Current position | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Title | Head coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | Lamorinda Water Polo Club, Director | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conference | MPSF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Guy Baker was the head coach for the United States women's national water polo team competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. [1] [2] He is now the Director Of Olympic Development of USA Water Polo. [3] Baker had guided the team to a silver medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics (only players receive a medal at the Olympics), [4] becoming one of the most successful water polo coaches in Olympic history. In 2018, he was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. [5] [6]
Prior to becoming the head coach for the national team, he was the water polo coach at UCLA and California State University, Long Beach, beginning in 1985. At Cal-State Long Beach, Baker was a star player.
Baker coached both the men's and women's water polo teams to national championships. The men's team won the NCAA championship in 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000, while the women's team won the national collegiate championship in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Both of his teams won a national title in the same school year twice (1995–96 and 1996–97), a first for a coach. In his first year at UCLA, he was named American Water Polo Coaches Association Coach of the Year for leading the men's water polo team to a second-place finish in the NCAA tournament.
Baker was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame on October 11, 2014.
At the 2008 China Summer Olympic games, his American team lost 8-9 in the championship game to the Netherlands, and the team took home the silver medal. "Head Coach Guy Baker has presided over one of the most dominating runs for women’s water polo the last eight years plus and with 10 first time Olympians on the roster the future looks very bright for this group," according to USA Water Polo.
Brenda Villa is an accomplished American water polo player. She is the most decorated athlete in the world of women’s water polo. Villa was named Female Water Polo Player of the Decade for 2000-2009 by the FINA Aquatics World Magazine. She is one of four female players who competed in water polo at four Olympics; and one of two female athletes who won four Olympic medals in water polo. She is a leading goalscorer in Olympic water polo history, with 31 goals. In 2018, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
Kathy Sheehy, nicknamed "Gubba", is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2010.
Heather Danielle Petri is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal with the US women's national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, a silver medal in Beijing in 2008 and the gold medal in London 2012. She is one of four female players who competed in water polo at four Olympics; and one of two female athletes who won four Olympic medals in water polo. Her position is attacker.
Heather Moody is an American water polo player, who won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She was team captain of the US Women's National Team that captured the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and the only member of the team not from California. Her position is center forward.
Robin Mary Beauregard is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Beauregard plays the position of center defender.
Ellen Marie Estes is an American water polo player, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Estes scored three goals during the bronze medal game against Australia.
Natalie Golda is a former American water polo player and currently the head coach of the newly formed Fresno State Bulldogs water polo team to begin competition in 2018. Considered one of the greatest women's water polo players of all time, her senior leadership helped guide the 2005 UCLA Bruins to their seventh national championship. In May 2005 Golda received the Peter J. Cutino Award, given to the best player in women's collegiate water polo. She was also a member of the US Water Polo Team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2015, she was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame.
Kelly Kristen Rulon is an American water polo player. She won a gold medal with the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the water polo competition. She is also a bronze medalist from the 2004 Summer Olympics. Her position is driver.
Lauren Ashley Wenger is an American water polo player for the University of Southern California, who received the 2006 Peter J. Cutino Award as the best collegiate water polo player among Division I NCAA teams. Her position is two-meter defender.
Gregory Vaitl Boyer is a former American water polo player who was a member of the United States men's national water polo team and won a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
James Michael "Jim" Ferguson is a retired water polo player from the United States. He played on UCLA's team from 1968 to 1970 which included the undefeated 1969 team in which he received All-American honors. He was born in Kokomo, Indiana.
Elizabeth Anne "Betsey" Armstrong is an American water polo goalkeeper, who won gold medals with the United States women's national water polo team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2007 and 2011 Pan American Games, and 2007 and 2009 world championships. She is a leading goalkeeper in Olympic water polo history, with 102 saves. Armstrong attended Huron High School in Ann Arbor and was a three-year letterwinner on her water polo team. She then went on to graduate from the University of Michigan in 2005, where she was the goalkeeper for the women's water polo team. Betsey graduated with a bachelor's degree in English language and Literature. She is currently the record holder at University of Michigan with 350 saves.
Kenneth Monfore "Monte" Nitzkowski was an American former competition swimmer and water polo coach. He represented the United States in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where he finished with the eleventh-best time overall. Nitzkowski acted as the U.S. water polo assistant coach at the 1968 Olympics and was appointed head coach for the 1972, 1980 and 1984 games.
Timothy Andrew Shaw is an American former Olympic medal-winning swimmer and water polo player. He swam at the 1976 Summer Olympics and played on the American team at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He is one of a handful of athletes to win Olympic medals in two different sports. Between 1974 and 1984, Shaw won two Olympic silver medals; three world championships; seven U.S. Amateur Athletic Union national titles; and three U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.
Jessica Marie Steffens is an American water polo player. She was a member of the United States national teams that won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also played at Stanford University.
Adam Wright is an American water polo player and a college water polo head coach. He was a member of the United States men's national water polo team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the championship game, the USA team won the silver medal, defeated by Hungary.
Jeff Powers is a retired American water polo player.
Merrill M. Moses is a United States Olympic silver medalist, three-time Olympian, and three-time Pan American Games gold medalist water polo goalkeeper. He played college water polo for Pepperdine University, where he was an All-American and helped lead the team to the 1997 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship. Moses is now associate head coach in water polo at Pepperdine.
Ryan Bailey is an American water polo player and Olympic silver medallist. He competed in the Summer Olympic games between 2000 and 2012.
Terry Alan Schroeder, DC is an American former water polo player who competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics, in the 1988 Summer Olympics, and in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Schroeder is a chiropractor, practicing in Agoura Hills, California. He is a 1986 graduate of Palmer Chiropractic College – West where he met his wife, Lori Schroeder. They have two daughters. He is currently the head water polo coach at Pepperdine University, and has been since 2013. He also coached at Pepperdine from 1986–2005, but left to become the head coach for the United States Olympic team before returning to Pepperdine.