Welcome New Coaches!

Benicia Stingrays

Hi Team,

 

With the upcoming change in practice times to the morning, Coach Miguel and Coach Karissa will give us their valuable assistance and motivation at meets only. They cannot be on deck for our morning summer practices as they have been during the afternoon spring practices.  

This makes us very sad AND we are excited to add 3 additional coaches to our staff to help with summer practices and meets!  

  • Coach Steve Mainini
    • ​Coach Steve will be joining us on Tuesdays and Thursdays to assist with practice.  He is a frequent visitor to our home meets so you may recognize his face!  He has decades of swimming and swim coach experience, having competed for Pinole as a youth, and then coaching summer rec teams, USA year-round swim teams, and master's level swimmers.  Most recently, he was one of the two head coaches for the Stingrays before he stepped down to spend more time with his family (which is when we were fortunate to have Coach Mariska take over the program!)  Coach Steve has a loud voice that carries across the pool and we are so excited to have his voice back to the Stingrays!  He is proof that once you get bit by the swimming bug, you can never really shake it off!   

 

  • Coach Aden Li
    • Coach Aden will be with us for 2-3 practices per week and some meets.  Aden began his swim career with the Stingrays when he was 6.  He won County Championships as a 9/10-year-old and then left to compete year-round with the Terrapins in Concord.  Aden competes at the national level in swimming and will compete for his college this upcoming year.  Aden holds 4 of the 9/10 age group records for the Stingrays and has broken numerous records at Benicia High School.  He has also qualified for, and competed at, the State High School Championship Meet multiple times, finishing with top 10 results.

 

  • Coach Elian Salindong
    • ​​Coach Elian will be with us for Friday practices and most meets.  Elian is also a former Benicia Stingray and is the brother to current Stingray, Naya.  Elian is the most successful 13/up Stingray in history, owning 9 relay and individual records for the 13/14 and 15-18 age groups. We are excited to welcome back Elian, who served as a junior coach many years ago to many of our 11/up Stingray swimmers.  The current older Stingrays have great memories of being coached and inspired by Elian. Elian will make his first appearance as a coach on Saturday at the Aquaknights Meet, so introduce your swimmers and welcome him back to the team!