Michael Polak – Head USA Coach

• Coach Mike began swimming in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He excelled in distance freestyle events as an AAU (USA) age group swimmer, high school State finalist, and college Big East Championship finalist. He was drawn to coaching to give back to the sport and share the swimming knowledge that he has learned.

Michael Lorimer – Head Masters Coach

Born: Toronto, Canada, moved to Tucson at age 10 Age started swimming:Age 12
Favorite things: Michael likes to coach swimming, camp, fish and travel (when he gets the chance!)
Favorite events to swim: 100 Free, 200 Free
Swimming Accomplishments: Michael was on the 1st State championship swim team for Catalina Foothills High School. He broke the 200 Free record while at Foothills. Michael was a member of the Hillenbrand of Tucson (HOT) swim team which later became FORD Aquatics.
Other accomplishments: Michael is a senior at the University of Arizona majoring in Communcations and Business.

Michael joined the Stingrays 4 ½ years ago as an Age Group and Master’s coach.

Brian Anderson – Assistant Coach

Brian entered into competitive swimming at age 9, and swam competitively through high school. After high school, he served in the US Navy, attended the University of Nebraska, and the University of Washington, where he finally got his degree in electrical engineering. During this time, he occasionally taught swimming lessons, and coached on a volunteer basis. After graduating college, he began swimming again, primarily to stay fit and has been involved in US Masters Swimming every since.

While living in Vermont, Brian decided he wanted to get more involved in mentoring kids. His knowledge of swimming gave him the opportunity to do that, and he began coaching with Green Mountain Aquatics club in 2005. Brian’s day job, forced him to move to Tucson in 2008, where he immediately began coaching with Blast swim team, which then merged with Arizona Desert Dolphins.

Brian is married to Sue, and they have no kids together, but Sue has three boys who are grown, and living on their own in Oregon. In 2009, Brian & Sue participated in a foreign exchange program, and hosted a Russian girl for her Sophomore year of high school. This was an incredible experience for them, and now they feel as though they have a daughter in Russia!

Brian’s day job is as a product field engineer at IBM. When not working and coaching, he and his wife enjoy traveling, riding their Harley’s, and just about any other outdoor activity!

Mindy Grodzki – Head Lifeguard/ USA Assistant Coach

Mindy Grodzki moved to Tucson 6 months ago from the Scottsdale/Tempe area where she has lived for the past 11 years. She is a native Tucsonan and is happy to finally be home. Mindy has over 25 years of Aquatic experience and has a great passion for helping people excel in the Aquatics arena.

She is married to Adam and they have two daughters, Gabi (9) and Leksi (6). She met her husband while they both attended the University of Arizona. Adam is originally from Poland and came to the USA on a swim scholarship for the U of A.

Mindy’s aquatic career started as an age group swimmer at age 11. She was a varsity swimmer and Diver for Salpointe High School. She continued to work in Aquatics in college by coaching recreational swim teams for the City of Tucson and Masters Swimming at the University of Arizona Student Recreation Center. She has taught people to swim from the ages of 6 months to 88 years old including those with special needs. After college, her professional career has always involved aquatics.

She started out her professional career as the Aquatics Director for the Chandler/Gilbert Family YMCA. As the Aquatics Director, she was also the head coach for the swim team for the Chandler YMCA where she remained for 4 years. She was then promoted to the new Copper Basin YMCA where she was the Healthy Lifestyles Director. This new opportunity coupled her Aquatics background with her education in Exercise Physiology. Mindy then was given the promotion to be the Program Director at the Tempe Family YMCA. She oversaw the Teen, Fitness , and Aquatics departments. The Tempe YMCA had a very competitive USA Swim team and she was an integral part of the program. After being with the YMCA organization for 7 years, she accepted a Manager position for the City of Scottsdale. She was the manager for an Aquatics and Fitness Facility. She coached recreation swimming, helped train triathletes with the swim portion of their race on top of managing the fitness, learn to swim and group exercise programs. She worked closely with local High School swim coaches and privately trained many of their athletes.

Mindy is extremely excited about the opportunity to coach for the TJCC Stingrays. She has great passion for looking at each swimmer as an individual and helping them excel in swimming. She knows what success the team has already achieved, but also knows it’s potential to achieve more.