaching with the Marlins and I swam with the Marlins for seven years. I graduated from the Golden High School in 2003 and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 2008. I spent seven months in Alaska. I have swum since forever and I now enjoy helping others grow to love the sport. I have swum for summer club, USS swimming and high school. The group I will primarily work with is the upper division, but I will always be around to help the other wonderful coaches. I am always willing to speak to parents before or after practices about the progress of your child or children. I am really looking forward to another summer with the Marlins and working with all the wonderful swimmers. Here’s to a great season
Assistant Coach Abby Young
Welcome all Marlin swimmers and their families! I feel like I am back 'home' now being a part of this historic and awesome team. And, I am anxious to get aquainted with all the new faces. I am a Marlin alumnus. I joined the team (with not much of a choice) when I was 5 years old. Being the youngest of 6 kids, it was the ONE sport my mom could have us all competing and enjoying together at the same time. After the first year, I was hooked and continued on the team until I was 18. Looking back, I truly believe that the experiences and memories are priceless. The skills I learned during summer club helped me compete in high school, qualifying for state all 4 years. But more importantly, I made some of my best friends for life. What added to the fun was we were all from different summer teams, so the competition and camaraderie were continued all year long. It was a very tough decision for me when I reflected on my idea of a 'college experience' and decided not to swim in college at Colorado State. But, even today, two years after graduation, I remain convinced that the lessons you learn from this sport are so very valuable in the 'real world'. There is nothing quite like powering through those difficult and relentless practices and then just barely miss placing at a meet. Or having to work with coaches you didn't agree with and even harder, having to say goodbye to coaches that were your true mentors and friends. Luckily for me, there were far more coaches that remain positive influences in my life. Their one common quality was that they made swimming FUN and motivated you to keep improving and do your best. That is my hope and mission as I work with the Marlins this summer.
Swimmer Coach Jake O'Dell
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Hi my name is Jake O'Dell and this is my ninth season with the Marlins. This incredible team has helped me to develop a love of swimming. My favorite events are the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 200 freestyle. I am currently in my junior year at Lakewood High School. In addition to swimming with the Marlins, I swim with the Lakewood High School swim team during the spring and Foothills Swim Team during the winter. As a coach, I hope to get to know each and every one of you and contribute to the family atmosphere that makes the Marlins so great
Swimmer Coach Kari Sorvig
Hello, name is Kari Sorvig and I have been a part of the Golden Marlins since I was 6 (about 10 years!) I am a senior at Golden High School and also compete on the school swim team. My favorite stroke is freestyle but I have been known to enjoy butterfly. My best event is the 50 meter freestyle. I have had many coaches and will bring a little of something from each of them into my coaching. I truly love swimming and being on swim team. The sense of community is wonderful. I hope to inspire the kids i coach to do their best. Above all I hope to get to know the kids and not only be their coach but their friend and lastly to have have a great time with them