With over 20 years of full-time coaching experience, Bryan Mineo brings a wealth of expertise to our swim team. He is the founder of One With the Ocean, the world’s largest swimming community, and previously served as the Global Head Coach for Nike Swim. His coaching résumé includes thousands of athletes—ranging from beginners to Olympians—and he’s contributed expert swimming content to Triathlete Magazine, Active.com, Ironman, and more.
Fun fact: Bryan played drums in a band that opened up for The Beach Boys
Ilaria Simmen, Assistant Coach, Media Manager
Michael Avina, Assistant Coach
Taylor Wassel, Summer Coach
Taylor Wassel has been a Wind N Sea coach since 2019 and primarily coaches novice, white, and red groups. She joined the Wind N Sea swim team in 2017 and now swims with Wind N Sea and masters during the summer. Taylor graduated from La Jolla Country Day school in 2021 and swam on the varsity swim team all four years. She attends the University of Idaho and is on the women's swimming and diving team. She plans on majoring in Psychology and minoring in Women's Gender Sexuality Studies. She will coach for the Vandal Aquatic club during the school year in Moscow. Taylor is here coaching during the summers while finishing school and then plans to move back to San Diego to continue coaching year-round.
Paton McClung joined the Ospreys in 2007 with a depth of swimming experience as a coach and as an athlete. Paton moved to the area from Tacoma, Washington where he has been coaching for the past 12 years. In Tacoma, Paton was the Head Coach for the University Place Aquatic Club (12 years), the assistant swim coach for the University of Puget Sound (7 years), and the assistant coach for the Curtis High School water polo team (5 years).
Paton is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA). ASCA requires its members to continue their education through classes, clinics, books, and journals. Within ASCA, Paton is certified at Level 4 for USA Swimming, NCAA Division III, and NAIA. He is also certified at Level 2 for Masters swimming.
Paton’s background as an athlete began as a freshman in high school and took off during his junior year. That year, he was named All-American as a water polo player. In his senior year, he was again named an All-American for water polo as well as earning All-American honors in three swimming events. Paton's combination of grades, test scores, and athletic abilities earned him the opportunity to study and swim at the University of California, Berkeley.
During his 5 years at Cal, Paton overcame many obstacles, including a broken femur, to earn All-American status in seven relay events, two of which established new school records. At Pac-10 Conference Championships, Paton was a member of the winning the 400 free relay, where he split a 43.61 to help his team hold off Stanford. During all 5 years, Paton qualified to compete at USA Swimming's Senior National Championships.
His love of the sport extends from the deck into the water as Paton also trains with the La Jolla Swim Masters 4–5 days a week.
Student Athlete Coaches:
