Coach Gardner is bringing an insurmountable amount of coaching experience to Chinook Aquatic Club and we could not be more excited to start this new era of swimming under his leadership. Gardner swam competitively for the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!). He was a National YMCA record holder, a high school and NAIA All-American and an Olympic Trials qualifier. He is an inductee in the Tennessee Swimming Hall of Fame and was a 7-time YMCA National Champion as an athlete. He also was a 5 time recipient of the Southeastern Coach of the Year honor. 

Gardner served as Head Age Group Coach and Head Masters Coach for the Santa Barbara Swim Club from 1985 to 1991. In 1991, Gardner was announced as the Head Coach and Director of Swimming at Conejo Simi Aquatics Swim Team and served there until 1994. 

He has served on numerous USA Swimming teams including head coach for the United States National Junior Team in 2003-2004 and 2007-2008, Assistant Coach for the United States Goodwill Games team in 2001, Head Coach for the United States National Junior Team Camp in 2003, and for the US Swimming Zone Distance Camp in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

He also was the Head Coach of the Knoxville Pilot Aquatic Club where he spent 14 years until 2008. 

He then became the Head Coach of the Kansas City Blazers where he spent 9 years and moved their program into a Level 4 standing in the USA Swimming Club Recognition Program - the highest rating a club can achieve. This rating represents a strong, stable, financially sound, and athletically productive program. In 2019, he then moved on to be the Head Coach of the Tennessee Aquatics team which practiced out of the University of Tennessee collegiate pool - a Level 2 program. In addition to a full age group program, the club also serves as the representation in USA Swimming competition for most University of Tennessee swimmers.

Most recently Gardner was coaching at Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club and we are excited for him to lead Chinook going forward!

Coach Temujin brings more than 20 years of swim coach experience to Chinook Aquatic Club! He has coached at both the collegiate and club level. He has coached at Texas A&M University and Brown University. Temujin swam collegiately at Indiana University where he earned his Bachelor's and Masters in Kinesiology.

Sharon Wong is a site based coach at our Woodridge location working closely with Coach Gunther on the age group development of swimmers in our Red, White, and Blue Groups. As a former swimmer, she brings not only a competitive spirit to our swimmers but she also is compassionate at meeting every swimmer at their ability and bringing out the best in them!

Coach Ally has been a great addition to our already talented Salmon Program in Renton. Ally brings a great deal of experience of being a former Liberty High School swimmer, Fairwood Golf and Country Club summer swimmer, and also being a swim instructor at both Hazen High School and Fairwood Golf and Country Club. Ally has the great ability of creating great relationships with our youngest swimmers and bringing out the best in their abilities. She currently attended Bellevue College.

Coach Kyler brings fun to the pool! All kids gravitate towards Kyler for his ability to get hem excited for a day of swim practice. Kyler was a swimmer for the Fairwood Barracudas as well as Kentridge High School. He has also coached younger kids in the Fairwood Barracuda Bitty Program and we are so fortunate to have him at Chinook! He is also excited to start working towards his dream of being a sou chef in the future and looking to move to Alaska to explore all that the great frontier has to offer!

Gunther started swimming in 1972 at the Boys Club of Hollywood and continued as a competitive swimmer through High School and Jr. College. He has been coaching swimming for over 30 years at mostly small swim clubs. In addition to coaching, Gunther was an elementary classroom teacher for over 20 years.

His coaching/teaching career led him to both coasts along with seven years at international schools in Asia. Gunther has coached and helped develop, Olympic trials qualifiers, USA Swimming AG record holder, Central Cal record holder, Potomac Valley Swimming record, several USA top 10 AG swimmers. Gunther is committed to helping every swimmer achieve their full potential. Gunther has a Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration, along with a multiple subject teaching credential. Gunther has lived in the Pacific NW since 2016 with his wife and two daughters.

Julia started swimming at the age of 7 in Moscow (Soviet Union). In 1986 Julia won USSR national swimming championship and joined the junior national swimming team. Julia quickly excelled at sportsmanship and became one of the youngest captains in the history of the team, specializing in backstroke. She travelled the world with the team: Germany, France, Hungary, Romania, North Korea, winning multiple international awards. Julia took a break from professional sports career and graduated from Russian State University of Physical Training, Sport and Tourism in 1997 with honors cum laude.

Julia returned to professional sport in Ireland where she played on the Irish national water polo team for 10+ years. She was selected player of the year in 2005 & 2010, became a national champion multiple times, and travelled to many international tournaments in France, Hungary, Sweden, and Wales. At the same time, Julia continued coaching swimming and shared her love for the sport with hundreds of students of all ages. Her trademark is individual and friendly approach in a safe and fun environment.

For the past ten years, Julia has coached extensively in the United States holding various senior positions, including Water Polo Head Coach and Senior Age Coach.

Coach Grace has been one of our first coaches in the Salmon Program since it's infancy. She brings experience from her swim career in summer swim at Fairwood Golf and Country Club, a former Chinook swimmer, as well as she just concluded her senior year at Kentridge High school where she reached state! She is always bringing a positive and energetic attitude to our youngest swimmers and we are so proud of her attending Boise State University in the fall to pursue Education.

Coach Luke has been another great coach that has joined our Salmon Program. He brings a great ability to connect with many of our swimmers, keeping practice fun and joyful, while bringing teaching our younger swimmers great technique abilities. He has been a Kentwood swimmer where he just finished his senior year and will be attending Gonzaga University in the fall! He is a Fairwood Barracudas coach as well and we are so fortunate to have Luke on the Chinook team as well!